Respectfully, I think you are overthinking this.

One could use the same logic to make the argument that this article strongly supports the sanctions:

1: [CC on keyboard] "Hackers are trying to steal your money. We need these sanctions to protect you" 2: [Anonymous] "Look at the scary hacker. Don't you know kids these days can do anything with your computer?" 3: [Switch Rack] "See how complicated the internet is? Don't think about it too much, just let us protect you"

Personally I consider it more likely that those were the first results on the stock image site when the reporter searched for "internet, security, hackers" :-)