The Justice Department on Thursday said it has charged seven Russian intelligence officials with hacking doping agencies and other organizations, including a Pennsylvania-based nuclear energy company.
The indictment announced at a press conference by John Demers, assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s national security division, alleges that Russia’s military intelligence agency, known as the GRU, targeted the hacking victims because they had publicly condemned Russia’s state-sponsored athlete doping program.
“The defendants believed they could use their anonymity to act with impunity in their own countries and on the territories of other sovereign nations to undermine international institutions and to distract from their government’s own wrongdoing,” Demers said.
“They were wrong.”
The victims included about 250 athletes from 30 countries, along with anti-doping agencies around the world, U.S. attorney Scott Brady said at the press conference.
The charges did not appear to be directly related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation of Russia’s interference and potential coordination with the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.
But three of the seven defendants in the indictment announced Thursday were previously charged by Mueller, Demers said.
Mueller’s probe has lodged charges against dozens of Russian nationals and Russian companies for violating U.S. laws in their alleged efforts to meddle in the election that put Trump in the White House.
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— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
