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US President Barack Obama hit back at Russia for meddling in presidential election. He took a series of tough actions against intelligence
agencies, expulsions of agents and shutting down of Russian compounds on US soil.
The actions followed repeated private and public warnings that Washington had issued to the Russian government. Sanctions have been issued against Russia’s FSB and GRU intelligence agencies. 35 Russian diplomats were declared ‘persona non grata’ and were asked to leave US along with their families within 72 hours. Two Russian compounds in New York and Maryland that were used for intelligence-related purposes were closed down.
Obama also warned of additional, unspecified actions at a time and place of his choosing, some of which would not be publicized. The outgoing president takes tough stand to warn other nations against taking similar action.
US intelligence had said that Kremlin ordered a hack-and-release of Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton campaign staff emails. A report issued by US federal law enforcement said that Russian intelligence agencies over the last two years targeted Democratic Party with malicious emails. They stole embarrassing information from Democratic Party operations and senior party members and released it to media. They did this in an effort to tip the vote in favour of President-elect Donald Trump. And they succeeded.
The report validated what had already been revealed by news media. It accused APT 28 for ‘advanced persistent threat’ tied to the Russian military intelligence body known as GRU. APT 28 may also be associated with the FSB, or Russian federal security service.
The US Treasury imposed sanctions on two individuals, Evgeniy Bogachev and Aleksey Belan, for their involvement in malicious cyber-enabled activities. The sanctions freeze any assets they may have in the United States and block US companies from doing business with them. The US government is also declassifying technical information on Russian cyber activity to help companies defend against future attacks.
Russia has consistently denied it was behind the alleged hacking and insists Washington has never provided any firm proof of its guilt.
Vladimir Putin said he would not retaliate. His decision came despite the foreign ministry asking him to send home 35 US diplomats after President Barack Obama had expelled the same number of Russian staff.
The Obama administration aims to draw a virtual line in the sand without sparking a war—cyber or otherwise. Although the direct impact of the sanctions on Russia may be limited, it sends a message that hostile cyber activity targeting the US has consequences. It’s a reminder that one cannot carry out cyber-attacks with impunity. There is a price to pay. It has also put focus on the need to overhaul the present cyber policies.
Washington would very much like to demonstrate to Moscow its capacity for cyber actions. But it is cautious. The US does not want to establish a norm for cyber disruption that other nations could follow. But Obama is likely to respond Russian actions in a manner that could be potentially scary to Kremlin. Obama intends to send a message without sparking a crisis.
Also, at present, it is paramount for US government to improve cyber defenses to prevent similar incidents from happening in the New Year and beyond.