U.S. officials on Wednesday unveiled a series of measures, including criminal charges and sanctions, to respond to attempts by Russia to interfere in the U.S. election.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced two separate actions by his office: the seizure of 32 domain names used in a “campaign to influence the outcome of the U.S. presidential election” conducted under the authority of the Russian presidential administration, and the prosecution of two executives of the Russian media outlet RT.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was “aware” of the election interference operations, the White House said.
U.S. officials have not explicitly specified which side they benefited. But U.S. intelligence had concluded that Russian interference in 2016 and 2020 favored Republican candidate Donald Trump, something Trump categorically denies and Moscow has denied.
Asked about this at a press conference, Mr. Garland, the attorney general in the outgoing Democratic administration, limited himself to indicating that according to the analysis of the intelligence services, “Russia’s preferences had not changed since the last election.”
The Treasury Department also announced sanctions against two Russian NGOs and 10 individuals, including six RT executives – including its editor-in-chief Margarita Simonian and the two people charged.
The State Department has imposed visa restrictions on the media group that owns RT, Rossia Segodnia, and other subsidiaries of the company, and offered a reward of up to $10 million for information on interference in the US elections.
– Technological tools –
“RT and its employees, including the two defendants, operated a nearly $10 million scheme to fund a Tennessee-based company that published and disseminated content deemed favorable to the Russian government,” Garland said.
“Today we uncover two illegal and clandestine Russian influence operations targeting the American people,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.
“Since noon today (1600 GMT) we have seized these sites, taken them out of service, and made it clear to the world what they are: Russian attempts to interfere in our elections and influence our society,” he added.
“The reality is that Russia has been interfering in our society and trying to sow discord for decades. What’s new is that they have more tools to do it with the advent of technology,” he said, citing social media and artificial intelligence.
RT channel ridiculed the latest American accusations, in response to a CNN report a few hours before the official announcements, referring to “the return of the hackneyed clichés of 2016”.
The United States has accused Russia of trying to influence the results of American elections since the 2016 presidential election won by Donald Trump over former Democratic Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In May, US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned of the growing number of foreign powers seeking to influence the presidential election, but said the country had never been more prepared to thwart such attempts at interference.
Among these powers, the most important are “Russia, China, and Iran,” she listed, specifying that “Russia continues to constitute the most active foreign threat” to the American elections.
sst/rle
