Five Russian intelligence officers and a civilian were accused by the US on Thursday of planning to launch cyberattacks against Ukraine and its allies in an effort to cripple Ukraine.
The Justice Department alleged that a cyber branch of Russia’s military intelligence agency carried out “large-scale cyber operations” as early as 2020, before to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, in an amended indictment that was released on Thursday.
Amin Stigal was the only defendant listed in the initial indictment, which was submitted in June to the US District Court for the District of Maryland.
It accused him of planning cyberattacks against computer systems in Ukraine and other nations, including a computer network run by an unidentified US agency in Maryland, in collusion with Russia’s military intelligence organization, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff, or GRU.
The announcement on Thursday comes only a day after the United States of America launched multiple legal proceedings against Russia in an attempt to counter suspected attempts to influence the 2024 presidential elections. These moves included the indictment of two RT employees and the imposition of sanctions on both RT and its chief network editor.
Additionally, it happened on the same day that the Justice Department declared that Dimitri Simes, a Russian TV contributor, and his spouse had been charged with money laundering and violating sanctions after receiving two indictments.
A cyber espionage squad known as “Unit 29155” that is part of Russia’s GRU was destroying vital national infrastructure, according to warnings issued earlier on Thursday by US and UK intelligence services.
The unit at the center of Thursday’s indictment, Unit 29155, is a clandestine division of the GRU that conducts sabotage, murder, and subversion operations outside of Russia, Western officials told Reuters.
