Top Senator John McCain blasts Russia, saying there must be a ‘price to pay’ for ‘interference in democracy’
Republican says US may impose sanctions on Russia to 'stop these kinds of attacks on our very fundamentals of democracy'
SENATOR John McCain has described the alleged Russian hacking of the US election as an “act of war”.
The Republican said Russia must pay the price for cyber-attacks on the US, and revealed he has scheduled a hearing on foreign cyber threats for Thursday next week.
McCain also said it would be possible to impose a number of sanctions on Russia, including but not limited to its financial institutions.
In an interview with Ukrainian TV channel 1+1, the Senator said: "When you attack a country, it's an act of war."
Speaking during a visit to Kiev, he added: “And so we have to make sure that there is a price to pay, so that we can perhaps persuade the Russians to stop these kinds of attacks on our very fundamentals of democracy."
A spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin has since warned against imposing such sanctions, and said they could cause “significant discomfort” for US diplomats living in Russia.
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump has praised Putin for peacefully accepting the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats from the US.
Russia slammed the hacking accusations behind the expulsions as “absolutely groundless” as its UK embassy shared a tweet calling President Barack Obama a “lame duck”.
The tweet comes as a leaked report by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security has revealed the extent to which “Russian intelligence services actors” compromised the US government.
The 13-page dossier was published alongside a joint statement by the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and Director of National Intelligence.
It read: "This activity by Russian intelligence services is part of a decade-long campaign of cyber-enabled operations directed at the U.S. Government and its citizens.
"A great deal of analysis and forensic information related to Russian government activity has been published by a wide range of security companies.
"The U.S. Government can confirm that the Russian government, including Russia’s civilian and military intelligence services, conducted many of the activities generally described by a number of these security companies."
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According to US officials, the majority of the “malicious cyber activity” alleged to have been conducted by the Russian government has come in the form of “spear phishing”.
The practice involves sending emails that appear to be from an individual or business known by the sender, but which are actually from a hacker.
The report claims two Russian intelligence “actors” infiltrated a “US political party” in the summer of 2015 and spring 2016.
It said "emails containing a malicious link [were sent] to over 1,000 recipients, including multiple U.S. Government victims" in the first instance.
From here, "using the harvested credentials, [the Russian government] was able to gain access and steal content, likely leading to the exfiltration of information from multiple senior party members”.
The report claimed hacking attempts that are “likely associated” with the Russian government are ongoing.
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