The US Justice Department on Thursday announced charges against one Russian intelligence officer and one Russian IT worker for conducting a years-long cyber-espionage campaign against current and former US government officials, and interfering in a national election in the United Kingdom.
In the UK, the two Russian operatives were part of “sustained unsuccessful attempts to interfere in UK political processes” over several years that hacked politicians, civil servants and journalists, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in a statement. British diplomats have summoned the Russian ambassador to the UK and condemned the alleged interference activity, Leo Docherty, a UK Foreign Office minister, said in a statement to parliament.
The two Russian men — Ruslan Aleksandrovich Peretyatko, an officer with the FSB intelligence service, and IT worker Andrey Stanislavovich Korinets — also tried to hack numerous current and former US intelligence and Defense Department employees, as well as those at the State and Energy Department, from 2016 to 2022, according to the US indictment unsealed in federal court in San Francisco.
It’s the latest attempt by the US and its allies to expose alleged Russian hacking and influence operations in an effort to make them less impactful. It comes as US officials brace for sustained foreign interference efforts in the 2024 US presidential election.
It was not immediately clear how successful the hacking efforts of US officials were. The indictment did not name the officials targeted.
The US Treasury Department announced sanctions against Peretyatko and Korinets, and the State Department offered $10 million reward for information leading to the identification and location of the men. The men live in Russia, US officials said, meaning the prospect of them appearing in a US court room is slim.
The Russian embassy in Washington, DC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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