WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden government is preparing to announce sanctions in response to a massive Russian burglary campaign that violates vital federal agencies, as well as for interference in the election, a senior administration official said Wednesday night.
The sanctions, which the administration had been predicting for weeks, would be known as the first retaliatory action announced against the Kremlin for last year’s hack, known as the SolarWinds violation. In this intrusion, it is believed that Russian hackers infected many used software with malicious code, which enabled them to gain access to the networks of at least nine agencies in what US officials believe was an intelligence gathering operation mined on government secrets. .
Except for the cap, U.S. officials claimed last month that Russian President Vladimir Putin had authorized operations to assist Donald Trump in his unsuccessful attempt at re-election as president, although there is no evidence that Russia or anyone else is changing votes. did not manipulate the result.
The official, who is not authorized to discuss the matter by name, will be announced on Thursday and announced the condition of anonymity with The Associated Press.
It was not immediately clear what, if any, other actions could be planned. Officials had earlier said they expected to see actions, both seen and unseen.
The sanctions, presumably intended to send a clear message of retaliation to Russia and to ward off similar acts in the future, come amid an already strained relationship between the US and Russia.
President Joe Biden said in his second call this week for “weakening tensions” following a Russian military build-up on Ukraine’s border, saying the United States would “act strictly to defend its national interests” regarding Russian invasions and interference in the election.
In a television interview last month, he replied “I do” to whether he thought Putin was a “killer”. He said the days of the US transfer to Putin were over. Putin later recalled his ambassador to the United States, pointing to the American history of slavery and the battle of Native Americans and the atomic bombing of Japan in World War II.
It remained unclear whether U.S. action would actually lead to changed behavior, especially since U.S. measures could not end the Russian invasion. The Obama administration suspended diplomats from the U.S. in 2016 in response to interference in that year’s presidential election. And while Trump has often been reluctant to criticize Putin, his government also suspended diplomats in 2018 for allegedly poisoning Russia from a former intelligence officer in Britain.
U.S. officials are still grappling with the aftermath of the SolarWinds burglary, which affected agencies, including the departments of treasury, justice, energy and homeland security, and are still assessing what information may have been stolen. The breach exposed vulnerabilities in the supply chain, as well as weaknesses in the federal government’s own cyber defense.
The actions would represent the second major round of sanctions by the Biden government against Russia. Last month, the U.S. approved seven middle-class and senior Russian officials, along with more than a dozen government entities, for an almost fatal attack on opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his subsequent jail sentence.