‘Part of Their Playbook’: Jake Sullivan Says Possible Russian Cyber Attacks on Ukraine May Be Part of an ‘Effort to Escalate’

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan warned on Sunday that “cyber attacks could be part of a broad-based Russian effort to escalate in Ukraine” and emphasized that the U.S. is working alongside Ukraine “to harden their defenses.”

“We’re also coordinating with the private sector companies like Microsoft, both in Ukraine and here in the United States, in case there are potential cyber attacks that unfold in the coming months here,” Sullivan told Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan. “Of course, it’s possible that Russia could conduct a series of cyberattacks. That’s part of their playbook. They’ve done it in the past in other contexts.”

Sullivan’s comments come in the wake of Microsoft finding “destructive malware” capable of wiping data at multiple organizations in Ukraine.

Sullivan has not attributed the attack to Russia, saying the U.S. is still “working hard on attribution, and we will do everything we can to defend and protect networks against the type of destructive malware that Microsoft flagged.” However, Ukraine says it has “evidence” Russia was behind the attacks.

“All the evidence points to Russia being behind the cyber-attack,” the Ukrainian digital transformation ministry said in a statement Sunday. “Moscow is continuing to wage a hybrid war.”

Russia denied involvement and lambasted Ukrainians for “blaming everything on Russia, even their bad weather in their country.”

“We have nothing to do with it. Russia has nothing to do with these cyber-attacks,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told CNN.

The cyber attacks come amid heightened concerns that Russia is planning to invade Ukraine, as Russia continues to position troops and military equipment on the boarder. Earlier this week, CNN reported that the U.S. has evidence Russia is preparing a false flag operation that could “create a pretext for an invasion.”

Brennan pressed Sullivan, asking: “Why wouldn’t this draw U.S. sanctions? Why are you waiting for Vladimir Putin to go further and actually cross the border? Aren’t we already in the middle of a conflict?”

“As I said, this is part of the Russian playbook, so it would not surprise me one bit if it ends up being attributed to Russia,” Sullivan said. “But let’s do first things first, let’s get attribution and then make a determination about what we do next.”

“In terms of sanctions, what we have laid out is a very clear message to the Russians — and we’ve done so in concert and in unison with our allies — that if they do further invade Ukraine, there will be severe economic consequences and a price to pay,” Sullivan continued. “And yes, of course, if it turns out that Russia is pummeling Ukraine with cyberattacks, and if that continues over the period ahead, we will work with our allies on the appropriate response.”

Watch above, via CBS’ Face the Nation.

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