The Trump administration leveled new sanctions Thursday on five institutions and 19 individuals tied to Russia’s government, citing Moscow’s 2016 election interference and the recent nerve gas attack in Salisbury, England among a laundry list of reasons.
‘These sanctions target a wide range of Russia’s destabilizing activities, including interference in the 2016 U.S. election,’ a senior national security official told reporters.
‘We continue to be very focused … on pressuring Russia for its continued efforts to destabilize Ukraine, occupy Crimea, meddle in elections, as well as for its endemic corruption and human rights abuses.’
And ‘the recent use of a military grade nerve agent in an attempt to murder two United Kingdom citizens further demonstrates the reckless and irresponsible conduct of its government,’ the official said.
The administration also accused Vladimir Putin’s government of long-term systemic cyber-intrusions into America’s electric power grid.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has new headaches courtesy of the U.S. Treasury Department, which announced sanctions Thursday against his intelligence services and a raft of other malicious Russian cyber-criminals
The White House joined France, Germany and the UK in a statement Thursday morning, squarely placing blame for the March 4 Salisbury attack on Putin’s shoulders.
‘This use of a military-grade nerve agent, of a type developed by Russia, constitutes the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War,’ the four governments said.
‘It is an assault on the United Kingdom’s sovereignty and any such use by a state party is a clear violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and a breach of international law. It threatens the security of us all.’
‘We call on Russia to address all questions related to the attack in Salisbury,’ they demanded. ‘Russia should, in particular, provide full and complete disclosure of the Novichok program to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).’
The FSB – the successor to Russia’s infamous KGB – and the GRU, both top-tier intelligence agencies, are also targeted, meaning that the Treasury Department will forbid them from accessing assets in the U.S. or using America’s banking system.
It’s unclear what assets Putin’s spy agencies might have here.
The FSB was sanctioned for using malicious tools to target journalists, the political opposition, U.S. government officials in cyber-attacks.
The GRU, officials said, ‘was directly involved in interfering in the 2016 U.S. election through cyber-enabled activities.’
And the Internet Research Agency, an online troll factory controlled by a Russian oligarch, was sanctioned for interfering the the 2016 U.S. election by trying to manipulate Americans’ opinions through fake ads and social media postings.
Thirteen individuals tied to that organization were also targeted. They already face criminal indictments arising from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s invesgtigation.