WASHINGTON -- The United States has charged seven Russian military intelligence officers for what officials said was their role in a hacking conspiracy targeting anti-doping agencies and the international chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition for Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The indictments, announced in Washington on October 4, came just hours after the Netherlands said it had expelled four Russian officers in April as part of a similar plot.

U.S. prosecutors said the Russians targeted the athletes and anti-doping agencies after global watchdogs highlighted the role of the Russian government in a wide-ranging doping plot that took place largely during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

Prosecutors said the Russians also targeted a Pennsylvania-based nuclear energy company and the international organization that was investigating chemical weapons in Syria.

That organization was involved in investigating the March poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in England.