§9501 Findings

Summary

Says Congress found that from 2014 to 2016 the President and Congress took steps to punish people and groups tied to trouble in Ukraine, Syria, and harmful cyber activities. On March 6, 2014, President Obama issued Executive Order No. 13660 and later added EO Nos. 13661 and 13662 to let the Treasury Secretary, with the State Department, impose sanctions on those who hurt Ukraine’s democracy, peace, or territory. On December 18, 2014, the Ukraine Freedom Support Act told the President to sanction Russian-owned or Russian national entities that provide certain defense items into Syria. On April 1, 2015, EO No. 13694 gave the Treasury Secretary, with the Attorney General and State, authority to sanction serious malicious cyber actors, and a July 26, 2016 Presidential Policy Directive said some cyber incidents need a special, coordinated response. On December 29, 2016, an annex to EO No. 13694 named specific Russian agencies, tech/security firms, and people for sanctions, including the GRU and FSB, the Special Technology Center (STLC), Zorsecurity (Esage Lab), ANO PO KSI, and the individuals Igor Valentinovich Korobov, Sergey Aleksandrovich Gizunov, Igor Olegovich Kostyukov, and Vladimir Stepanovich Alexseyev. On January 6, 2017, a U.S. intelligence assessment concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election and said Russia would use what it learned in future influence efforts.