The US Department of the Treasury has filed sanctions against 16 Russian operatives, on the basis of election interference, anti-doping, agency hacking, and other activities done with a continued disregard for international norms. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has personally targeted Victor Alekseyevich Boyarkin, a former officer of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), for acting on behalf of Russian operative Oleg Deripaska, who had previously been sanctioned by the US government.

Along with Boyarkin, OFAC went after 15 members of GRU, for attempts to interfere with the 2016 US election, undermine international organizations through cyber-enabled means, and orchestrate an assassination attempt in the UK. The Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act allows OFAC to pursue these GRU members, bringing the total number of sanctioned Russian-related parties to 272.

“Treasury is sanctioning Russian intelligence operatives involved in cyber operations to interfere with the 2016 election and a wide range of other malign activities. We are taking action against operatives working on behalf of a sanctioned oligarch, hacking the World Anti-Doping Agency and other international organizations, and engaging in other subversive actions,” said Steven T. Mnuchin, secretary of the treasury. “The United States will continue to work with international allies and partners to take collective action to deter and defend against sustained malign activity by Russia, its proxies, and intelligence agencies.”

Included in the sanctions related to attempted election interference via online activity were Project Lakhta members Alexander Aleksandrovich Malkevich and Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova. Project Lakhta, which originated as a broad Russian effort that included the IRA, had expanded its efforts by operating under news entities, titled Nevskiy News LLC, Economy Today LLC, Federal News Agency LLC, and most recently USA Really. All entities and members have been sanctioned.

The nine GRU members who have been sanctioned for their “direct involvement in efforts to interfere in the 2016 US election by targeting election systems and political parties” are Viktor Borisovich Netyksho, Boris Alekseyevich Antonov, Ivan Sergeyevich Yermakov, Aleksey Viktorovich Lukashev, Nikolay Yuryevich Kozachek, Artem Andreyevich Malyshev, Aleksandr Vladimirovich Osadchuk, Aleksey Aleksandrovich Potemkin, and Anatoliy Sergeyevich Kovalev.

The OFAC also designated sanctions to Aleksei Morenets and Evgenii Serebriakov, who were key players in schemes against the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), taking place between 2016 and 2018. Russian military officers Oleg Sotnikov and Alexey Minin who supported these attacks were also included in the Treasury’s report. In March of 2018, sanctioned GRU officers Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov attempted to assassinate Sergei Skripal and his daughter, by means of a military grade nerve agent.