“I was aware of RT’s activities,” the White House said, pointing the finger at Vladimir Putin for being aware of interference in the US elections.
On Wednesday, the White House accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being aware of Moscow’s attempt to interfere in the US presidential election.
“I was aware of RT’s activities”a Russian media outlet whose employees are being charged by U.S. courts with attempted election interference, said John Kirby, a spokesman for the president’s National Security Council.
A US court has charged two executives of the Russian television channel RT (Russia Today) and It seized 32 Internet domains linked to the Russian government. for an attempt to influence the presidential elections in November, the Washington government announced today.
The measures, announced Wednesday, represent an effort to curb a persistent threat from Russia that U.S. officials have long warned has the potential to sow discord and create confusion among voters.
Washington said Russia remains the main threat to the electionseven as the FBI investigates a hack of Republican Donald Trump’s campaign by Iran and an attempted breach of the Democrats’ campaign.
The criminal case charges two members of RT, a Russian state-funded media entity suspected of secretly funding a Tennessee-based content creation company to publish nearly 2,000 Russian propaganda videos.
The defendants, who remain missing, used false identities and the company was unaware that Russia was using them.
In addition to this prosecution, “the Department of Justice seized 32 Internet domain names used by the Russian government and Russian state-sponsored actors to engage in a clandestine campaign to interfere in the election and influence the results,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press conference.
Garland indicated that The actions are related to Russia’s use of state media to recruit unwitting American influencers to spread propaganda. and misinformation.
“Today’s announcement underscores the extent to which some foreign governments are undermining American democratic institutions,” the State Department said, adding: “But these foreign governments should also know that we will not tolerate malign foreign actors intentionally interfering with and undermining free and fair elections.”
The Treasury Department sanctioned two Russian entities and ten individuals on Wednesday, including several journalists and executives from the RT channel.
The sanctions target several employees of RT, including its editor-in-chief Margarita Simonian, and two organisations accused of carrying out disinformation campaigns, for trying to influence the presidential elections scheduled for November 2024.
The Treasury Department accused RT of “discreetly” and without its knowledge recruiting American “influencers” to carry out its actions during the electoral campaignwith a view to interfering in the election results.
“Russian state-sponsored actors have long used a variety of tools, including artificial intelligence and disinformation, to undermine confidence in U.S. electoral processes and institutions,” the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said.
Among the 10 people named is Simonian, who is considered a “central figure in the Russian government’s efforts to spuriously influence” the election and responsible for enabling the operations of the shell company that RT used to try to influence voters in the United States.
Deputy editors-in-chief Elizaveta Brodskaia and Anton Anisimov, among others, have also been sanctioned.
The companies designated are ANO Dialog and its subsidiary ANO Dialog Regions, as well as its director Vladimir Tabak, accused of disinformation and manipulation campaigns.
The protected individuals and entities now have all their property, interests or participations, regardless of their degree, blocked in North American territory and any financial entity or company is prohibited from any type of activity or transaction with them.
Source: Observadora
