Trump administration sanctions Russian trolls over cyberattacks
Officials warn U.S. energy grid could be future target.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday imposed fresh sanctions on Russian government hackers and spy agencies to punish Moscow for interfering in the 2016 presidential elec- tion, and for a cyberattack against Ukraine and other countries last year that officials have characterized as “the most destructive and costly” in history.
Sanctions also were imposed on individu- als known as “trolls” and the Russian organizations — including the Internet Research Agency — that supported their efforts to undermine the election. Additionally, the administration alerted the public that Russia is targeting the U.S. energy grid with com- puter malware that could sabotage the systems.
Taken together, the moves represent the administra- tion’s most significant actions to date against Russia for its aggression against the United States, though analysts say their impact is mostly symbolic and noted that a number of the individuals and groups had already been subject to sanctions. None- theless, officials hope the actions will help deter tampering with this year’s midterm elections while signaling to Russia that Washing- ton will not allow its attacks to go unchallenged.
“The administration is confronting and countering malign Russian cyber activity, including their attempted interference in U.S. elections, destructive cyberattacks, and intrusions target- ing critical infrastructure,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “These targeted sanctions are a part of a broader effort to address the ongoing nefarious attacks emanating from Russia.”
The sanctions stand in con- trast to President Donald Trump’s personal reluctance to blame the Kremlin for its interference in the 2016 presidential race despite the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Moscow did so.
They come after the United States, France and Germany joined Britain in denouncing Russia for a brazen poison attack that has left a former Russian spy and his daughter comatose in a Salisbury, England, hospital. On Wednesday, Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats in retaliation.
The outgoing head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command has warned that if the United States does not take punitive or deterrent action against Russia, its malicious activity will continue.
For those targeted, the sanctions freeze all assets under U.S. jurisdiction, U.S. individuals are barred from engaging in transactions with them, and they may not travel into the United States. Mnuchin said his department intends to impose additional sanctions to hold Russian offi- cials and oligarchs “account- able for their destabilizing activities by severing their access to the U.S. financial system.”
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, told the Interfax news agency on Thursday that Moscow was prepared for the new round of sanctions. He dismissed them nonetheless, saying they are part of a U.S. effort to destabilize Russia’s presidential election on March 18. Moscow will craft a response, he said.
In all, the new sanctions target 19 people and five organizations — though 10 had been previously hit with sanctions, mostly under the Obama administration. Many were indicted last month by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin to sway the race’s outcome. Mueller accused 13 individuals and three enti- ties of spreading propaganda using social media and other means, with the goal of sowing discord.
A separate set of sanctions was imposed on two Russian spy agencies. Officials said the FSB, a successor to the KGB, used its cyber tools to target U.S. government officials, including cyberse- curity, diplomatic, military and White House personnel. The other is the GRU, a mili- tary spy organization, which officials said was “directly involved in interfering in the 2016 U.S. election” through cyber-activities.
Those sanctions mark the first use of a law Congress passed in June to, among other things, punish Russia for its election-year inter- ference. Trump, after balking, finally signed the law but issued two statements saying that he believed the legislation was “seriously flawed.”
In January, as the law required, the administration released a widely anticipated report on Russian oligarchs, but it was dismissed by critics in Congress and by former Obama administration officials as a “cut and paste” job from open sources with no substance to it.
The GRU also was behind a June 2017 cyberattack, delivered through a mock ransomware virus dubbed NotPetya, which wiped data from the computers of banks, energy firms, senior government officials and an airport. On Thursday, the government imposed sanctions on the GRU and six of its senior officials in response to that attack.