The Biden government will issue a wide range of sanctions against Russia in retaliation for recent raids, including the SolarWinds cyber-espionage campaign and Moscow’s. interference in the 2020 presidential election, CBS News has confirmed. The sanctions, first reported by Bloomberg, could be issued as early as Thursday.
The sanctions are expected to target more than 30 Russian entities and include the expulsion of at least 10 Russian individuals from the United States, including intelligence officials and diplomats, according to sources briefed on the matter.
The government is also expected to issue an executive order prohibiting U.S. financial institutions from buying ruble-denominated bonds from June 2021, sources told CBS.
Government officials have vowed for weeks to settle Moscow’s costs. In a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Biden said on Tuesday that the US would act “decisively” in defense of its national interests.
The action is also expected to cover reports that Russia has encouraged Taliban fighters to injure or kill coalition forces in Afghanistan.
According to an unclassified report of the US intelligence community, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized campaigns of influence aimed at harming President Biden’s candidacy in the 2020 election and boosting former President Trump.
A key element of Moscow’s strategy during this electoral cycle was the use of proxies associated with Russian intelligence to channel influence stories – including misleading or unsubstantiated allegations against President Biden – to US media organizations, US officials and prominent US individuals, former President Trump and his government, ”stated the declassified report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Last year, cybersecurity researchers identified a hack of a piece of software called SolarWinds – an intrusion that gave cyber criminals access to 18,000 government and private computer networks. The US intelligence community has identified hackers in Russia who are behind the attack and they have gained access to digital files from several US government agencies, including the Treasury, Justice and State Department.
Microsoft President Brad Smith said in February: “60 minutes“that the SolarWinds hack was,” “the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen.”
The US has also publicly warned Russia about it aggressive actions in UkraineRussia has gathered more than 40,000 troops on Ukraine’s eastern border, and more than 40,000 in Crimea, the region Putin annexed to Ukraine and declared Russian in 2014.
On Wednesday, at a meeting in Brussels with NATO allies, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “We are very concerned about what we see, about Russia’s continued aggressive actions, rhetoric directed against Ukraine.”
Top intelligence officials told a senate panel on Wednesday that Russia would continue to use “a variety of tactics” to undermine the United States, including mercenaries, murders, arms sales, cyber capabilities and malicious influence campaigns – but that Moscow is not a military conflict.
Rebecca Kaplan and Melissa Quinn contributed to the reporting.