Kremlin promises to respond to new US sanctions against Russia
Russia will respond to the US sanctions imposed against eleven Russian citizens, and six Russian companies, reports the press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry. The reason for sanctions was Washington's accusation of cyber fraud.
The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed to the "politicization" of the US claims. Diplomats note that if Washington's representatives had "real evidence," they would have appealed to the Russian side to conduct an audit. According to the Foreign Ministry, no such requests have been received.
"Diplomats add that in 2014, the US stopped the work of the joint group on cybersecurity and still doesn't want to resume it. The US side uses media to accuse Moscow of cyber-hacking, including interference in the US presidential election, but does not want to show evidence to experts," reads the statement. According to Russian diplomats, Washington "simply has no evidence that it wouldn't be ashamed to present before the experts."
"It turns out that the purpose of the initiators of sanctions is not the fight against crime, but another propaganda attack against Russia," reports Russian Foreign Ministry.
Earlier, the US Treasury Department introduced sanctions against Russian citizens and Russia companies, including hacker Evil Corp. group (also known as Dridex gang). According to the US Treasury Department, hackers have developed and implemented a Dridex virus program, which was used to infect computers in 300 banks and financial institutions in more than 40 countries. The scammers stole more than $100 million.
The US sanctions list also includes Russian citizen Maksim Yakubets, who, according to the US Treasury Department, was the head of a hacker group and provided "direct assistance to the malicious efforts of the Russian authorities in the field of cybercrime." The Department believes that he also cooperated with the Russian Federal Security Service. Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said that these accusations are groundless and have no evidence.