BREAKING – EU hit by cyberattack after declaring Russia a state sponsor of terrorism

The move, which is largely symbolic, was taken on Wednesday, November 23 when the European parliament voted to make its views clear. 

Voting took place in response to Moscow’s continued attack on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine including the bombing of hospitals, schools and shelters. 

"Today, the European Parliament recognized Russia as a terrorist state, and then the Russian Federation proved to the whole world that this is all true by launching missiles at our infrastructure, at energy facilities, at our people," said Volodymir Zelenskyy. pic.twitter.com/BjsoYfLbS4

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) November 23, 2022

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had called on the world to declare Russia a terrorist state, said he welcomed the decision and called for Russia to be “isolated at all levels”.

"Today, the European Parliament recognized Russia as a terrorist state, and then the Russian Federation proved to the whole world that this is all true by launching missiles at our infrastructure, at energy facilities, at our people," said Volodymir Zelenskyy. pic.twitter.com/BjsoYfLbS4

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) November 23, 2022

The EU does not maintain a list of terrorist states, with foreign policy remaining under the control of individual member states. However, it does send a clear message to both member states and Russia that terrorism is not tolerated.  

The same call has been made on the United States which does maintain a list of repeat offenders, which includes Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria.

But so far the country has resisted including Russia in the lists, which to do so would result in restrictions on foreign aid, a ban on defence exports, controls on exports of technology with potential military use, and financial constraints. 

The listing of Russia as a terrorist state would also affect its sovereign immunity in US courts.

Russia has been quick to respond with the European Parliament hit by a cyberattack not long after the decision was taken. 

Parliamentary spokesperson Jaime Duch tweeted: “The availability of @Europarl_EN website is currently impacted from outside due to high levels of external network traffic. This traffic is related to a DDOS attack (Distributed Denial of Service) event.” 

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