U.S. targets Russia over 2024 election opinion effort

The Biden administration on Wednesday announced sanctions targeting Russian government-backed efforts to manipulate American opinion leading up to the 2024 election.

Those alleged efforts include the use of RT, the English-language media network backed by Russia, to influence U.S. opinion.

Senior editors at RT were targeted in Wednesday’s actions, and two RT employees were indicted for allegedly covertly funding and directing an American company that published thousands of videos to further Russian interests, the Department of Justice announced.

Those employees, Russian nationals Kostiantyn Kalashnikov, 31, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27, remain at large.

The DOJ said it was seizing 32 Internet domains “used in Russian government-directed foreign malign influence campaigns colloquially referred to as ‘Doppelganger,’ in violation of U.S. money laundering and criminal trademark laws.”

The DOJ said that several Russian companies, operating under the direction and control of the administration of President Vladimir Putin, “used these domains, among others, to covertly spread Russian government propaganda with the aim of reducing international support for Ukraine, bolstering pro-Russian policies and interests, and influencing voters in U.S. and foreign elections, including the U.S. 2024 Presidential Election.”

At the same time Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it had designated 10 individuals and two entities for their involvement in “Moscow’s malign influence efforts” targeting the upcoming American elections.

The individuals designated included RT’s editor–in-chief Margarite Simonova Simonyan, deputy editor-in-chief Elizaveta Yuryevna Brodskaia, and Anton Sergeyvich Anisimov, another RT deputy editor-in-chief.

Attorney General Merrick Garland plans to speak publicly about actions Wednesday.

In July, U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News that Russia was trying to undermine the campaign of President Joe Biden to win reelection this fall.

Biden weeks later dropped out of the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him atop the Democratic ticket.

Harris is set to face Donald Trump, the Republican nominee and former president, in November.

Trump was elected to the White House in 2016. Investigations later found that there was a coordinated effort by Russia to support his candidacy over the then-Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.

When NBC asked RT’s press office about news of the expected actions Wednesday, RT replied: “1. Ha! 2. Hahahaha! 3. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.”

“4. 2016 called and it wants its clichés back,” the RT press office wrote. “5. Three things are certain in life: death, taxes and RT’s interference in the US elections 6. We gotta earn our Kremlin paycheck somehow 7. Somewhere Secretary Clinton is sad that it’s not because of her.”

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