WASHINGTON, March 6. / TASS /. The expansion of US sanctions against Russia could happen next week. This was announced on Tuesday by US National Intelligence Director Daniel Coates.

"As far as I understand, the Minister of Finance [US Stephen Mnuchin] indicated that he might already publish a list of these sanctions next week," Coates said. He spoke at a hearing in the Senate Committee on Armed Services of the US Congress.

"But we obviously did not succeed in successfully countering these cyberattacks in an offensive, not defensive way," the head of the US national reconnaissance department said, agreeing with the statements of US lawmakers about allegedly carrying out such operations by Russia. "I believe that they [the Russians] have seen some success, I do not know to what extent this was the success they wanted to achieve," Coates added.

"I agree that we can do more (in response to the alleged cyberattacks of Russia - TASS comment), and this is being considered," the head of the US National Intelligence Agency said. The incumbent is officially considered the coordinator of the work of all 16 US intelligence agencies.

In conclusion, Coates repeated: "As I said, Minister Mnuchin will announce them (sanctions) within a week."

Coates said that the American intelligence community can not present evidence of the so-called intervention of Russia in the forthcoming mid-term elections to the Congress this fall. "We have not yet seen evidence of active efforts on the part of Russia, but we know that they continue to make malicious efforts," he said. Coates insisted that Russia's attempts to intervene in the election "are very likely." "We simply do not know to what extent, when and where," - added the head of the intelligence community.

"The midterm elections in the United States in 2018 are Russia's potential target for intervention operations," Coates said in a written statement to the committee. Moscow previously strongly rejected any allegations of interference in US electoral processes.

The head of the US Treasury said earlier at a hearing in the Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives of the Congress that Washington is going to impose additional sanctions against Moscow in the next few weeks. "I expect that in the next few weeks we will move ahead with imposing sanctions on Russia, as required by the law (" On Countering America's Opponents through Sanctions, "Tass said)," Mnuchin said.

Link: http://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/5013544