• The Trump administration announced sweeping sanctions on the 13 Russian nationals and Russian entities charged in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation last month.
  • The move marks the White House’s most significant response yet to Russia’s interference in the 2016 US election, but it comes more than one month after the congressional deadline.
  • It is also the first time the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) has been used since President Donald Trump signed it into law last August.

The US Treasury Department announced new sanctions Thursday on the 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities charged by special counsel Robert Mueller with conspiring to interfere in the 2016 US election.

The Internet Research Agency (IRA), a notorious Russian troll farm located in St. Petersburg which was primarily responsible for carrying out Russia’s social-media influence operation during the election, was added to the list of sanctioned entities, as were 12 of the 13 Russian nationals charged.

The other, Russian businessman Yevgeniy Prigozhin, was already on the list, but was additionally designated as an individual linked to the IRA.

Prigozhin was accused in Mueller’s indictment of using his companies, Concord Management and Consulting LLC and Concord Catering, to bankroll the IRA’s work.

Concord Catering was on the US sanctions list prior to Thursday's announcement, but it was additionally designated as an entity linked to the IRA.

Two other individuals, Sergei Afanasyev and Grigoriy Viktorovich Molchanov, were added because of their ties to Russia's main intelligence directorate.

The 12 Russian nationals from the Mueller indictment added to the US's sanctions list are: Dzheykhun Nasimi Ogly Aslanov; Anna Vladislavovna Bogacheva, Maria Anatolyevna Bovda, Robert Sergeyevich Bovda, Mikhail Leonidovich Burchik, Mikhail Ivanovich Bystrov, Irina Viktorovna Kaverzina, Aleksandra Yuryevna, Vadim Vladimirovich Podkopaev, Sergey Pavlovich Polozov, Gleb Igorevich Vasilchenko, and Vladimir Venkov.

All the defendants were charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the US; the IRA and two defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud; and the IRA and four defendants were charged with aggravated identity theft.

In total, Thursday's sanctions penalized 19 individuals and five Russian entities.

The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, released a statement following the release of the indictments last month. In addition to highlighting that Russia's efforts to meddle in the election began in 2014 - before Trump declared his candidacy - Sanders added that President Donald Trump had "been fully briefed on this matter and is glad to see the Special Counsel's investigation further indicates-that there was NO COLLUSION between the Trump campaign and Russia and that the outcome of the election was not changed or affected."

The indictments did not make a judgment on whether or not Russia's activities affected the final outcome. They also did not name any Americans as knowing co-conspirators.

Officials also said Thursday that Russia had tried to penetrate the US cyber grid, and that the new sanctions were designed to punish actors responsible for the attempted cyberattack. In addition to penalizing the Russian nationals named in Mueller's indictment, the Treasury also imposed new sanctions on Russia's federal security service (FSB) and individuals linked to Russian intelligence.

Thursday's move marks the White House's most significant response yet to Russia's interference in the election, but it comes more than a month after the congressional deadline by which the Trump administration was supposed to implement the sanctions in response to Russia's meddling.

At the time, the State Department said the sanctions did not need to be imposed because just the law's existence was enough to deter Russian defense sales.

Further details were included in a classified report delivered to Congress, the State Department said.

With Thursday's announcement, Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin said the "administration is confronting and countering malign Russian cyber activity, including their attempted interference in US elections, destructive cyber-attacks, and intrusions targeting critical infrastructure."

The latest sanctions come as the White House and Trump have drawn sharp scrutiny for what critics characterize as a lukewarm response to a Russian nerve agent attack on a former spy in the UK.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.