U.S. Sanctions RT and Other Russian Outlets In Election Meddling Crackdown, Says Problem Is Global

The Biden administration on Wednesday announced a sweeping set of actions to tackle a major Russian government-backed effort to influence the 2024 American presidential election including unveiling criminal charges against two Russian nationals, sanctions on ten individuals and entities, and the seizure of 32 internet domains, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that Moscow’s methods of targeting those it identifies as adversaries are well known - from its illegal and unwarranted invasion of sovereign nations to the unjust imprisonment of innocent persons, to cyberattacks and meddling in foreign elections, to conducting sham elections in Russian-controlled territories of Ukraine.

"In addition, we now know that RT, formerly known as Russia Today, has moved beyond being simply a media organization. RT has contracted with a private company to pay unwitting Americans millions of dollars to carry the Kremlin’s message to influence the U.S. elections and undermine democracy. Moreover, RT’s leadership has direct, witting knowledge of this enterprise," Blinken noted.

Because of this development, the Biden administration's latest response includes the following, as described by the State Department's spokesperson Matthew Miller:

– Charging two Moscow-based managers of RT - Kostiantyn Kalashnikov, 31, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27 - for paying content creators on US soil to pump pro-Russia propaganda and disinformation to US audiences;
– Sanctioning two entities and 10 people including Margarita Simonyan, RT editor-in-chief, and other for their activities that aim to deteriorate public trust in our institutions;
– Restricting visas for employees of Kremlin-backed media outlets;
– Seizing 32 internet domain names used to "covertly promote AI-generated false narratives" targeting specific U.S. demographics and regions on social media;
– Designating Rossiya Segodnya and five of its subsidiaries (RIA Novosti, RT, TV-Novosti, Ruptly, and Sputnik) as "foreign missions", requiring them to report information about their personnel to the U.S. government;
– Offering a $10m reward for information on hackers associated with the Russian group, Russian Angry Hackers Did It (RaHDit).

"The United States will continue to both expose these state-sponsored actors who attempt to undermine our democratic institutions and hold them accountable for those actions," Miller told reporters during a daily briefing.

Asked by TURAN's correspondent whether Russian disinformation efforts had been a purely U.S.-focused operation or were also targeting the allies, Miller said, "we have seen a number of actions by the Russian Government to target our allies’ democratic institutions and to undermine the exercises of democracy in our allies."

"The specific action that we are announcing today is with respect to actions inside the United States, but of course, we have long seen Russia attempt to interfere in other countries’ elections as well," he concluded.