Amid Hacking Feud, US Hits Russia With New Sanctions

The outgoing Obama administration on Monday blacklisted five Russians, including a senior law enforcement official close to President Vladimir Putin, as the two nations’ feud over U.S. election hacking escalated.

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The founder of WikiLeaks, publisher of the election-related emails, denounced last week’s U.S. intelligence report about the hacking as a “press release.”

The economic sanctions against the five Russians are not related to the U.S. intelligence agencies findings, officials said, and instead are connected to a 2012 U.S. law punishing Russian human rights violators. Americans are now banned from doing business with the men and any assets they may have in the United States are now frozen.

Britain blames the two others for the London murder of a former Russian spy.

Forty-four Russians have now been subjected to U.S. sanctions under the so-called Magnitsky law, the State Department said.