Ruling party wants to add Russian hackers to EU sanctions list

Ruling party VVD wants to add Russian hackers to the European Union's list of sanctioned people so that they can no longer access their money stored in Europe. These often young hackers love showing off their euros obtained from crime, and that has to stop, VVD MP Queeny Rajkowski said to RTL Nieuws.

"They are hackers who daily attack companies in the Netherlands, our small and medium-sized enterprises, purely to get their hands on money. They are ordinary criminals," Rajkowski said. And so, they should be treated like the Russian oligarchs on the European sanctions list. "We know where they are. They are part of Putin's clique. We have to make sure that we make their lives as difficult as possible.'

Adding these hackers to the sanctions list means "that we can grab them if even one wheel of their fat Lamborghini enters a European country," Rajkowski said. It also makes it impossible for them to access their money in the EU.

The VVD parliamentarian will ask Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius of Justice and Security to add Russian hackers to the sanctions list during a parliamentary debate on cybercrime on Thursday. "I know it can't happen overnight. It's complicated. But that doesn't mean we can't do anything. I want to use every opportunity the law offers to deal with these criminals," the MP said to RTL.