The US Department of Justice stated that seven Russians, whom the agency calls officers of the Russian armed forces, are involved in cyber attacks.
The agency said that the purpose of cyber attacks were chemical laboratories, including the Swiss laboratory, where the substance was studied, which in the UK poisoned the former Russian intelligence officer Sergey Skripal. Other targets were sports organizations, including FIFA and WADA, the International Court of Arbitration, USADA and the nuclear company Westhouse..
Three of the seven Russians, stressed in the Ministry of Justice, also previously accused of interfering in the elections in the United States.
The National Security Department of the US Department of Justice held a press conference on Thursday, during which criminal charges were announced against seven members of the Russian intelligence service of the GRU.
The conference was attended by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers, Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI for Cyber ??Security Eric Welling, Director of the Royal Mounted Police of Canada General Mark Flynn, Attorney General of the Western District of Pennsylvania Scott Brady.
GRU agents accused of hacking attacks on anti-doping departments and other organizations. According to the Ministry of Justice, organizations that publicly supported the removal of Russian athletes from international sports competitions and condemned the doping program held in Russia with the support of the state were attacked..
According to prosecutors, the attacks also involved a Pennsylvania-based nuclear power company and an international organization investigating chemical attacks in Syria and the attempted assassination of a GRU officer Sergei Skrypal.
Reportedly, hacker attacks were often carried out remotely.. If this method did not work, hackers performed operations near objects. The operations involved specially trained officers of the GRU with sophisticated equipment that allowed them to perform attacks via Wi-Fi networks..
The charges were announced a few hours after the authorities in the Netherlands reported that in April they prevented an attempt by Russian agents to commit a cyber attack on the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is headquartered in The Hague.
The Netherlands publicly disclosed the identity of the alleged Russian agents, stating that the operation was conducted by the Russian military intelligence service of the GRU, Dutch officials reported.
According to the minister, Alexey Morenets, Yevgeny Serebryakov, Oleg Sotnikov and Alexey Minin were involved in the attack..