The European Union sanctioned five directors of Russian defense companies involved in producing missiles and military technology, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced on 7 August. The new listings target the heads of plants that build components for the Iskander-M and RS-28 Sarmat missiles, as the bloc responds to escalating Russian airstrikes on Ukraine, RFE/RL's project Krym.Realii reported.
EU names the factory bosses behind the missiles, as civilian casualties surge after Russia's shift to ballistic missiles
Among those sanctioned are Ramil Badgutdinov, CEO of the Serpukhov Metallist plant, which produces precision electromechanical components for the Iskander-M ballistic missile, and Aleksandr Dyukarev, CEO of the Krasnoyarsk Machine-Building Plant, which produces ballistic missiles including the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental system. Three other directors head Russian companies producing military communications systems, drone software, and space-based military technology.
All five face EU asset freezes, a ban on providing them funds or economic resources, and a travel ban. The EU Council said the decision followed a European Council call from 18-19 June 2026 to intensify pressure on Russia through further sanctions.
"Each new attack on Ukraine is another reason for Europe to tighten the screws on Russia," Kallas wrote. "With its army stalled on the battlefield, Moscow is further escalating its campaign of terror against civilians. The EU must continue to intensify pressure on Russia until Moscow ends its war."
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Sanctions and strikes target the same factories
The EU has adopted 21 sanctions packages since 2014, with the latest — its largest ever — approved in July. EU leaders renewed the full economic sanctions regime for a year for the first time in June. Yet foreign components continue reaching Russian assembly lines — an Iskander built in 2025 contained parts made that same year.
Ukraine has pursued its own kinetic approach to the same supply chain. In June, Ukrainian missiles struck the Volgograd plant that builds Iskander components. The same month, drones hit a Voronezh factory supplying semiconductors for Iskander, Pantsir, and Kh-101 production.
Ukrainian intelligence has identified dozens of Iskander production chain enterprises still outside any sanctions regime.
