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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| U.S. Sanctions Russian Intelligence Services |
| 2018-03-16 |
| [Free Beacon] The Trump administration on Thursday imposed economic sanctions on 19 Russians and two Russian intelligence agencies for their role in the 2016 election meddling and costly cyber attacks and penetrations. The Russian spy agencies included the Federal Security Service and the GRU military intelligence service, along with six GRU officers. No FSB officers were named in the Treasury Department list of sanctioned Russians, although 13 Russians indicted last month in a separate action, were named. The Russians are linked to the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg operation that used social media to interfere with the presidential election. Government officials did not say whether the Internet Research Agency was a front organization for the Russian government. Officials also revealed that Russian cyber actors conducted reconnaissance into industrial control systems related to the U.S. electrical grid in a bid to obtain sensitive information that could be used in future attacks aimed at shutting down power networks. "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," Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said in announcing the sanctions. "These targeted sanctions are a part of a broader effort to address the ongoing nefarious attacks emanating from Russia," he stated. Additional action will be taken under new legislation known as the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, Mnuchin said, "to hold Russian government officials and oligarchs accountable for their destabilizing activities by severing their access to the U.S. financial system." The sanctions were the first to be imposed under the new law, as well as an executive order related to cyber security. On the election meddling, the officials said the Russians used false online personas to conduct influence operations that they said affected millions of Americans during the election. Regarding the infrastructure cyber attacks, officials said since at least March 2016 Russian government cyber attacks were carried out on multiple U.S. critical infrastructures, including energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing networks. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |