Security services, including the Dutch military security service MIVD, have issued a joint warning against cyber attacks on vital government infrastructure in the West by Russian military secret service GROe unit 29155.

The aim of the attacks is to gain an insight in and disrupt arms deliveries to Ukraine, the MIVD said, and to support physical sabotage attempts.

Unit 29155, which is thought to be behind the poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal and an attempted coup in Montenegro, had not been associated with cyber attacks of this type before, the services said, although it has been known to hack systems since 2020.

Five members of the Russian secret service implicated in the Whispergate hacking attempts aimed at computer systems in Ukraine and Nato countries were earlier indicted by the Americans.

So far, the Netherlands has not been targeted by the unit but the threat is real, the MIVD said. “The attacks are aimed at the logistics sector which is delivering help to Ukraine or plays a role in it. The Netherlands is an important transit country,” MIVD vice-admiral Peter Reesink said.

Defence minister Ruben Brekelmans said the joint warning served to “reveal the modus operandi of this infamous Russian cyber unit.”