Okay, I have reviewed your nyt link.  I guess it proves that one can read into things whatever one believes.  Nowhere does it say that the "perpetrators" we electronically tracked.  What it says is that a pattern of phishing attacks employing the bitly site were identified and that users around the world were targeted.  It says that many of the sites targeted were actually in Russia.  No claim or evidence that the source of the phishing attacks had been identified is made.  No, somehow, the fact that many targets were in Russia leads them to believe that Russians were behind the phishing attacks.  I would read this differently.  I would read this to mean that some subversive group, perhaps in the middle east or eastern Europe was attempting to manipulate various world opinions.  

If you think that your link says that electronic origin was tracked you might want to reread and read carefully.  What was the IP address of the "perpetrators" computer.  Where was it.  Is it identified?