The Biden administration’s recent comprehensive package of sanctions against Russian individuals and organisations is probably the clearest indication yet of a US decision to use sticks to moderate Moscow’s adventurism. But do these measures go far enough, and what will the US need to do next if they fail to have the desired effect?
The most impressive aspect of the US sanctions package concerns its response to Russia’s election meddling and espionage. In particular, it addresses the SolarWinds hack, which compromised the Pentagon, Treasury, Department of Energy and – uncomfortably – the Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency (CISA), the body responsible for protecting federal systems from cyberattacks. The US has directly attributed responsibility to Russia’s SVR (specifically its hacker group APT-29, also called Cozy Bear), and has named numerous businesses and criminal networks that wittingly or unwittingly assisted Russian information warfare and espionage e