New sanctions on Russia over Moscow's alleged meddling in the U.S. presidential election will be announced "within a week," a top U.S. intelligence official has said.
National Intelligence Director Dan Coats said on March 6 that new sanctions will be announced shortly after members of the Senate Armed Services Committee criticized the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump for not imposing sanctions when it released a list of 210 wealthy and powerful Russians connected to the Kremlin in January.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin "is going to be announcing those within a week," Coats said, adding that the sanctions will target at least some of the 13 Russians charged by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller with carrying out an operation to disrupt the 2016 election.
The sanctions will blacklist "those individuals that have been complicit in this," Coats said.
A Mueller indictment last month charged the alleged Russian operatives and three Russian companies with organizing a social media campaign aimed at sowing divisions between American voters and helping Trump defeat his rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.
While some of the sanctions will be aimed at those indicted by Mueller, the new measures will go "beyond" that and affect other Russians, Coats said, without elaborating.
Mnuchin, testifying separately before a committee in the House of Representatives on March 6, repeated his promise that the new sanctions would be announced "in the next several weeks."
Mnuchin said the designations have required "an enormous amount of work" and are fully backed by the White House.
"I can assure you that, in my discussions with the president, he is fully supportive of the work we're doing, and we have a large team working on it as we speak," Mnuchin said.
