Cryptocurrency exchange network accused of helping Russia hit with sanctions

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A network of people and virtual currency exchanges associated with harboring Russian cybercrime have been hit with sanctions in a government-wide crackdown on cybercrime. The announcement could assist Russia ahead of President Joe Biden’s Thursday meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The State Department is offering a $10 million reward for information that would lead to the arrest and/or conviction of two Russian hackers and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Virginia has unsealed an indictment against them. Biden said in a statement announcing the sanctions that the U.S. “will continue to raise the costs on Russia for its war in Ukraine and to deprive the Russian defense industrial base of resources.”