UK expands state-threat powers, joins EU cyber sanctions push at OSCE

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UK expands state-threat powers

Highlights

UK enacted the National Security (State Threats) Act 2026, granting Home Secretary powers to designate and criminalise support for hostile foreign-linked organisations.
UK and EU launched their first joint cyber sanctions package, targeting Russian state actors, senior GRU officers and proxy networks accused of cyber-attacks across Europe.
Britain’s latest sanctions include 10 individuals supporting Russia’s information campaigns and back the EU’s attribution of a failed FSB cyber-attack that threatened 500,000 in Poland.

Security measures and sanctions rollout

As reported by GOV.UK, Ambassador Holland told the OSCE that the UK has introduced the National Security (State Threats) Act 2026 and launched its first joint cyber sanctions package with the EU to strengthen its response to hostile state activity.

The UK says the new law gives the Home Secretary powers to designate bodies acting on behalf of, or in the interests of, foreign states where their activity threatens UK security or community safety. Such activity can include sabotage, espionage and foreign interference, and designation makes it a criminal offence to support, assist or obtain material benefits from a designated body.

The first organisations designated under the new powers are the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right and Russia’s GRU Volunteer Corps. If Parliament approves the designations, people conducting foreign power threat activity on behalf of those groups could face significant criminal penalties, including life imprisonment for sabotage offences.

The UK says the Act also includes safeguards for legitimate activity, including humanitarian engagement and journalism. Alongside the legislation, the joint UK-EU cyber sanctions package targets the Russian state, including senior GRU officers, as well as criminal and proxy networks accused of cyber-attacks across Europe.

Regional impact and allied response

The UK package includes 10 individuals whom London says continue to support Russia’s information warfare campaigns against Ukraine. Britain also backs an EU-level attribution of an attempted cyber-attack on Poland’s energy infrastructure to Russia’s FSB Centre 16, an incident that failed but could have left up to 500,000 people without electricity in winter.

The statement presents the measures as part of a broader allied response to intensifying hybrid threats in the OSCE region. NATO has also issued a North Atlantic Council statement saying the alliance has further strengthened its cyber posture by integrating cyber factors more deeply into operations, missions and activities.

The UK says it has sanctioned more than 3,400 targets linked to Russia’s war effort and will continue to work with partners against hostile activity, disinformation and actions that undermine democratic institutions. In its message to the OSCE, London argues that hybrid threats now require greater political attention across the region.

Our earlier coverage examined the U.S. Treasury’s expanded push to disrupt political terrorism financing by targeting the misuse of charities and nonprofit structures. It highlighted a broader enforcement approach using tools across OFAC, FinCEN, and IRS-CI, alongside warnings of tighter compliance expectations and increased international coordination to trace cross-border funding and foreign influence activity.

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