US accuses Russia's RT news outlet of election interference

The United States indicted two employees of Russia's RT and imposed sanctions on top editors of the state-funded news outlet on Wednesday, accusing them of seeking to influence the 2024 US presidential election.

Attorney General Merrick Garland also announced the seizure of 32 internet domains that were part of an alleged campaign "to secure Russia's preferred outcome," which US officials have said would be Donald Trump winning the November vote.

"We have no tolerance for attempts by authoritarian regimes to exploit our democratic system of government," Garland said at a meeting of the Justice Department's Election Threats Task Force.

"We will be relentlessly aggressive in countering and disrupting attempts by Russia and Iran -- as well as China or any other foreign malign actor -- to interfere in our elections," he said.

The 10 individuals and two entities sanctioned by the Treasury Department include RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan and her deputy Elizaveta Brodskaia.

Simonyan was a "central figure in Russian government malign influence efforts," the Treasury Department said, while Brodskaia "reported to Russian President (Vladimir) Putin and other government officials."

Garland said two Russia-based RT employees -- Kostiantyn Kalashnikov, 31, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27, have been indicted in New York for money laundering and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

They are accused of funneling $10 million to a Tennessee-based company that used social media influencers "to create and distribute content to US audiences with hidden Russian government messaging," Garland said.

The US firm, which was not identified, published English-language videos on multiple social media channels, including TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube, according to the indictment.

"The company never disclosed to the influencers -- or to their millions of followers -- its ties to RT and the Russian government," Garland said.

RT, in a reaction on its Telegram channel, dismissed the US allegations calling them "hackneyed cliches."

"Three things in life are inevitable: death, taxes and 'RT's interference in American elections,'" said RT, formerly known as Russia Today.

Putin's 'inner circle'

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said RT was aiming to "covertly spread Russian government propaganda with the aim of reducing international support for Ukraine, bolstering pro-Russian policies and interests and influencing voters here in the US and in foreign elections as well."

Garland said the seized internet domains were used by the Russian government "to engage in a covert campaign to interfere and influence the outcome of our country's elections."

He said the influence campaign involved members of Putin's "inner circle" and the Kremlin's goal, according to an internal planning document, "is to secure Russia’s preferred outcome in the election."

The attorney general declined to specify what that outcome was but US intelligence officials suggested in July that the Kremlin once again favors Trump over his Democratic opponents, as it did in the 2016 and 2020 US presidential elections.

US officials have repeatedly warned of efforts by foreign powers to meddle in the upcoming US election, and Washington has accused Moscow of seeking to influence US elections dating back to the 2016 contest between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, in an appearance before a Senate committee in May, singled out Russia, China and Iran as the worst offenders.

"Specifically, Russia remains the most active foreign threat to our elections," Haines said.

© Agence France-Presse