The US State Department announced on September 13 the introduction of new sanctions against Russian state media, accusing them of close cooperation with the Russian military, as well as of interfering in democratic elections in other countries.
Points of attention
- The US State Department has introduced new sanctions against Russian state media for collaborating with the Russian military and interfering in democratic election processes in other countries.
- Sanctions were specifically imposed on RT, Rossiya Segodnya, Eurasia, TV-Novosti, along with the management of these structures, for their alleged involvement in spreading misinformation and polarizing societies.
- Key individuals such as Dmitry Kiselyov and Nelly Parutenko, as well as institutions like Russia Today and Eurasia, have been targeted in the sanctions for their alleged interference in election processes, particularly in Moldova.
- The US, UK, and Canada are jointly launching a diplomatic campaign to counter the threat posed by Russian disinformation and covert influence, emphasizing the need to rally allies and partners globally.
The USA introduced new sanctions against Russian propagandists
Today, we are imposing sanctions against three institutions and two individuals for Russia's covert operations of global influence.
This was announced by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Washington.
According to the documents, the restrictions were introduced against three structures of RT: the agency "Russia Segodnya", ANO "Evraziya" and ANO "TV-Novosti". In addition, targeted sanctions were imposed against the general director of "Russia Today" Dmitry Kiselyov, as well as the head of "Eurasia" Nelly Parutenko.
According to the US Secretary of State, these structures interfered in election processes, in particular, in the Republic of Moldova. However, he noted, "this does not capture the full extent of Russia's efforts to subvert democracy" around the world to spread misinformation and polarize free and open societies.
Blinken said the United States, Britain and Canada are launching a joint diplomatic campaign "to rally allies and partners around the world and engage them in our fight against the threat." In this regard, he emphasized that RT and other mechanisms of Russian disinformation and covert influence pose a particular threat.
The USA introduced sanctions against Russian propagandists
On September 4, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions against Russian propagandists for meddling in the presidential election. The list of sanctions included the editor-in-chief of RT, Margarita Simonyan, her deputies and more.
OFAC today sanctions ten individuals and two entities as part of the US government's coordinated response to Moscow's efforts to maliciously influence the 2024 United States presidential election
RT executives recruited influential American figures to play along with the Russian narrative. The main goal of propagandists is to undermine trust in electoral processes and institutions on the eve of the US elections.
Blacklisted individuals and organizations are suspected of using disinformation and deepfakes, including artificial intelligence.
The sanctioned list included editor Margarita Simonyan and her three deputies: Elizaveta Brodska, Anton Anisimov, Andriy Kiyashko. Other propagandists were also blacklisted:
Olena Afanasyeva;
Konstantin Kalashnikov;
Oleksandr Nezhentsev;
Anastasia Ermoshkina;
Oleksiy Harashchenko.
OFAC sanctions also apply to the public platforms Dialog and Dialog Regions. They probably have connections with the FSB of Russia.
