WASHINGTON _ The Trump administration on Thursday announced sanctions against 19 Russian individuals and five organizations for meddling in the 2016 elections and for other "destructive" cyberattacks targeting the U.S. electrical grid and water systems.
President Donald Trump himself did not criticize Russia directly or address the sanctions, which are the strongest such actions by his administration since he took office, when he made comments to reporters after the Treasury Department's announcement.
He simply acknowledged, only when asked by reporters, that he agreed with British Prime Minister Theresa May that Russia was culpable for a separate nerve agent attack in a British city March 4 that targeted a Russian-born double agent and his daughter and injured other British citizens.
"It certainly looks like the Russians were behind it _ something that should never, ever happen," Trump said. He said his administration was taking it "seriously."
The poisoning in Salisbury, England, was "a very sad situation," Trump said, as he sat down to meet with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
The president's comment was far less condemnatory on the poisonings 11 days ago than a separate statement that his government issued, also on Thursday, along with Britain, France and Germany. That joint statement called Russia's use of the military-grade nerve agent a "clear violation" of international law and said that Moscow's failure to respond to the charge "further underlines Russia's responsibility."
"Our concerns are also heightened against the background of a pattern of earlier irresponsible Russian behavior," the four nations said, presumably in reference to Russian aggression against Ukraine and in Syria, and its past attacks on other Russian expatriates.
Trump has not criticized Russia for its election meddling, which included spreading fake news stories and hacking the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign chief, according to the U.S. intelligence community.
Yet the Treasury sanctions include measures against 13 individuals and three entities, including the Internet Research Agency, that have been indicted as part of the ongoing investigation by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russia's interference and possible Trump campaign involvement.
Russian military hackers were behind the destructive NotPetya malware attack launched last year that did billions of dollars in damage across Europe and the U.S. and disrupted shipping and medicine production, as well as an attempt to infiltrate U.S. electrical grids and water services, a series of cyberattacks that is "long term and still ongoing," a U.S. national security official told reporters, on condition of anonymity to describe intelligence matters.
Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said the new sanctions are part of a broad effort to address "ongoing nefarious attacks" by the Russian government of President Vladimir V. Putin.
"The Administration is confronting and countering malign Russian cyber activity, including their attempted interference in U.S. elections, destructive cyber-attacks, and intrusions targeting critical infrastructure," Mnuchin said in a statement.
Many of the new sanctions were issued to comply with a bipartisan law passed by Congress last summer that required the Trump administration to add sanctions to those imposed by the Obama administration in late 2016. Trump signed the law with a statement that he believed the legislation was "seriously flawed," and his administration is months late in meeting the law's deadline for action.
Trump has complained that the Russia investigation is a "witch hunt," insisting that Russian interference had no impact on the election result and denying there was any collusion between his campaign and Moscow.
He has faced criticism for not responding more forcefully to Russian political interference, which top intelligence officials have said remains an ongoing problem as the nation approaches the 2018 midterm elections with control of Congress at stake.
In repeated hearings on Capitol Hill, the president's top national security advisers have testified that Moscow is poised to use similar tactics, which have included releasing hacked emails and influencing public opinion with divisive social media posts. They have also told Congress that the president has not directed them to take any action in response.
"I believe that President Putin has clearly come to the conclusion that, there's little price to pay here and therefore I can continue this activity," Adm. Mike Rogers, the outgoing director of the National Security Agency and leader of the U.S. Cyber Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last month.
During a confirmation hearing on Thursday, Trump's nominee to replace Rogers, Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone, echoed those concerns. "Unless the calculus changes, we should expect continued issues," he told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
