U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats including shutting down of two Russian compounds in the U.S. in a number of actions announced on Thursday as reprisal for Russia\u2019s meddling in US election.<\/p>\n
Obama\u2019s speech obtained by correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York, stated that the actions were \u201cin response to Russia\u2019s malicious cyber activity and harassment.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, I have ordered a number of actions in response to the Russian government\u2019s aggressive harassment of U.S. officials and cyber operations aimed at U.S. election.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behaviour.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe U.S State Department is also shutting down two Russian compounds, in Maryland and New York, used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related purposes, and is declaring \u2018persona non grata\u2019 on 35 Russian intelligence operatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinally, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are releasing declassified technical information on Russian civilian and military intelligence service cyber activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is to help network defenders in the U.S. and abroad to identify, detect, and disrupt Russia\u2019s global campaign of malicious cyber activities.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to him, all Americans should be alarmed by Russia\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n
Obama added that \u201cin October, my Administration publicised our assessment that Russia took actions intended to interfere with the U.S. election process.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese data theft and disclosure activities could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoreover, our diplomats have experienced unacceptable level of harassment in Moscow by Russian security services and police over the last year. Such activities have consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
He explained that he had issued an executive order that provided additional authority for responding to certain cyber activity aimed at interfering with or undermining America\u2019s election processes and institutions, or those of its allies or partners.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsing this new authority, I have sanctioned nine entities and individuals: the GRU and the FSB, two Russian intelligence services; four individual officers of the GRU; and three companies that provided material support to the GRU\u2019s cyber operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition, the Secretary of the Treasury is designating two Russian individuals for using cyber-enabled means to cause misappropriation of funds and personal identifying information.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. president explained that \u201cthese actions are not the sum total of our response to Russia\u2019s aggressive activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to take actions at a time and place of our choosing, some of which will not be publicised.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition to holding Russia accountable for what it has done, the United States and friends and allies around the world must work together to oppose Russia\u2019s efforts to undermine established international norms of behaviour, and interfere with democratic governance.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo that end, my Administration will be providing a report to Congress in the coming days about Russia\u2019s efforts to interfere in our election, as well as malicious cyber activity related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats including shutting down of two Russian compounds in the U.S. in a number of actions announced on Thursday…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n