US announces sanctions against Russian propagandist Simonyan and Russian hackers for interfering with US presidential elections

The US Department of Treasury has announced the sanctions against the management of a Russian propagandistic channel RT and the RaHDit hacker group on 4 September for interfering with the 2024 US presidential elections.

Source: European Pravda; US Department of Treasury

Details: The US Department of Treasury stated that at the beginning of the year, the management of RT started recruiting American officials for its campaign of influence on the US elections in addition to spreading fake news and disinformation.

"RT used a front company to disguise its own involvement or the involvement of the Russian government in content meant to influence US audiences," the statement says.

Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT; her deputies Yelizaveta Brodskaia and Anton Anisimov; Andrei Kiyashko, Deputy Director of the RT English-Language Information Broadcasting; Konstantin Kalashnikov, digital media projects manager; and his subordinate Elena Afanasyeva have been subject to US sanctions.

The US Department of Treasury states that Anisimov conducts activities on behalf of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), and Afanasyeva has covertly tried to get in touch with American officials under the cover of a fake persona and recruit them.

The sanctions were also imposed on the pro-Kremlin hacktivist group RaHDit, which is composed of active and former Russian intelligence officers: Aleksei Garashchenko, Anastasia Yermoshkina and Aleksandr Nezhentsev.

In addition to this, new US sanctions concern Autonomous Non-Profit Organisation (ANO) Dialog linked to Doppelgänger, a Russia-linked influence operation network identified in 2022, its subsidiary organisation Dialog Regions and the heads of both of these companies owned by Vladimir Tabak.

The media announced earlier that Joe Biden’s administration may publicly accuse Russia of attempting to influence this year’s US presidential elections via Kremlin-controlled media and online platforms.

American intelligence reported earlier that foreign enemies of the US would try to influence presidential elections in November 2024, adjusting their operations to domestic political events in the US.

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