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Russia is responsible for cyber attacks stretching back at least two years against the US power grid. the Trump administration has said. marking the first time America has publicly accused the Kremlin of hacking into American energy infrastructure.
Starting in March 2016. or possibly earlier. Russian government hackers tried to perforate multiple US critical infrastructure sectors. including energy. nuclear. commercial facilities. water. aviation and manufacturing. according to a US security alert.
US security officials have long warned that America may be vulnerable to debilitating cyber attacks. but it’s unclear how Russia’s campaign affected the sectors it was targeting.
Upon Mr Trump taking office in January 2017. many expected ties between the US leader and Russian President Vladimir Putin to improve. But the latest announcement has likely thrown a wrench into that forecast.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Mr Trump has been “extremely tough on Russia“ during his time in office and that Mr Putin’s government will need to “decide if they want to be a good actor or a bad actor“.
“I think you can see from the actions we’ve taken up until this point we’re going to be tough on Russia until they decide to change their behavior.“ Ms Sanders told reporters after being asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin was “playing“ Trump.
Ms Sanders’ comments followed the US’s announcement that it was imposing sanctions on 19 Russians for alleged interference in the 2016 US election. including 13 indicted earlier this year as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.
But the Trump administration has put off targeting oligarchs and government officials close to Mr Putin. prompting both Republican and Democratic members of Congress to urge Mr Trump to do much more.
Mr Mueller is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether Trump campaign officials colluded with the Kremlin.
Mr Trump has denied all allegations of collusion. The Russian government has also denied any role in the election meddling.
