Via Twitter
President Obama has now decided to sanction five Russian entities and four individuals for allegedly hacking Democratic political organizations during the 2016 presidential campaign.
UPDATE:
Russia has now threatened retaliation since Obama decided to sanction them for hacking into the presidential campaign. They tweeted,
#Peskov: We will certainly response adequately and it will be determined in line with decisions adopted by Russian President
Check out the tweets below.
#Peskov: We will certainly response adequately and it will be determined in line with decisions adopted by Russian President pic.twitter.com/8HHGcVllKC
— Russia in USA ?? (@RusEmbUSA) December 29, 2016
#Peskov: There is no doubt that Russia's adequate and mirror response will make Washington officials feel very uncomfortable as well
— Russia in USA ?? (@RusEmbUSA) December 29, 2016
#Zakharova: Tomorrow there will be official statements, countermeasures@MFA_Russia
— Russia in USA ?? (@RusEmbUSA) December 29, 2016
#Peskov: As we have already said before, we believe such decisions, sanctions to be groundless, illegal from international law point of view
— Russia in USA ?? (@RusEmbUSA) December 29, 2016
Source: Twitter
ORIGINAL STORY
In a statment, Obama says,
“I have ordered a number of actions in response to the Russian government’s aggressive harassment of U.S. officials and cyber operations aimed at the U.S. election. These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior.”
He also told Americans that they “should be alarmed by Russia’s actions” which were clearly designed to “interfere with the U.S. election process.”
He says,
“These data theft and disclosure activities could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government. Moreover, our diplomats have experienced an unacceptable level of harassment in Moscow by Russian security services and police over the last year. Such activities have consequences.”
State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner wrote,
“This harassment has involved arbitrary police stops, physical assault, and the broadcast on State TV of personal details about our personnel that put them at risk. In addition, the Russian government has impeded our diplomatic operations by, among other actions: forcing the closure of 28 American corners which hosted cultural programs and English-language teaching; blocking our efforts to begin the construction of a new, safer facility for our Consulate General in St. Petersburg; and rejecting requests to improve perimeter security at the current, outdated facility in St. Petersburg.”
Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are now expected to ‘release declassified technical information on Russian civilian and military intelligence service cyber activity to help network defenders in the U.S. and abroad identify, detect and disrupt Russia’s global campaign of malicious cyber activities, according to the president.’
Source: ABCNEWS
