What did Washington's sanctions on Russia involve?

What did the United States do to Russia on 15 April 2021? It announced a package of retaliatory measures over the 2020 federal government data breach, interference in the 2020 US elections, and the occupation of and human rights abuses in Crimea.

The measures had several parts. The US banned trade in bonds newly issued by Russia's Central Bank, National Wealth Fund and Ministry of Finance. It formally named the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service as responsible for the data breach. It also blacklisted 32 Russian entities and individuals and expelled ten Russian diplomats.

Moscow's response

Russia denied the allegations. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the US ambassador to tell him that a series of retaliatory measures would follow soon. A spokesperson for the ministry also said that a potential summit between the two countries' leaders might not take place.

The accusations behind the measures

The data breach was a cyberattack suspected to have been carried out by a group backed by the Russian government. As later described, it penetrated thousands of organisations worldwide, including multiple parts of the US federal government, and was reported to be among the worst cyber-espionage incidents the country had suffered. Affected organisations included NATO, the UK government, the European Parliament and Microsoft.

On election interference, an analysis released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in March 2021 found that proxies of Russian intelligence had promoted misleading or unsubstantiated narratives about Joe Biden to US media organisations, officials and prominent individuals.

A domestic note from Ukraine

Elsewhere in the region, Ukraine's health minister, Maksym Stepanov, had said on 13 April 2021 that the country had reached the peak of its third wave of coronavirus.