Washington blacklists Russian firms linked to cyber attacks

The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on three Russians and five Russian entities tied to attempts by Moscow’s military and intelligence services to launch cyber attacks against Washington.

The decision came just days after US President Donald Trump called for Russia to be readmitted to the G7.

“The United States is engaged in an ongoing effort to counter malicious actors working at the behest of the Russian Federation and its military and intelligence units to increase Russia’s offensive cyber capabilities,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

“The entities designated today have directly contributed to improving Russia’s cyber and underwater capabilities through their work with the Federal Security Service, and therefore jeopardise the safety and security of the United States and our allies,” Mr Mnuchin said.

The sanctions focused on people accused of helping Moscow try to carry out cyber attacks against the US energy grid and on internet routers.

The new measures prohibit US citizens from committing to transactions with those designated by the sanctions and blocks all property of those sanctioned that is subject to US jurisdiction.

The designated companies are Digital Security, ERPScan, Embedi, Kvant Scientific Research Institute and Divetechno-services. ERPScan and Embedi are in Israel.

The three people designated all had ties to Divetechno-services.

Aleksandr Lvovich Tribun is the company’s general director, Oleg Sergeyevich Chirikov its programme manager and Vladimir Yakovlevich Kaganskiy is the owner.

The Treasury said the sanctions sought to hamper Russia’s underwater capabilities, which have been used to track underwater sea cables that transport much of the world’s telecoms data.

Divetechno-services offers the design, manufacture and supply of professional diving equipment, wrecking and underwater work, its website says.

Since 2007, the company “has procured a variety of underwater equipment and

diving systems for Russian government agencies to include the Federal Security Service”, the Treasury said.

In 2011, it “was awarded a contract to procure a submersible craft valued at $1.5 million for the” Russian service.

The measures come after suspected Russian cyber attacks on the US, including the NotPetya attack last year that affected hospitals and shipping facilities.

The White House in February said the attack caused damage worth billions of dollars.

The Russian service also carried out a 2014 cyber attack that targeted and compromised millions of Yahoo accounts.

“The United States is committed to aggressively targeting any entity or individual working at the direction of the Federal Security Service whose work threatens the United States, and will continue to use our sanctions authorities, including those provided under the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act, to counter the constantly evolving threats emanating from Russia” Mr Mnuchin said.

The Trump government, which is being investigated for possible collusion between campaign officials and Moscow, placed sanctions on Russia’s intelligence services in March, including 19 people and five entities.

It has still been accused of doing too little to punish Russia for suspected meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Russia denies trying to hack into other countries’ infrastructure.