Wednesday, 23 February 2022

POLITICO

POLITICO

Minister: Ukraine websites down in another ‘massive’ online attack

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 07:34 AM PST

Websites of Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and national parliament were down Wednesday, in what the country’s digital minister described as “another massive [distributed denial-of-service] DDoS attack on our state.”

Banks and government websites were inaccessible, Mykhailo Fedorov, minister of digital transformation, said on Telegram, adding some services were being restored and others disrupted intentionally to “minimize the damage from the attack.”

At the time of writing, the website of the national parliament and the cabinet of ministers were already restored, while the foreign affairs ministry’s website was still inaccessible.

It’s the second time in just days that Ukrainian government services are disrupted with large-scale DDoS attacks, in which hacking groups use large networks of computers to send an avalanche of traffic to certain websites, forcing the websites to go down. Last week, banks and government websites suffered a very similar incident that government officials said was the largest-ever DDoS attack on the country.

The U.S., U.K. and Australia in past days have come out with statements blaming Russia’s military intelligence service GRU for being behind last week’s DDoS attack.

Charles Michel calls emergency European Council summit

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 07:31 AM PST

European Council President Charles Michel has called an emergency summit on Thursday to discuss the buildup of Russian troops on Ukraine’s borders.

“The use of force and coercion to change borders has no place in the 21st century. I am calling a special European Council tomorrow in Brussels to discuss the latest developments related to #Ukraine and Russia” Michel tweeted Wednesday afternoon.

In an invitation letter to leaders, Michel said he would like them to discuss the latest developments in the crisis, as well as “how we protect the rules-based international order” and “how we deal with Russia notably holding Russia accountable for its actions.”

He also noted that he would like heads of state and government to talk about how the EU “will further support Ukraine and its people.”

The Summit will start at 8 p.m. in Brussels and will be held in person.

EU to sanction head of English-language Russian broadcaster RT

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 07:18 AM PST

The European Union is set to sanction Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of the English-language broadcaster RT, for spreading government propaganda, according to a draft document seen by POLITICO.

Simonyan “is a central figure of the Government propaganda,” reads the document, dated February 22.

The document states that Simonyan “promoted a positive attitude to the annexation of Crimea and the actions of separatists in Donbas,” and supported actions and policies undermining the sovereignty of Ukraine.

The document lists more than 20 people and entities to be sanctioned by the EU as part of a package expected to be finalized later today.

EU to sanction Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu: Document

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 06:30 AM PST

The European Union is poised to impose sanctions on Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu as part of its response to Moscow’s deployment of troops in eastern Ukraine, according to a draft document seen by POLITICO.

The document, dated February 22, lists more than 20 people and entities to be sanctioned by the EU as part of a package expected to be finalized later today.

The document says that under Shoygu’s command and orders “Russian troops have held military drills in the illegally annexed Crimea and have been positioned at the border” with Ukraine and “he is ultimately responsible for any military action against Ukraine.”

“He is therefore responsible for actively supporting and implementing actions and policies that undermine and threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine as well as the stability or security in Ukraine,” the document says.

The same document confirms that three Russian banks are also to be targeted as part of the EU sanctions package.

UK probes Russian broadcaster RT amid Ukraine crisis

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 06:00 AM PST

LONDON — The U.K. government has ordered a review into Russian broadcaster RT and promised new weapons for Ukraine after Russia moved troops into the Eastern European country Monday night.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that U.K. TV regulator Ofcom had been urged to consider whether RT should continue to hold a broadcasting licence, in a bid to guard against the spread of “harmful disinformation.”

Speaking to the U.K. parliament on Wednesday, Johnson added that the U.K. would be "shortly" providing a "further package of military support for Ukraine."

It will include both "lethal aid in the form of offensive weapons, and non-lethal aid," he said, "in light of the increasingly threatening behavior from Russia."

The moves follow an initial package of sanctions unveiled Tuesday. The U.K. has also pledged further sanctions to hit Russian defense firms and campaign groups, among others.

Britain has also offered to guarantee up to $500 million in loans to support Ukraine and mitigate the economic effects of Russian aggression.

Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer urged Johnson to go harder on the sanctions than those that have been announced, and said RT was Putin's "personal propaganda tool." "I can see no reason why it should be allowed to continue to broadcast in this country," he added.

But during Prime Minister’s Questions, Johnson shot back: "We live in a country that believes in in free speech and I think it's important that we should leave it up to Ofcom rather than to politicians to decide which media organizations to ban. That's what Russia does."

The details of the RT probe were contained in a letter to the regulator from Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries.

EU unveils industrial data rulebook

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 05:33 AM PST

The European Commission on Wednesday set out a new proposal aimed at regulating industrial data, including who can access and share data generated by smart devices.

The plan, part of the EU’s data strategy presented in February 2020, is expected to spark pushback from a range of sectors — including the car industry — due to the introduction of “data-sharing obligations.”

The proliferation of smart devices like connected cars, smart home appliances and factory robots has raised questions about who owns and can access the data they generate — the manufacturer, the user or third parties.

The logic is that machine-generated data is underused now because of the legal uncertainty involved. "In the past when you bought an object this was quite simple. You owned the object and you own everything that came with it,” a Commission official said ahead of the rules’ unveiling. “But now data has made it more difficult, because, actually, who's in control of the data that you generate with connected objects?" 

In its proposal, the Commission suggests giving users of connected devices more rights to access data generated by devices and to share it with third parties of their choosing, like repair-service providers, under certain conditions.

That opens up possibilities for the aftermarket — when a user seeks additional services, products or repair services — but also prompted industry concerns about the extent to which it will have to share data access with independent services providers.

"The Data Act defines who can use what data and under what conditions," Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said, pointing to the data generated by connected machines or devices in the first place, saying that "if used" they can create a "multitude of possibilities."

The Data Act also aims to foster data-sharing with governments — especially to prevent and address emergencies — and mandate that cloud providers let customers easily switch to another provider. Data processing services will also have to take technical measures to avoid unlawful requests for data access in non-EU countries.

Tech and industry lobbies took aim at the Data Act’s data-sharing obligations before its presentation.

Brussels tech lobby CCIA warned that “incentives rather than obligations” would encourage companies to share data, while German engineering lobby VDMA stressed the importance of freedom-of-contract guidelines and the current practice of negotiating data access between companies through private contracts.

There is also concern about potential economic downsides from “safeguards” to prevent data processing services from fulfilling access requests from third countries not in line with EU law. Such “restrictions” might cost 0.6 percent of EU GDP, according to a study commissioned by CCIA.

The proposal will now go to the Parliament and the Council. Multiple Parliament committees are expected to fight over who gets jurisdiction over the file. Germany’s position will be on to watch in the Council, given its powerful car industry and engineering sector.

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Poland lifts all but basic coronavirus restrictions

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 05:10 AM PST

Poland will remove most coronavirus restrictions from the start of next month, the government said Wednesday, citing rapidly falling numbers of new cases and patients in hospital.

Kicking in from March 1, there will be no limits on the number of customers in stores, restaurants, cultural venues and public transport. Entertainment venues like discos and nightclubs will reopen as well.

"Unfortunately, [this] chapter of the pandemic is not closed yet. But we can see that the Omicron variant's mortality and hospitalizations are much lower," Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a press conference, as Warsaw followed similar easing moves by other European countries in response to the relatively mild impact of the latest viral variant.

Poland recorded 20,456 new coronavirus cases in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning, a drop of 29 percent from a week earlier. The number of fatal cases, at 360, down 4 percent on the week.

Basic restrictions remain in force, Morawiecki said, encouraging those who have not been vaccinated yet to get a jab. Poland has so far vaccinated nearly 67% of adult population, according to latest data from the ministry of health.

Poles will still have to wear facemasks in indoor spaces as well as on public transport. Anyone with a confirmed infection will need to isolate for a week. Quarantine for people living with an infected person is also a week long unless they are vaccinated.

A weeklong quarantine has also been retained for people arriving in Poland from the Schengen visa-free travel zone – unless they hold a valid vaccination certificate, are recovered from COVID-19, or produce a negative test not older than 48 hours. All visitors from outside of the Schengen area must take a test up to 24 hours before arrival or go into quarantine for a week. Testing is obligatory even for those vaccinated and those who recovered from COVID-19.

EU hits 3 Russian banks in sanctions’ package

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 03:18 AM PST

The EU will sanction three Russian banks as part of its response to Russia’s decision to send troops into Ukraine, according to four diplomats.

The three banks are Rossiya Bank, Promsvyazbank and VEB. The penalties will bar each organization from doing commercial business with companies in the EU, limiting their access to European capital markets and services, two of the diplomats said. The banks are on the EU’s penalties list because of their links to the separatist regions in eastern Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized as independent on Monday night, added one of the diplomats.

According to one EU official, "the logic is to deprive the Russian state and government bodies access to European capital markets," and that "the idea is to cut this access also to the central bank."

The EU is penalizing the banks under the same legal framework it used to implement sanctions after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 — an approach that could speed up the approval process, one of the diplomats said.

The banks are part of a broader raft of sanctions EU ambassadors approved on Tuesday. The full list includes other figures such as the 351 Russian lawmakers who approved the recognition of the separatist territories in Ukraine. The total package is expected to be finalized Wednesday afternoon.
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