US sanctions Russian media giant RT over ‘election interference plot’

The Biden administration has announced sanctions against Russian media house RT for trying to influence the results of the upcoming US presidential elections this November.

The announcement was made by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland on Wednesday at a press conference.

Garland along with FBI Director Christopher Wray and members of the Justice Department shared broader measures to curb the Russian government’s plan; aimed to thwart the US election campaign this year.

The series of steps being taken by the US government include the shutdown of more than 30 websites allegedly spreading misinformation regarding the Ukraine war and misguiding US voters by feeding them unverified news.

The members of the task force overlooking the US elections said that two individuals directly part of RT were indicted in a NY federal court over their alleged involvement in meddling with the US elections process.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland accused the Kremlin of using a Tennessee-based company to disseminate content aimed at confusing US voters, the campaign is being dubbed as a “doppelganger” by US officials.

RT on their social media account has announced that nine individuals were sanctioned by the US government including the editor-in-chief of RT, Margarita Simonyan, and Deputy Elizaveta Yuryevna Brodskaia.

The Treasury Department said Simonyan was a "central figure in Russian government malign influence efforts."

“The American people are entitled to know when a foreign power is attempting to exploit our country’s free exchange of ideas in order to send around its own propaganda,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at the press conference

The US Treasury Department has not only mentioned the names of the individuals allegedly found directly involved in the Moscow lead campaign of misinformation, it clearly states, “The Kremlin employs an array of tools, including covert foreign malign influence campaigns and illicit cyber activities, to undermine the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and its allies and partners globally.

“Russia routinely uses its intelligence services, government-directed proxies, and covert influence tools in these efforts. The Kremlin has increasingly adapted its efforts to hide its involvement by developing a vast ecosystem of Russian proxy websites, fake online personas, and front organizations that give the false appearance of being independent news sources unconnected to the Russian state.”

Today was not the first time that Washington has accused Moscow of interfering in US domestic politics. During and after the Presidential elections in 2016 and 2020, US intelligence officials accused Putin of authorizing "influence operations" aimed at impacting the vote to secure an easy win for Donald Trump.

U.S. officials have repeatedly warned of efforts by foreign powers, including Russia, to meddle in the American presidential election in November.

Russia to take action against US media

Meanwhile, Russia said that it would take retaliatory measures against U.S. media in response to U.S. charges against Russian media executives and state broadcaster RT.

Russia's foreign ministry said the U.S. moves were part of a plan to purge any dissenting voices from the global media landscape and to stoke fears among U.S. voters about Russia as a mythical external enemy.

"When the authorities resort to such primitive ways of influencing their voters, this is the decline of 'liberal democracies'," Maria Zakharova, foreign ministry spokeswoman, said in a statement on the U.S. action.

"There will be a response," Zakharova said.

"We warn that attempts to expel Russian journalists from the territory of the United States, create unacceptable conditions for their work or any other forms of obstruction of their activities, including with the use of visa tools, will become the basis for taking symmetrical and/or asymmetric retaliatory measures against the American media."