US disrupts global ‘botnet’ controlled by Russian military intelligence, DoJ says

The US has disrupted a global "botnet" controlled by Russia's military intelligence agency, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Wednesday.

A botnet is a network of hijacked computers used to carry out cyberattacks. "The Russian government has recently used similar infrastructure to attack Ukrainian targets," Garland told reporters at the justice department.

"Fortunately, we were able to disrupt this botnet before it could be used. Thanks to our close work with international partners, we were able to detect the infection of thousands of network hardware devices.

"We were then able to disable the GRU's [the military intelligence agency] control over those devices before the botnet could be weaponised."

The attorney general also announced charges against Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev for sanctions violations. He said the billionaire had been previously identified as a source of financing for Russians promoting separatism in Crimea and providing support for the so-called Donetsk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine.

"After being sanctioned by the United States, Malofeyev attempted to evade the sanctions by using co-conspirators to surreptitiously acquire and run media outlets across Europe," Garland said.

The indictment is the first of a Russian oligarch in the US since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In a related move, a federal court in the southern district of New York unsealed a criminal indictment against TV producer John Hanick, 71, a US citizen charged with violations of sanctions and false statements because of his work for Malofeyev over several years.

Matthew Olsen, assistant attorney general of the justice department's national security division, said: "The defendant Hanick knowingly chose to help Malofeyev spread his destabilizing messages by establishing, or attempting to establish, TV networks in Russia, Bulgaria and Greece, in violation of those sanctions."

Last month Garland, who is America's top law enforcement official, announced the launch of Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

He vowed on Wednesday: "Our message to those who continue to enable the Russian regime through their criminal conduct is this: it does not matter how far you sail your yacht, it does not matter how well you conceal your assets, it does not matter how cleverly you write your malware or hide your online activity.

"The justice department will use every available tool to find you, disrupt your plots and hold you accountable."

Garland, whose grandparents fled antisemitism at the border of western Russia and eastern Europe more than a century ago, acknowledged horrific images that emerged from Bucha in Ukraine his week. "We have seen the dead bodies of civilians, some with bound hands, scattered in the streets. We have seen the mass graves. We have seen the bombed hospital, theatre and residential apartment buildings.

"The world sees what is happening in Ukraine. The justice department sees what is happening in Ukraine. This department has a long history of helping to hold accountable those who perpetrate war crimes."

He noted that one of his predecessors, Attorney General Robert Jackson, later served as a chief American prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials after the second world war. "Today, we are assisting international efforts to identify and hold accountable those responsible for atrocities in Ukraine and we will continue to do so."