US prepping Russian sanctions over hack, election disruption: report

The Biden administration is preparing to sanction around a dozen Russian individuals in retaliation for the misconduct including the SolarWinds hack, according to Bloomberg.

Sources told Bloomberg that the administration could announce the sanctions as soon as Thursday. The administration is reportedly planning to sanction a dozen government and intelligence officials in addition to 20 other individuals.

Another 10 Russian officials will also reportedly be expelled from the U.S.

Bloomberg reports that the new round of sanctions will target individuals accused of enabling the Internet Research Agency, an online troll farm with links to the Kremlin.

In 2018, former special counsel Robert Mueller, who was tasked with determining if the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 election, indicted 13 Russian individuals tied to the Internet Research Agency who posed as U.S. citizens online and spread misinformation to interfere with the U.S. political system.

The actions made in response to the SolarWinds hack are expected to focus on around a half-dozen people linked to Russian security services, Bloomberg reports, with the U.S. preparing to name the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service as being behind the campaign.

In March, Biden issued several sanctions against Russia for the poisoning and imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The sanctions targeted multiple Russian officials as well as the export of items controlled for national security reasons.

Bloomberg notes that these actions would fall in line with a review ordered by Biden on his first full day in office which looked into four areas of concern regarding Russia: election interference, Russian bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, the SolarWinds attack and the poisoning of Navalny.