In its toughest challenge to Russia to date, the administration of US President Donald Trump on Thursday accused Moscow of an elaborate plot to penetrate the US’ electric grid, factories, water supply and even air travel through cyberattacks.
The US also hit targeted Russians with sanctions for alleged election meddling for the first time since Trump took office.
The list of Russians being punished includes all 13 indicted last month by special counsel Robert Mueller, a tacit acknowledgement by the administration that at least some of Mueller’s Russia-related probe has merit.
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Trump has repeatedly sought to discredit Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the presidential election, but the sanctions appeared to rely on the special counsel’s legal conclusions in deciding who should be named.
The Russians — 19 in all — are unlikely to have any assets in the US that would be covered, making the move largely symbolic.
However, it could help inoculate Trump from persistent claims that he is afraid or unwilling to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin or to fight back against efforts to undermine the US’ democracy and domestic affairs.
“We’re going to be tough on Russia until they decide to change their behavior,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
At the same time, she left open the possibility of better US-Russia cooperation, saying that “if we can work together to combat world threats on things like North Korea, then we should.”
US national security officials said the FBI, the US Department of Homeland Security and intelligence agencies determined Russian intelligence and others were behind a broad range of cyberattacks starting a year ago.
They said Russian hackers infiltrated the networks that run the basic services Americans rely on each day: nuclear, water and manufacturing facilities, such as factories.
The officials described Russia’s operation as ongoing.
The sanctions prompted a swift threat of retaliation from Moscow, which said a response was already being prepared.
Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Ryabkov suggested that the Trump administration had timed the action to taint this weekend’s presidential election in Russia, in which Putin is expected to win an overwhelming victory.
“It is tied to US internal disorder, tied of course to our electoral calendar,” Ryabkov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency TASS.
The sanctions are the first use of the new powers that US Congress passed last year to punish Moscow for interfering in the election that Trump won over former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Yet, Russia hawks in Congress deemed it too little, too late.
“Even more must be done,” Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham said.
Senator John McCain, also a Republican, called the action “overdue.”
US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the sanctions prove that Mueller’s “investigation is not a ‘witch hunt,’ as the president and his allies have claimed.”
“It’s more clear than ever that the president must not interfere with the special counsel’s investigation in any way,” he added.
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