On Wednesday, the Biden administration imposed a series of sanctions, including on the editor-in-chief of Russian state media network RT and nine other people for what it said were: attempts to interfere in this year's November presidential election in the US.
Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonjan and others associated with the station “secretly recruited influential people on social media to influence public opinion in the US and spread pro-Kremlin messages” – reported Reuters, citing the US Treasury.
US presidential election: Biden imposes sanctions on Russian media network
In addition FBI applied to the court for permission to occupy 32 internet domainswhich the United States government believes have been involved in, among other things, attempts to undermine public support for U.S. aid to Ukrainy in the war with Russia.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland expressed a similar position at a press conference. He also added that the Russian network RT and its employees “implemented a plan to direct the Tennessee-based company to disseminate content favorable to the Russian government.” – Krąg Vladimir Putin directed PR firms to promote disinformation to influence this year's election United States – Garland said.
The US Attorney General also stressed that US government accuses two RT employees of “money laundering”. – The U.S. Department of Justice will aggressively counter such efforts, he said.
US accuses Russia of election interference, Moscow responds
What's more, Merrick Garland warned against actions Iranwhich, like in the case of Russia, aims to influence the presidential campaign underway in the United States.
– We will continue to work tirelessly to counter and disrupt Russia's attempts to interfere in our presidential elections, China or other foreign entities, the US Attorney General said. In turn, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby assessed that Vladimir Putin knew about the activities of the state-funded RT network. “He was aware,” he added.
The Russian side responded to the United States' allegations, calling them “plain nonsense” and adding that in its assessment Moscow it doesn't matter whether a Democrat or a Republican wins the election. – The only winner of the US election is the US private military-industrial complex. – State Duma deputy Maria Butina told Reuters.
In turn, the RT network wrote on its social media in a mocking tone: “Three things are certain in life: death, taxes, and RT interference in US elections.”