U.S. sanctions Russia

The Biden administration on Thursday kicked out 10 Russian diplomats in response to election interference and cyberattacks on federal agencies. The United States also sanctioned 32 people and entities, six Russian companies that support the nation’s cyberoperations, and eight other people over Russia’s occupation of Crimea. American financial institutions aren’t allowed to buy bonds directly from Russian banks.

What led to the crackdown? The administration accused the SVR, Russia’s intelligence agency, of carrying out the SolarWinds attack in 2020, claiming Russian hackers accessed the networks of at least nine federal agencies by infecting software with malicious code. Last month, U.S. officials also accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of approving operations to back President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the measures would trigger “a resolute retaliation.”

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift on the SolarWinds breach.