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In Russia, sanctions were imposed against Margarita Simonyan
The US is going to accuse Russian authorities of trying to influence the 2024 US presidential election.
Russia is again trying to influence the presidential election in the United States, confident in the White House. As always, the Kremlin uses controlled media and other platforms to spread disinformation. The US Treasury Department on Wednesday, September 4, announced sanctions against the leadership of the Russian propaganda channel RT and the hacker group RaHDit for interfering in the 2024 presidential election.
Sanctions against propaganda
As noted by the US Department of the Treasury, at the beginning of the year, RT management began recruiting US officials for its campaign to influence the country's presidential elections – in addition to spreading fakes and disinformation.
"RT used a sham campaign to hide its own involvement or the Russian government's involvement in creating content designed to influence American audiences," the report said.
RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, her deputies Yelyzaveta Brodska and Anton Anisimov, deputy director of English-language broadcasting Andriy Kiyashko, head of digital media projects Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and his subordinate Olena Afanasyeva were put under US sanctions.
According to the US Treasury Department, Anisimov is acting on behalf of the Russian Federal Security Service, and Afanasyeva was a front person who tried to impersonate and recruit American officials.
The sanctions also apply to members of the pro-Kremlin hacker group RaHDit, which consists of current and former employees of Russian intelligence: Oleksiy Harashchenko, Anastasia Yermoshkina, and Oleksandr Nezhentsev.
In addition, the new US sanctions apply to the Russian autonomous non-profit organization (ANO) Dialog, its subsidiary ANO Dialog Regions, as well as the heads of both of these companies, Volodymyr Tabak.
They complicate life
The US State Department has announced visa restrictions for "certain individuals" who act on behalf of Kremlin-controlled media and carry out covert influence operations or are complicit in them. The list of these people is not announced by the United States, because the visa information is confidential.
The State Department also granted the Russian company "Russia Today" and its subsidiaries "RIA Novosti", RT, "TV-News", Ruptly and Sputnik the status of "foreign missions" (foreign missions), since they are actually controlled by the Russian authorities.
These companies are now required to notify the State Department of all their personnel working in the US, as well as to disclose information on all real estate they own in the US.
In addition, the agency announced a reward of 10 million dollars for information about the pro-Kremlin and Russian intelligence-linked hacking group RaHDit, involved in cyber attacks on the United States.
They spared no money
In addition, the US Department of Justice charged two employees of the Russian propaganda channel RT with violating the law on the activities of foreign agents and conspiracy to launder money. The accusation concerns the above-mentioned 31-year-old RT digital media project manager Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and his subordinate, 27-year-old Olena Afanasyeva.
According to the filings, over at least the past year, RT and its employees, including Kalashnikov and Afanasieva, funneled nearly $10 million in secret funding to an online content creation company in Tennessee. This is almost 90% of the translations received by her during this time.
The company, whose name has not been disclosed, published English-language videos on various topics related to US domestic and foreign policy. Most of them are "aimed at the publicly stated goals of the Russian government and RT - to increase internal divisions in the United States," the US Department of Justice notes.
It is claimed that Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva worked in the mentioned company under fictitious names. Among other things, Afanasyeva published videos under the names of Helena Shudra and Victoria Pesti, where, for example, she accused Ukraine and the USA of the terrorist attack in the Krokus hall near Moscow in March 2024.
