U.S. announces expanded sanctions against Russians

U.S. announces expanded sanctions against Russians

What has happened?

The U.S. slapped sanctions on 19 Russian individuals and five groups, including Moscow’s intelligence services, for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and malicious cyber attacks

Additional sanctions in the future

• There would be additional sanctions against Russian government officials and oligarchs “for their destabilising activities”.
• The new sanctions also include Russian intelligence services, the Federal Security Service and Main Intelligence Directorate, and six individuals working on behalf of the GRU.

Effect

This would sever the individuals’ access to the U.S. financial system

Why?

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign using hacking and propaganda, an effort that eventually included attempting to tilt the race in President Donald Trump’s favour.

How: False personas

The indictment said Russians adopted false online personas to push divisive messages, traveled to the U.S. to collect intelligence and staged political rallies while posing as Americans.