The outgoing Obama administration on Monday blacklisted five
Russians, including a senior law enforcement official close to President
Vladimir Putin, as the two nations' feud over U.S. election hacking escalated.
The economic sanctions against the five Russians are not
related to the U.S. intelligence agencies findings, officials said, and instead
are connected to a 2012 U.S. law punishing Russian human rights violators.
Americans are now banned from doing business with the men and any assets they
may have in the United States are now frozen.
But the symbolic effect of the new penalties was more
significant, following weeks of accusations that Moscow spearheaded a campaign
designed to help Republican Donald Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in
November's presidential election. And their timing was unmistakable: Just three
days after U.S. intelligence agencies connected Putin directly to the hacking
of Democratic accounts.
According to U.S. intelligence agencies, Russia provided the
emails to WikiLeaks. The website's founder, Julian Assange, denies that is the
case, but Democrat and GOP lawmakers have largely backed the accusation and
many have demanded a sterner response for meddling in America's democratic
process. Monday's action could go some way to answering those calls.
Trump, however, could repeal these sanctions when he takes
office next week. The billionaire businessman has expressed an interest in
warming relations with Russia and has voiced skepticism about the intelligence
agencies' conclusions.
The most prominent individual targeted by the U.S. is
Alexander Bastrykin, head of Russia's main investigative agency. Bastrykin and
Putin attended the same university together.
The Investigative Committee under Bastrykin investigated
Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky's death in prison in 2009. It determined
that Magnitsky died in detention and closed the case after determining that
there was no evidence of a crime.
Two of the Russians placed on the Treasury Department's list
Monday have been accused of trying to help cover up Magnitsky's death. Britain
blames the two others for the London murder of a former Russian spy.
Forty-four Russians have now been subjected to U.S.
sanctions under the so-called Magnitsky law, the State Department said.
In late December, President Barack Obama imposed sanctions
on Russia directly tied to the election accusations, expelling 35 of the
country's diplomats and shutting down Russian retreats in New York and Maryland
that the U.S. said were used for intelligence purposes. He also targeted two
Russian intelligence services, the GRU and the FSB. The GRU's chief and three
deputies were individually blacklisted, too.
Before the new penalties were announced, Putin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that the Kremlin still believes the U.S.
accusations of election hacking had no substance.
"They are amateurish and are hardly worthy of the high
professional standards of top intelligence agencies," Peskov said.
"We categorically rule out the possibility that Russian officials or
official bodies could have been involved. We are tired of such accusations.
This is beginning to remind us of a full-fledged witch hunt."
The report accused Russia of hacking into the email accounts
of the Democratic National Committee and individual Democrats like Hillary
Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta. Russia also used state-funded
propaganda and paid "trolls" to make nasty comments on social media
services, it said, although there was no suggestion such operations affected
the actual vote count.
It also explicitly tied Putin to the hackings, calling them
the "boldest effort yet" to influence a U.S. election.
WikiLeaks founder Assange on Monday brushed aside the
allegations. He called the report a politically motivated "press
release" that provided no evidence Russian actors gave WikiLeaks hacked
material.
The report lacked details about how the U.S. learned what it
says it knows, such as any intercepted conversations or electronic messages
from Russian leaders, including Putin. It also said nothing about specific
hacker techniques or digital tools the U.S. may have traced back to Russia in
its investigations.
A still-classified version of the report was shared late
last week with President Barack Obama, Trump and top lawmakers in Congress.
Compiled by Damien Ebony
Source: Foxnews.com
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