US expels Russian diplomats, imposes new round of sanctions

Russia said Washington’s actions contradicted a stated US desire to normalise relations with Moscow. The sanctions are hostile steps that heighten the countries’ confrontation, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

At the same time, an official with the US Department of Justice said the government was examining “dozens” of Russian companies for potential supply chain vulnerabilities.

Assistant Attorney-General John Demers told reporters on Thursday the process was expected to take months and could lead to some Russian companies being referred to the Department of Commerce for further action.

The actions, foreshadowed for weeks by the administration, represent the first retaliatory measures announced against the Kremlin for the hack, familiarly known as the SolarWinds breach. In that intrusion, Russian hackers are believed to have infected widely used software with malicious code, enabling them to access the networks of at least nine agencies in what US officials believe was an intelligence-gathering operation aimed at mining government secrets.

Besides that hack, US officials last month alleged that Putin authorised influence operations to help Donald Trump in his unsuccessful bid for re-election as president last year, though there’s no evidence Russia or anyone else changed votes or manipulated the outcome.

The measures announced on Thursday include sanctions on six Russian companies that support the country’s cyber activities, in addition to sanctions on 32 individuals and entities accused of attempting to interfere in last year’s presidential election, including by spreading disinformation. The US also sanctioned eight people and entities tied to Russia’s occupation of Crimea.

The 10 diplomats being expelled include representatives of Russian intelligence services, the Biden administration said.

Other measures are expected as well, though the administration is not likely to announce them. Officials have been advising that their response to Russia would be in ways both seen and unseen.

“These actions are intended to hold Russia to account for its reckless actions. We will act firmly in response to Russian actions that cause harm to us or our allies and partners,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

But, he added, “Where possible, the United States will also seek opportunities for co-operation with Russia, with the goal of building a more stable and predictable relationship consistent with US interests”.

The White House also said Biden was using diplomatic, military and intelligence channels to respond to reports that Russia encouraged the Taliban to attack US and allied troops in Afghanistan based on the “best assessments” of the intelligence community.

Reports of alleged “bounties” surfaced last year, with the Trump administration coming under fire for not raising the issue directly with Russia. The White House did not publicly confirm the reports. “The safety and well-being of US military personnel, and that of our allies and partners, is an absolute priority of the United States,” the White House said on Thursday.

After the sanctions were announced, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that “such aggressive behaviour will undoubtedly trigger a resolute retaliation”.

“Washington should realise that it will have to pay a price for the degradation of the bilateral ties,” Zakharova said, adding that “the responsibility for that will fully lie with the United States”.

She said the ministry has summoned the US ambassador for a “hard conversation,” but wouldn’t immediately say what action Russia will take.

The sanctions send a clear retributive message to Russia and are aimed at serving as a deterrent. But they are certain to exacerbate an already tense relationship between the US and Russia.

President Joe Biden told Putin this week in their second call to “de-escalate tensions” following a Russian military build-up on Ukraine’s border, and said the US would “act firmly in defence of its national interests” regarding Russian intrusions and election interference.

In a television interview last month, Biden replied “I do” when asked if he thought Putin was a “killer”. He said the days of the US “rolling over” to Putin were done. Putin later recalled his ambassador to the US and pointed at the US history of slavery and slaughtering Native Americans and the atomic bombing of Japan in World War II.

It remained unclear whether the US actions would actually result in changed behaviour, especially since past measures by the US have failed to bring an end to Russian hacking. The Obama administration expelled diplomats from the US in 2016 in response to interference in that year’s presidential election. And though Trump was often reluctant to criticise Putin, his administration also expelled diplomats in 2018 for Russia’s alleged poisoning of an ex-intelligence officer in Britain.

US officials are still grappling with the after-effects of the SolarWinds intrusion, which hit agencies including the Treasury, Justice, Energy and Homeland Security departments, and are still assessing what information may have been stolen. The breach exposed vulnerabilities in the supply chain as well as weaknesses in the federal government’s own cyber defences.

The actions would represent the second major round of sanctions imposed by the Biden administration against Russia. Last month, the US sanctioned seven mid-level and senior Russian officials, along with more than a dozen government entities, over a nearly fatal nerve-agent attack on opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his subsequent jailing.

Andrew Weiss, a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank analyst, was sceptical the US sanctions would change a “largely competitive and adversarial relationship” in the short term or deter Russia in the long term.

“I’d be surprised if today’s very calibrated announcements by the Biden administration materially shift the relationship in either direction,” he said, saying Russia was willing to cooperate on some issues but there was unlikely ever to be a meeting of the minds on Ukraine or election interference.

“I don’t think it’s realistic to expect the new sanctions will shift Russia’s risk calculus in a fundamental fashion,” he added.

“It’s to be expected that the Russians will keep probing and testing our resolve.”

AP, Reuters