WASHINGTON (US) – The United States will announce sanctions on Russia as soon as Thursday over alleged election interference and malicious cyber activity, targeting several individuals and entities, according to people familiar with the matter.
The sanctions, in which 30 entities are expected to be blacklisted, will be tied with orders expelling about 10 Russian officials from the United States, one of the people said.
The United States is also expected to announce aggressive new measures targeting the country’s sovereign debt through restrictions on U.S. financial institutions’ ability to trade such debt, according to another source.
The White House, the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The action will add a new chill to the already frosty relations between Washington and Moscow, which has tested the West’s patience with a military build-up near Ukraine.
The breach gave hackers access to thousands of companies and government offices that used the company’s products.
Microsoft President Brad Smith described the attack, which was identified in December, as “the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen.”
Biden has also vowed to take action on reports that Russia offered bounties to Taliban militants to kill US troops in Afghanistan.
The expected moves by the Biden administration are likely to exacerbate tensions in a relationship that slumped to a new post-Cold War low last month after Biden said he thought Putin was a “killer.”
Biden also proposed a meeting with Putin “in a third country”, which would allow the leaders to find areas to work together.
“The hostility and unpredictability of America’s actions force us in general to be prepared for the worst scenarios,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters last week, anticipating the new sanctions.
