The United States has on Wednesday, imposed fresh sanctions on Russia, expanding individual’s blacklist who were allegedly involved in a Russian backed campaign for meddling 2016 US presidential election, with other misdeeds.
The US treasury department has announced that it would now lift sanctions on major aluminum company Rusal with other two firms which are tied with Oleg Deripaska. Treasury said Oleg Deripaska will remain under the imposed sanctions.
According to news reports, in an official statement, the treasury said that the US fresh sanctions has targeted about 15 members of Russian military intelligence service with four of the entities involves in an alleged election interference.
In a statement, treasury’s office of foreign assets control (OFAC) said the action followed by sanctions imposed on Deripaska in April and on other six oligarchs, were “in response to Russia’s continued disregard for international norm”.
The move by US President Donald Trump was also followed by an executive order, Trump has signed, in September, in order to impose sanctions on any individual or country who tried to interfere in the US election. Trump has issued this order amid allegation over him handling of Russian election meddling.
OFAC official, Michael Dobson, said, “The administration hasn’t taken its eye off the Russian intelligence service and the role they play in malign activities around the world.” He further said, “I think it’s definitely a strong action.”
The sanctions has been imposed on some intelligence officers who were alleged in involvement of hacking the Democratic Party officials and also in campaigns in order to discord on social media with a aim of disrupting the US election.
The sanctioned list included Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, who was allegedly charged with attempting to interfere the 2018 US election in October, who was also named in a court paper as an accountant for several Russian companied which was indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller this year.
In a statement by treasury, it said that it also singled out former intelligence officer Victor Boyarkin over his ties with Deripaska, who helped to provide “Russian financial support” to Montenegrin political party during 2016 Montenegro election.
Some sanctioned individuals were those who has hacked the World Anti-Doping agency and other organizations too between 2016 and 2018. It also sanctioned Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov, two Russian intelligence officer, over their alleged role in poisoning former Russian spy Sergei Skripal with his daughter in March in Salisbury.