From Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States slapped sanctions on 19 Russian individuals and five groups, including Moscow’s intelligence services, for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and malicious cyber attacks, the Treasury Department said on Thursday.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said there would be additional sanctions against Russian government officials and oligarchs “for their destabilizing activities.” Mnuchin did not give a time frame for those sanctions, which he said would sever the individuals’ access to the U.S. financial system.
“The administration is confronting and countering malign Russian cyber activity, including their attempted interference in U.S. elections, destructive cyber-attacks, and intrusions targeting critical infrastructure,” Mnuchin said in a statement.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign using hacking and propaganda, an effort that eventually included attempting to tilt the race in President Donald Trump’s favor. Russia denies interfering in the election.
U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Feb. 16 brought charges against 13 Russian individuals and three Russian companies, accusing them of participating in a criminal and espionage conspiracy to tamper in the 2016 campaign. The indictment said Russians adopted false online personas to push divisive messages, traveled to the United States to collect intelligence and staged political rallies while posing as Americans.
Those targeted by the new sanctions include the Russian nationals and entities charged by Mueller.
The new sanctions also include Russian intelligence services, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), and six individuals working on behalf of the GRU.
Treasury Dept.: New Sanctions Against Russia
From The Hill
The Trump administration is imposing new sanctions on Russian individuals and entities in response to cyberattacks in the U.S. and Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Senior national security officials said Thursday the U.S. will sanction five entities and 19 individuals from Russia for a range of cyberattacks, including the disruptive 2016 Petya attack, as well as Russia’s “destabilizing efforts” in the 2016 presidential election.
The Treasury Department will freeze those assets and prohibit Americans from doing business with those Russians, officials said.
Some of those entities and individuals — including the Internet Research Agency, which allegedly used fake social media accounts to sow division in the U.S. — have already been indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller.
“The Administration is confronting and countering malign Russian cyber activity, including their attempted interference in U.S. elections, destructive cyber-attacks, and intrusions targeting critical infrastructure,” said.
“These targeted sanctions are a part of a broader effort to address the ongoing nefarious attacks emanating from Russia,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. “Treasury intends to impose additional CAATSA sanctions, informed by our intelligence community, to hold Russian government officials and oligarchs accountable for their destabilizing activities by severing their access to the U.S. financial system.”
Mnuchin was referring to the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which President Trump signed into law last year.
The new sanctions come amid heightened tensions with Russia. The U.S. and its allies say Moscow is behind the poisoning of a former Russian intelligence officer and his daughter in Britain.
British Prime Minister Theresa May expelled 23 Russian diplomats and the U.S. has signed on to a joint statement with several of its European allies holding Russia responsible for the “abhorrent” attack and demanding accountability from Moscow.
“This latest action by Russia fits into a pattern of behavior in which Russia disregards the international rules-based order, undermines the sovereignty and security of countries worldwide, and attempts to subvert and discredit Western democratic institutions and processes,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. “The United States is working together with our allies and partners to ensure that this kind of abhorrent attack does not happen again.”
