Andrew E. Kramer
MOSCOW — The Russian intelligence officers indicted on Fri past times the US exceptional counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, served inwards a branch of the Russian armed forces formerly known every bit the G.R.U., which has been linked inwards recent years to a number of increasingly bold, fifty-fifty reckless operations abroad. The scheme is Russia’s largest armed forces intelligence means together with is 1 of several groups authorized to spy for the Russian government, amongst successor agencies to the K.G.B. Though the G.R.U. has been the target of sanctions past times the US authorities numerous times, including inwards connectedness with hacking inwards the 2016 presidential election, the indictments filed past times Mr. Mueller’s component are the starting fourth dimension criminal charges leveled against Russian authorities officials for election meddling.
A previous indictment the financier together with employees of a nominally private network troll farm based inwards St. Petersburg.
Though yet unremarkably referred to every bit the G.R.U., or Main Intelligence Directorate, the means inwards 2010 changed its call to the Main Directorate, or G.U. As before, it is subordinate to the Russian armed forces command.
From the shooting downward of a civilian airliner over Ukraine to operations inwards Syrian Arab Republic together with the US electoral hacking, the organization’s recent history has been entangled with or then of Russia’s nigh contentious actions, analysts together with safety researchers say.
The indictment unsealed on Fri singled out 2 signals intelligence -units focused on estimator espionage — 1 based nigh Gorky Park inwards fundamental Moscow together with the other inwards an outlying district nigh a shopping mall.
“These units conducted large-scale cyber operations to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election,” according to the indictment.
One officeholder identified inwards the indictment, Viktor B. Netyksho, the leader of a unit of measurement that hacked the Democratic National Committee, has the same call every bit an private who for years studied estimator scientific discipline together with published an academic thesis together with at to the lowest degree 1 scientific paper.
The 2003 thesis was presented to an academy affiliated with the F.S.B., Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, that studies cryptography. It related to a champaign of mathematics known every bit nonlinear, or Boolean, equations.
United States intelligence agencies had already concluded “with high confidence” that the G.R.U. created an online persona called Guccifer 2.0 together with a website, DCLeaks.com, to unloosen emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee together with the chairman of the Clinton campaign, John D. Podesta, earlier the 2016 presidential election.
The G.R.U. chief, Igor V. Korobov, together with iii of his deputies were the starting fourth dimension Russian officials to facial expression upward sanctions past times the Obama direction inwards Dec 2016, for interfering inwards the elections. In March, the Treasury Department announced novel sanctions against the G.R.U. together with Mr. Korobov.
The initial sanctions nether the Obama direction every bit good targeted a deputy commander of the G.R.U., Sergei A. Gizunov. Not mentioned at the fourth dimension was Mr. Gizunov’s ties to a grouping inside the G.R.U., Unit 26165, that the Fri indictment described every bit pivotal inwards the hacking of the Democratic National Committee.
Mr. Gizunov was a old commander of this unit, according to a 2009 study inwards a authorities newspaper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, that announced Mr. Gizunov had won a Earth prize inwards science.
On Friday, Michael McFaul, a old US ambassador to Russia, wrote on Twitter: “I’m real impressed that Mueller was able to call the 12 GRU officers inwards the novel indictment. Demonstrates the incredible capabilities of our intelligence community.”
The US Congress has every bit good had its sights on Russian armed forces intelligence. In August 2017, it expanded the Obama direction sanctions to target 2 additional armed forces intelligence officers inwards a sanctions bill.
The agency, according to a Treasury Department statement, has been “directly involved inwards interfering inwards the 2016 U.S. election through cyber-enabled activities,” every bit good every bit a 2017 NotPetya cyber attack, which caused billions of dollars inwards losses across Europe, Asia together with the United States, disrupted global transportation together with trade, together with knocked several major hospitals offline.
Inside Russia, 1 of the 2 units cited inwards Friday’s indictment, Unit 26165, had a reputation every bit an elite group. In 2016, Vzglyad, an online tidings portal, described members of the unit of measurement every bit existence “able to decipher whatever code inside iii minutes together with re-encrypt it without breaking away from writing a doctoral dissertation on quantum physics.”
The European Union sanctioned a key Russian identified every bit a G.R.U. officer inwards relation to Russia’s armed forces incursion inwards eastern Ukraine nether the guise of patriotic volunteers. Igor V. Girkin, nether the nickname Igor Strelkov, or Igor the Shooter, led the seizure of the Ukrainian town of Slovyansk inwards 2014.
Bellingcat, a grouping conducting opened upward source query on the Ukrainian conflict, has identified the Russian armed forces officeholder who shot downward Malaysia Airline flying 17 inwards 2014 every bit a fellow member of the G.R.U.
Earlier this year, the US imposed sanctions against the G.R.U. for violating the Iran, North Korea, together with Syrian Arab Republic Nonproliferation Act, which prohibits entities from providing equipment or applied scientific discipline that tin live used inwards manufacturing weapons of majority devastation or ballistic missile systems. This is probable for operations inwards Syria, where G.R.U. commandos, or Spetsnaz, accept been instrumental inwards the struggle against the Islamic State together with played a critical purpose inwards regaining cities similar Aleppo together with Palmyra for the Assad government.
Like the Spetsnaz, the military’s signals intelligence units accept a storied history stretching deep into the Cold War.
A Russian history book, “Security Systems of the U.S.S.R.,” published inwards 2013, identified the origins of Unit 26165 inwards the Cold War, when it was established every bit a signals decrypting component for the Soviet military. The unit, according to this history, was based inwards the same edifice identified inwards the indictments released on Fri every bit its base of operations today, inwards fundamental Moscow.
Mr. Gizunov’s call every bit good surfaced every bit a fundamental figure inwards a recent dispute betwixt armed forces intelligence together with the main successor means to the K.G.B., the F.S.B. It is an old rivalry that re-appeared during the electoral hack, Crowd Strike, the cyber safety companionship hired past times the Democratic Party, has suggested. Crowd Strike reported that both armed forces intelligence together with the F.S.B. hacked the DNC servers, maybe without noesis of the others’ actions.
A twelvemonth later, inwards 2017, Mr. Gizunov, the old manager of Unit 26165, used armed forces intelligence agents to unravel a F.S.B. cyber functioning that had focused on Ukraine together with domestic issues, Russian media accept reported. The armed forces agents reportedly disclosed links betwixt a cybercrime band known every bit Shaltai-Boltai, or Humpty Dumpty, together with the F.S.B.’s cyber unit, the Center for Information Security.
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