Lithuania calls on EU to designate Russia's foreign intelligence agency a terrorist organization
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Russia will not stop its hybrid attacks against Europe until the EU shows it is serious, and calls Moscow's foreign military intelligence agency a terrorist organization, Lithuania's Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys told journalists ahead of an Oct. 12 meeting of EU foreign ministers.
"We have to review GRU, Russia's military intelligence (agency), which in their operations is already acting as a terrorist organization," Budrys said.
"That is why it is for the EU to designate this organization as a terrorist organization and everyone who is related to them," he added.
GRU has been linked to a series of hybrid attacks across Europe: including a recent arson attack in Munich and the Leipzig airport drone attack in August.
And Budrys is particularly familiar with GRU's work, having worked most of his career for Lithuania's State Security Department — the country's civilian intelligence and security agency which assesses and eliminates threats to national security.
"Only when we increase our sanctions, when we show that we are serious, will we deny Russia the possibility to raise havoc in our capitals," Budrys said.
For Budrys, the EU did the opposite in September, when it bowed to pressure from France, Slovakia, and Luxembourg, and delisted two oligarchs.
"When we projected our weakness by delisting two prominent oligarchs from our sanctions, we saw how Russia reacted to it. They escalated, escalated both in Ukraine and now they're escalating in Europe, in our countries," Budrys said.
The EU maintains a terrorist list that includes both individuals and entities and functions similarly to the EU's Russia sanctions.
However, no Russian entity has yet been filed on the EU terrorist list, which only contains Islamists such as Hamas, Islamic State, and the perpetrators of the 9/11 attack against the U.S.
