On Thursday, the United States accused five Russian intelligence officials and one Russian civilian of a plot to conduct cyberattacks against Ukraine and its allies.
This is seen as an effort to hinder Ukraine in the ongoing war that began with Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
In an unsealed indictment on Thursday, the Department of Justice stated that a cyber unit of Russia’s military intelligence agency conducted “widespread cyber operations” starting from 2020, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The original indictment, filed in June in the US District Court for the District of Maryland, only mentioned one defendant, Amin Stigal.
He is accused of conspiring with Russia’s military intelligence agency, known as the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (GRU), to launch cyberattacks against computer systems in Ukraine and other countries, including a computer network operated by an unidentified US agency in Maryland, according to Reuters.
Thursday’s news comes just a day after the US took legal actions against Russia to counter alleged attempts to interfere in the 2024 presidential elections, including charging two employees of the Russian state media network RT and sanctioning RT and its chief editor.
