Two Russian intelligence officers who worked on cyberoperations and a Russian computer security expert have been arrested and charged with treason for providing information to the United States, according to multiple Russian news reports.

one current and one former United States official, speaking about the classified recruitments on condition of anonymity, confirmed that human sources in Russia did play a crucial role in proving who was responsible for the hacking.

The former official said the agencies were initially reluctant to disclose their certainty about the Russian role for fear of setting off a mole hunt in Moscow.

The virtually simultaneous appearance of at least four prominent news reports on the arrests, citing numerous anonymous sources, suggested that the normally opaque Russian government wanted the information out, though it was unclear why.

The hints suggested that the Russian government may be signaling that it might, however indirectly through a treason trial, reveal details of election hacking, which would have the potential to damage Mr. Trump’s administration.

But there is another explanation, if something of a counterintuitive one: Documenting a Russian role in the electoral hacks could also serve Moscow’s foreign policy interests by underscoring the extent and power of the Kremlin’s reach in the world.