Media: the United States to impose sanctions against ten citizens of the Russian Federation and 20 companies

According to Bloomberg and Reuters , citing their sources, the restrictions will affect ten Russian citizens and 20 legal entities, in addition, ten Russian diplomats will be expelled from the country. They clarified that members of the Russian government, as well as members of the special services, will fall under the sanctions.

The interlocutors of the publications indicated that the White House may officially announce the sanctions today, on April 15.

The media learned about the plans to expel Russian diplomats from the United States back on April 8. The publications said that American officials intend to hold a meeting to discuss the possibility of declaring personal sanctions. The measures were supposed to concern people from the inner circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as "agencies associated with interference in the elections".

The cyber attack on US government agencies through the software of the contractor Microsoft SolarWinds was reported in the US media in December 2020. That attack affected the State Department, the ministries of finance, trade and energy, and other departments. The media reported that more than 250 US federal agencies and enterprises were victims of a massive hack. The hackers managed, in particular, to gain access to the e-mail of the Bureau of the State Department for European and Eurasian Affairs, the Bureau for East Asia and the Pacific.

Recall, also, that on April 4, the American media announced an attack by Russian hackers on the US Department of Homeland Security.