OPINION
Now,
really crank up heat on Russia
What
more America and Europe can do to fight Kremlin assault on Western
democratic institutions.
By DAVID J.
KRAMER 12/30/16, 4:23 PM CET Updated 12/30/16, 4:26 PM CET
WASHINGTON —
Vladimir Putin opted on Friday not to expel 35 American diplomats,
following Thursday’s decision by the Obama administration to
declare persona non grata that number of Russian intelligence
operatives from the United States and take other measures in response
to Russia’s interference in the recent election. The Kremlin chief
may be trying to appear reasonable, seeking to limit the damage to
U.S.-Russian relations with three weeks to go before Donald Trump,
with his softer line toward Moscow, gets sworn in as president.
Nobody should fall
for this KGB veteran’s act. After all, it was Putin who authorized
the Russian hacking and interference in the U.S. election this year,
in an unprecedented attack on America’s political and electoral
system. Had Putin decided to expel 35 Americans, he would not have
been retaliating – he would have been escalating the confrontation.
In July, after
reports about the cyberattack on the Democratic National Committee’s
computer system first appeared, I joined more than two dozen leading
Republican figures in calling on appropriate congressional committees
to launch an immediate investigation. “The foreign attack was an
assault on the integrity of the entire American political process,”
we argued then. “Those responsible for this gross interference in
our political process, and those who might contemplate similar moves
in the future, need to understand that such actions will have
consequences.”
America and EU must
together push back against Russia’s aggression, including by
expelling RT and Sputnik employees – who are not real journalists,
let’s be blunt – from our countries.
Since then, the
entire U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Russian
agencies sought to tip the election in favor of Trump, not simply
discredit the U.S. electoral process. Russia’s brazen actions
demanded a strong response.
Thursday’s
announcement was a step, overdue but still welcome, in the right
direction. In sanctioning a number of entities and individuals, the
U.S. government went after those directly responsible, including
Russia’s Military Intelligence Service (GRU) and the Federal
Security Service (FSB), the successor agency to the Soviet-era KGB.
As President Obama’s statement made clear, “The United States and
friends and allies around the world must work together to oppose
Russia’s efforts to undermine established international norms of
behavior, and interfere with democratic governance.”
Moscow vs. the West
While Russian
interference in the U.S. political process this year was a new
development, Moscow has been intervening in other countries’
elections and politics for years. It launched a cyberattack against
Estonia in 2007 and has messed with the infrastructure of neighboring
states like Lithuania. Ukraine has been the victim of endless Russian
cyberattacks on top of more traditional military assaults in its
eastern Donbas region and the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The Kremlin’s
propaganda outlets such as RT and Sputnik meddle in other countries’
politics. Almost a year ago, in an effort to stir up ethnic tensions
in Germany, Russia’s most-watched television network, Channel One,
fabricated a story that a 13-year-old German-Russian girl was
gang-raped by a group of immigrants in Berlin. More broadly, German
authorities have been warning about Russia’s growing role ahead of
next fall’s elections there, while RT announced it was beefing up
its French-language service to cover the upcoming elections in
France.
Let’s do some
retaliatory hacking of bank accounts of top Russian officials.
Lopping off a few zeroes from the Russians’ ill-gotten gains would
send a strong, targeted message.
The U.S. and Europe
must work more closely together in pushing back against Russia’s
aggression, including by exploring the idea of expelling RT and
Sputnik employees — who are not real journalists, let’s be blunt
— from our countries. After all, the role of these outlets is not
to engage in true journalism but to blur the distinction between fact
and fiction and exploit the openness of Western societies. More
European countries should also adopt the Magnitsky legislation —
Estonia this month is the only country on the Continent that has done
what the U.S. did in 2012 — that sanctions Russian officials
involved in gross human rights abuses. The way the Putin regime
treats its own people, to be clear, is similar to the way it behaves
in foreign policy.
* * *
More can and should
be done in the U.S., too. For example, it is unclear why the Obama
administration targeted, rightly, the head of the GRU, Igor Korobov,
but left off its sanctions list the head of the FSB, Alexander
Bortnikov. The FSB has played a major role in destabilizing
neighboring Ukraine, and Bortnikov already should have been
sanctioned under actions taken in connection with that situation.
Instead he was allowed to attend the “Countering Violent Extremism”
conference in Washington in April 2015.
U.S. authorities
should also engage in a little retaliatory hacking of their own by
going after the bank accounts of top Russian officials; Europeans can
help in this effort. Lopping off a few zeroes from the Russians’
ill-gotten gains would send a strong, targeted message. It is
unlikely these officials will publicly protest that they are out
millions, even billions of dollars, since they would have trouble
explaining how they acquired such fortunes in the first place.
Congress ought to
tie Trump’s hands on Russia sanctions by codifying the Obama moves
into law.
Congress has a very
important role to play as well. It plans to hold hearings to
determine how the hacking was done, who was responsible, and what
should be done to prevent any repeat. Such hearings should avoid
partisan gamesmanship and focus on how this was an attack on our
country, regardless of party differences. Congress should also look
to codify the sanctions put in place by the Obama administration and
add to them. They should do the same when it comes to sanctions
imposed on Russia for its illegal annexation of Crimea and ongoing
aggression against Ukraine. And they should pass legislation imposing
sanctions for Russia’s brutal actions against civilians and others
in Syria, which some have described as war crimes.
Such moves by
Congress would complicate any plans the incoming Trump administration
may have to undo the measures adopted by the outgoing administration.
The sanctions announced on Thursday, like the sanctions imposed on
Russia in 2014-15 related to its invasion of Ukraine, have all been
done under executive authority, meaning that Trump could undo them,
albeit with some difficulty, with the stroke of a pen. If the
sanctions were codified into law, they would be almost impossible for
Trump to ignore or dismiss.
Some Republican
Members of Congress have criticized Obama’s measures as too little,
too late. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, for instance,
described the sanctions as “a good initial step, however late in
coming.” Maybe so, but that is a better response than saying “we
ought to get on with our lives,” as President-elect Trump argued
this week. The reaction among leading Republican Senators suggests
Trump will face resistance to any efforts to lift sanctions on the
Putin regime. His nominee for secretary of state, former Exxon-Mobil
CEO Rex Tillerson, has publicly criticized the Ukraine-related
sanctions; he should be asked whether as secretary he would recommend
lifting those and the most recent sanctions related to the
cyberattack on our election. Tillerson’s answer to that question
should be a key factor in the Senate vote on his confirmation.
We simply cannot let
Russia’s egregious actions go unchallenged. We need to come
together as a united country — and together with Europe — to push
back firmly against hostile, foreign interference in our political
and electoral systems.
David J. Kramer,
senior director for democracy and human rights at the McCain
Institute in Washington, is a former assistant secretary of state for
democracy, human rights and labor in the George W. Bush
administration.
Authors:
David J. Kramer
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