US authorities announced on Wednesday, September 4, a series of measures, including criminal prosecutions and financial sanctions, in response to attempts to interfere in the US elections that they attribute to Russia.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the publication of charges against two executives of the Russian media outlet RT. These two individuals are also on a list of ten individuals targeted by financial sanctions, published simultaneously by the US Treasury Department, including six executives of RT, among them its editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonian. Two Russian NGOs are also on this list.
The State Department, for its part, has imposed visa restrictions on RT’s parent company and other subsidiaries of the company. It has also offered a reward of up to $10 million (9 million euros) for information on interference in the US elections.
“RT and its employees, including the two defendants, implemented a nearly $10 million scheme to fund a Tennessee-based company responsible for publishing and disseminating content deemed favorable to the Russian government.”Garland said at a news conference.
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“Doppelganger” pointed out
In addition to these prosecutions, “The Department of Justice has seized 32 Internet domain names used by the Russian government and Russian state-sponsored actors to engage in a clandestine campaign to interfere in our country’s elections and influence their outcome.”Mr. Garland said.
All of these domain names, listed in a US court document, belong to the operation dubbed “Doppelganger” and targeting the United States as well as European countries, Ukraine and Israel since at least 2022. Taking its name from numerous fake sites usurping the identity of real media, including The WorldDoppelganger has been linked for two years to several Russian companies, including Social Design Agency, Structura and ANO Dialog, which are suspected of working on behalf of the Russian authorities.
Internal documents from the disinformation operation that have been accessed by US authorities reveal that executives from these companies held several meetings with Kremlin representatives between 2022 and 2023 to develop an online influence campaign aimed at promoting Russian interests and weakening Western narratives. These meetings were the subject of notes taken by Ilya Gambashidze, founder of Social Design Agency and Structura, according to US justice.
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“First we must discredit the United States, Britain and NATO, and secondly we must highlight the truth about the war in Ukraine.”explain for example these notes, cited in a legal document. In the elements put forward by the authorities, we also find invoices issued by Social Design Agency for the translation of certain texts that were published on sites of the Doppelganger galaxy. Some notes directly mentioned France and Germany, where those responsible for the operation wanted to publish, on social networks, more than 60,000 “comments” per month.
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Around thirty domain names, including one usurping the identity of the Monde for over two years, have been seized by the authorities and now display a notice from the FBI, the American federal investigators. The campaign’s flagship site, Recent Reliable News, has also been seized, as well as a domain name usurping the identity of the Parisian. Other domains used by Doppelganger in recent years, however, have not been cited by authorities, the study found. The WorldThe campaign not only imitated European and American media, but also created fake news sites of poor quality: law, astrology, civil rights, conspiracy theories and art, all themes were exploited rather clumsily by SDA and Structura.
While these seizures represent a blow to this disinformation operation, researchers and companies that monitor these operations have long noted that it has mostly had a minor reach, struggling to gain an organic audience.
“Clandestine operations”
“Today we are uncovering two illegal and clandestine Russian influence operations targeting the American public.”summarized the director of the American federal police (FBI), Christopher Wray. “Since noon today, we have seized these sites, taken them offline, and made it clear to the world what they are: Russian attempts to interfere in our elections and influence our society.”he added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was “in the know” of Russian interference in the American elections, a White House spokesman assured on Wednesday. “He was aware of RT’s activities”John Kirby said at a press briefing.
The United States has accused Russia of trying to influence the outcome of American elections since the 2016 presidential election, won by Republican Donald Trump against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
In May, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned of the growing number of foreign powers seeking to influence the November presidential election, but said the country had never been more prepared to thwart such attempts. The most prominent among these powers are: “Russia, China, and Iran”she had listed, specifying that the “Russia continues to pose the most active foreign threat” for the American elections.
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