The Biden administration will have to impose a wide range of sanctions against Russia in retaliation for recent incursions, including the SolarWinds and Moscow cyberespionage campaigns. interference in the 2020 presidential election, Confirmed CBS News. The sanctions, first reported by Bloomberg, could be imposed as early as Thursday.
The sanctions are expected to target more than 30 Russian entities and include the expulsion of at least ten Russian individuals from the United States, including intelligence officers and diplomats, according to informed sources on the issue.
The administration is also expected to issue an executive order banning U.S. financial institutions from buying ruble-denominated bonds beginning in June 2021, sources told CBS.
Administration officials have promised for weeks to demand the costs of Moscow. In a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, President Biden said the US would “act firmly” in defense of its national interests.
The action is also expected to address reports indicating that Russia encouraged Taliban fighters to injure or kill coalition forces in Afghanistan.
According to one unclassified report of the U.S. intelligence community, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized influence campaigns aimed at hurting President Biden’s candidacy during the 2020 elections and pushing former President Trump.
“A key element of Moscow’s strategy in this election cycle was the use of representatives linked to Russian intelligence to drive influential narratives, including misleading or unfounded allegations against President Biden, to organizations of U.S. media, U.S. officials, and prominent U.S. individuals include former President Trump and his administration, “the declassified report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said.
Last year, cybersecurity investigators identified a software hack called SolarWinds, an intrusion that gave cybercriminals access to 18,000 government and private computer networks. The U.S. intelligence community has identified hackers in Russia as behind the attack and have had access to digital files from various U.S. government agencies, including the Treasury, Justice and State departments.
Microsoft President Brad Smith in February told “60 minutes“that was the SolarWinds hack,” the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen. “
The US has also publicly warned that Russia is against it aggressive actions in Ukraine. Russia has gathered more than 40,000 troops on Ukraine’s eastern border and more than 40,000 in Crimea, the region Putin annexed from 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 deeply concerned about what we are seeing, on Russia’s ongoing aggressive actions, the rhetoric directed at Ukraine “.
Top intelligence officials told a Senate court on Wednesday that Russia would continue to use “various tactics” to undermine the United States, including mercenary operations, assassinations, arms sales, cyber capabilities and malicious influence campaigns. but that Moscow was not looking for military conflict.
Rebecca Kaplan and Melissa Quinn helped report.