The US Treasury has unveiled sweeping sanctions against Russia, citing "malign Russian cyber activity, including their attempted interference in the US elections", as well as the attack on a former spy in Salisbury. In total five entities and 19 individuals, who were named as subjects of an indictment in February, are being slapped with a sanction. They are the Internet Research Agency, Concord Management and Consulting and Concord Catering. Affected individuals include Yevgeniy Prigozhin - a businessman with close ties to President Putin, who is said to have funded the Internet Research Agency. Others include Dzheykhun Aslanov, Anna Bogacheva, Maria Bovda, Robert Bovda, Mikhail Burchik, Mikhail Bystrov, Irina Kaverzina, Aleksandra Krylova, Vadim Podkopaev, Sergey Polozov, Gleb Vasilchenko and Vladimir Venkov. A further two entities - Russian intelligence organisation the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and six individuals - Sergei Afanasyev, Vladimir Alexseyev, Sergey Gizunov, Igor Korobov, Igor Kostyukov and Gigoriy Molchanov - will also have sanctions applied. That means all property and interests in property subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US citizens have been prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. Asked about the sanctions during a press conference, Donald Trump immediately raised the subject of the Salisbury attack, saying he was in "deep discussions" with Theresa May over this "very sad situation". He added it "certainly looks like the Russians were behind it, it's something that should never have happened and we're taking it very seriously, as I think are others" In an official statement Treasury secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said: “These targeted sanctions are a part of a broader effort to address the ongoing nefarious attacks emanating from Russia. Treasury intends to impose additional CAATSA sanctions, informed by our intelligence community, to hold Russian government officials and oligarchs accountable for their destabilising activities by severing their access to the U.S. financial system.” The Treasury department cited several reasons for imposing the sanctions including a number of cyber attacks. In particular it cited the NotPetya attack, a cyber-attack attributed to the Russian military on February 15, which it described as "the most destructive and costly cyber-attack in history", resulting in billions of dollars in damage across Europe, Asia, and the United States, and significantly disrupted global shipping, trade, and the production of medicines. The statement added that since at least March 2016, Russia had targeted US government entities and the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors. The sanctions are also being blamed on Russia's continued presence in Ukraine and Crimea, meddling in elections and the "attempt to murder two UK citizens". These sanctions are in addition to other ongoing efforts by Treasury to address destabilizing activity emanating from within Russia, including our sanctioning of Russians targeted for activities related to the North Korea sanctions program, the Global Magnitsky program, and the Sergei Magnitsky Act. The US this morning issued a joint statement with France, Germany and the UK blaming Russia for the nerve agent attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal. The statement said: "It is an assault on UK sovereignty and any such use by a state party is a clear violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and a breach of international law. It threatens the security of us all." On Tuesday Trump spoke with Theresa May, where he told her the US was "with the UK all the way". |