عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

US Indicts Russian Intelligence Officials over Cyberattacks Targeting Ukraine

FILE PHOTO: A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo
TT
TT

US Indicts Russian Intelligence Officials over Cyberattacks Targeting Ukraine

FILE PHOTO: A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo

The US on Thursday charged five Russian intelligence officials and a Russian civilian with conspiring to launch cyberattacks against Ukraine and its allies in a bid to hobble Ukraine.
In a revised indictment unsealed on Thursday, the Justice Department said a cyber unit of Russia's military intelligence agency conducted "large-scale cyber operations" starting as far back as 2020, before Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The original indictment, filed in June in the US District Court for the District of Maryland, only named a single defendant: Amin Stigal.
According to Reuters, it accused him of conspiring with Russia's military intelligence agency, known as the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff, or GRU, to launch cyber attacks against computer systems in Ukraine and other countries, including a computer network maintained by an unnamed US agency in Maryland.
Thursday's news comes just one day after the US took several legal actions against Russia to combat alleged efforts to meddle in the 2024 presidential elections, including charging two employees of the Russian state media network RT and sanctioning RT and its top network editor.
It also came on the same day that the Justice Department announced it had secured two indictments against Russian TV contributor Dimitri Simes and his wife over sanctions violations and money laundering.
Earlier on Thursday, intelligence agencies in the US and the United Kingdom warned that a cyber espionage group located within Russia's GRU known as "Unit 29155" was destructively targeting critical national infrastructure.
Unit 29155, which is the group at the heart of Thursday's indictment, is a covert part of the GRU which carries out subversion, sabotage and assassination missions outside Russia, Western officials told Reuters.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Iranian Security Forces Kill More Cross-Border Couriers

Kulbars carry goods on their backs along the mountains of the Iran-Iraq border (Mehr)
Kulbars carry goods on their backs along the mountains of the Iran-Iraq border (Mehr)
TT
TT

Iranian Security Forces Kill More Cross-Border Couriers

Kulbars carry goods on their backs along the mountains of the Iran-Iraq border (Mehr)
Kulbars carry goods on their backs along the mountains of the Iran-Iraq border (Mehr)

An alarming number of border couriers, primarily from Iran’s Kurdish and Baluchi minorities, have been killed in the first eight months of 2024, as Tehran uses unlawful and lethal force against those who transport goods and fuel across Iranian borders as their only means of survival, said the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on Thursday.

Headquartered in Washington, CHRI said at least 30 Kurdish border couriers, known as kulbars, were killed and 198 others injured by direct gunfire from Iranian government forces from January to August 2024.

Research undertaken by CHRI also found that six of the injured were children. One of them was 17-year-old Arian Mamandi from Sardasht, who was shot in the face by border guards and lost an eye.

Over the same eight-month period, at least 34 Baluchi fuel couriers, known as sukhtbars, were killed, and 39 others were injured by direct gunfire from government forces, CHRI’s research showed. One of those killed was 14-year-old Omran Baloch Zahi.

“The ongoing killings of border couriers are yet another example of the Islamic Republic’s use of disproportionate and lethal violence against Iran’s oppressed ethnic communities,” said Hadi Ghaemi, CHRI executive director.

“The Iranian government must immediately halt its unlawful use of lethal force against border couriers and instead focus on developing economic empowerment initiatives. This relentless violence against vulnerable populations must end,” Ghaemi said.

In July, Human Rights Watch and the Center for Supporters of Human Rights (CSHR) called on Iranian authorities under the new president to halt their use of excessive and lethal force at the Iran-Iraq border against predominantly Kurdish kulbars (border couriers), who come from marginalized communities.

“It is shameful that our youth have to engage in kulbari [transporting goods across border] for a piece of bread. We must establish a border that facilitates trade, not kulbari,” said Masoud Pezeshkian, the newly elected president of Iran, during his presidential campaign in Sanandaj in June.