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October 04th, 2018 | 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM EST
Department of Justice, October 4

>> good morning. Thank you all for joining us today as we announce an indictment charging seven Russian military officers with violations of several U.S. criminal laws for malicious cyber activities against the United States and its allies. I enjoyed (am joined) today by U.S. Attorney General for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Scott Brady, the FBI's deputy assistant directing -- assistant director for cyber division Eric Welling, and the director general for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Mark Flynn. there was a joint press conference announcing her recent intelligence operation against several Russian agents conducting a clandestine mission. the joint U.K.-Dutch intelligence operations led to four officers being caught red-handed while the attempted to breach the cyber security of the organization for the Prohibition of chemical weapons. an additional laboratory in Switzerland was the next targeting we are analyzing the deadly Russian nerve agent following an assassination attempt, as well as other chemical agents used in Syria against civilians. the prime ministers of the Netherlands and U.K. issued. a joint statement condemning the Russian behavior we are including a copy of their statements and the materials provided to all of you in this room and online at justice.gov. our indictment challenges the same Russian operatives caught along with their colleagues in Moscow as part of a conspiracy to pack the right of individuals and organizations in the United States, Canada, and Europe to obtain information or access that was exploited for the benefit of the Russian government. more specifically, this indictment alleges a conspiracy to use computer hacking to obtain non-public, health information about athletes and others in the files of anti-doping agencies in multiple countries, and release of stolen information selectively and sometimes misleadingly. all of this was done to undermine those organizations efforts to ensure the integrity of the Olympic another games. other targets of this conspiracy were the chemical weapons laboratory in the Hague and the nuclear power company in America. three of the seven defendants charged in this case were previously charged in the indictment brought by the Office of Special Counsel in July of this year, which pertained to a conspiracy to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The current indictment does not rise ahead of the work of the Special Counsel, nonetheless, the indictments overlap conspirators and have the same methods of computer intrusion and the same overarching Russian strategic goal, to pursue its interest of disinformation operations aimed at the muddying or altering perceptions of the truth. the crux of this indictment which U.S. Attorney Scott Brady will describe in more detail is the targeting of the world's anti-doping agency, the U.S. anti-doping agency, and the Canadian center of sport's anti-doping body. in response to the efforts of anti-doping officials' exposure of Russian state backed programs. embarrassed by that shoes, Russia fought back by retaliating against the truth tellers and against the truth itself. the results of Russia's hacks were not just felt by the anti-doping officials and agencies. instead, Russia decided it was fair game to flood the social and traditional media with the private, medical information of more than 250 athletes from 30 countries in a manner that often inaccurately reflected or omitted the true nature of context of the information. I hope that through today's charges which fall far from the electoral arena of our prior charges, we can further educate ourselves as to the scope of the Russian government's this information and influence campaigns. I also hope that responsible members of the international news media will cast the suspecting I on future -- cast an suspecting eye on future hacks. It is evident from the allegations in today's indictment that the defendants believes -- believed they could use it anonymity to act with impunity. to undermine international institutions and to distract from their government's own wrongdoing. They were wrong. working together with our partners and nations that share our values, we can expose the truth for the world to see. Nations like Russia and others that engage in malicious and cyber activities should understand the continuing and steadfast resolve of the United States and its allies to prevent, disrupt, and deter unacceptable conduct. the defendants in this case should know that justice is patient and its reach is long and its memory is longer. before I turn it over to the U.S. attorney to discuss the charges in greater detail, I would like to extend my gratitude to the prosecutors and--and his office. here in the national security division and the team of FBI agents, the Royal Canadian mounted police, and those in the United Kingdom for responsible for where we are today. Thank you.