U.S. Condemns Russia for Cyberattack, Showing Split in Stance on Putin

WASHINGTON — The United States on Thursday joined Britain in formally blaming Russia for a huge cyberattack last June that was aimed at Ukraine but crippled computers worldwide, a highly public naming-and-shaming exercise that could further fray relations with Moscow.

The White House threatened unspecified “international consequences” for the attack, which it said “was part of the Kremlin’s ongoing effort to destabilize Ukraine and demonstrates ever more clearly Russia’s involvement in the ongoing conflict.”

The statement, issued by the press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said the attack, known by the name NotPetya, was “reckless and indiscriminate” and spread rapidly, “causing billions of dollars in damage across Europe, Asia and the Americas.”

NotPetya, which had the characteristics of a ransomware attack, had been widely identified by cybersecurity experts as coming from Russia, so the attribution was no surprise. But the decision of the United States and Britain to nearly simultaneously condemn the Russian military is noteworthy.

It underscores the dichotomy between the administration’s consistently tough stance toward Russia on issues involving Ukraine and President Trump’s continued reluctance to criticize President Vladimir V. Putin over anything else.
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In December, the White House approved the sale of lethal defensive weapons to the Ukrainian military for its battle against Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine. Yet Mr. Trump continues to soft-pedal allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, even after the nation’s intelligence agencies concluded that it did — an assessment that intelligence chiefs reiterated in Senate testimony this week.

Source: Nytimes News