https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/20/polit...ine/index.html
US accuses Russia of recruiting officials in attempt to take over Ukrainian government
CNN) The United States accused Russia of recruiting current and former Ukrainian government officials to attempt
to take control of Ukraine's government as it unveiled new sanctions on Thursday.
"Russia has directed its intelligence services to recruit current and former Ukrainian government officials to prepare to take over the government of Ukraine and to control Ukraine's critical infrastructure with an occupying Russian force," the Treasury Department said in a statement, as it rolled out sanctions against four current and former Ukrainian officials it said were involved in Kremlin-directed influence activities to destabilize Ukraine.
The Treasury said the four individuals -- two of whom are current members of Ukraine's Parliament --- were acting under the direction of a Russian intelligence service sanctioned by the US and played "various roles" in Russia's "global influence campaign to destabilize sovereign countries in support of the Kremlin's political objectives."….
The department said that the action taken Thursday is "separate and distinct" from the "broad range of high impact measures" the US is prepared if Russia invades Ukraine.….
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ment-sanctions
…The two MPs the US has placed sanctions on were named as Taras Kozak and Oleh Voloshyn, both members of a pro-Russian party led by Victor Medvedchuk, an oligarch who has been under house arrest in Ukraine since last May, accused of treason.
A former Ukrainian official, Volodymyr Oliynyk, now living in Russia, has a sanction against him for working “at the direction of the FSB [Russian intelligence] to gather information about Ukrainian critical infrastructure”.
The fourth man named is Vladimir Sivkovich, a former deputy secretary of the Ukrainian national security and defence council.
“In 2021, Sivkovich worked with a network of Russian intelligence actors to carry out influence operations that attempted to build support for Ukraine to officially cede Crimea to Russia in exchange for a drawdown of Russian-backed forces in the Donbas,” the US Treasury alleged…….