The US authorities accuse specific people. They also point to mechanisms of influencing Americans, undermining trust in American institutions, building a sense that the West is on the verge of collapse, while the enemy is Ukraine, not Russia. For years, Americans have been facing Russian attacks in the form of disinformation. Now they are showing how they intend to defend themselves.
This is not conjecture, leaks or speculation. American law enforcement agencies have uncovered and disrupted a wide-ranging Kremlin influence campaign on the US presidential election. All of it was allegedly carried out at Putin's behest.
“Americans have a right to know when a foreign power seeks to exploit the free exchange of ideas in our country to spread its own propaganda,” said Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General.
The US Department of Justice has seized 32 internet domains used to spread disinformation. Two employees of the RT channel, better known by its former name Russia Today, have been charged. Sanctions have been imposed on another 10 people, including RT's head Margarita Simonyan.
Who are the defendants?
The accused are known by their first and last names – Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva. They were supposed to pay American internet influencers under changed identities to spread pro-Kremlin narratives.
“Russia Today and its employees, including the defendants, implemented a nearly $10 million scheme to fund and direct a Tennessee-based company to publish and disseminate content deemed beneficial to the Russian government,” Merrick Garland said.
CNN reported that the company paid by the Russians was Tenet Media, known for running far-right channels and podcasts on YouTube and other social media.
Their creators present themselves as true American patriots, fearless right-wing voices pursuing truth at all costs. According to the prosecutor's office, the commentators did not know that the money they received came from the Russian authorities.
Almost two thousand recordings have had 16 million views on YouTube alone. Their creators complain in online statements that they are victims of a conspiracy and that their programs were never influenced by anyone from outside.
Isolationist sentiment in the US
– Russia strikes the chords of emotions or views that are present in the United States. There, they talk about the need to exploit or pay attention to what is such an isolationist mood in the US. If Americans hear that it is better to spend money on infrastructure problems in the United States than on a distant war taking place in Eastern Europe, then it is convincing to them, because that is the direction their emotions are going in – assesses Dr. Marcin Fatalski, an Americanist from the Jagiellonian University.
The internet domains seized by US law enforcement agencies were previously used by Russia to spread disinformation as part of the so-called Operation Doppelganger.
The world first heard about it two years ago. Two Russian organizations commissioned by the Kremlin published anti-Ukrainian and anti-liberal content on sites that looked remarkably like opinion-forming media sites.
“Can it be prevented completely? Probably not, because they will always find a way. The Kremlin people will always want to influence how Americans vote,” said John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council.
A $10 million reward for information on Russian hackers' activities helped U.S. law enforcement agencies gather evidence against Russia.
Russia is not the only country that wants to influence the November elections in the US. According to the US authorities, Iran and China are also conducting hostile actions.
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