The US has accused the Russian state-funded RT news outlet of election interference and imposed sanctions on its top editors, according to Agence France-Presse.
The outlet’s editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonovna Simonyan, and deputy Elizaveta Yuryevna Brodskaia were subjected to fresh US sanctions for attempting to interfere with the November elections.
The US has blamed Moscow for seeking to influence US elections dating back to 2016 amid a contest between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
The US Treasury Department said Margarita Simonovna Simonyan was a “central figure in Russian government malign influence efforts.”
“Today’s action underscores the US government’s ongoing efforts to hold state-sponsored actors accountable for activities that aim to deteriorate public trust in our institutions,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.
In addition, two Russia-based RT employees have been indicted in New York for money laundering and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
They are accused of funding a Tennessee-based company to disseminate content deemed favorable to the Russian government. In turn, RT dismissed the US allegations, calling them “hackneyed cliches.”
Previously, digital rights groups Citizen Lab and Access Now said hackers linked to Russian intelligence are targeting the Kremlin’s critics around the globe with phishing emails.
Reuters: Russian intelligence hackers targets Kremlin critics worldwide
The email hacks, which began around 2022, targeted high-profile Russian opposition figures in exile, former US experts, academics, and staff from US and EU nonprofit and media organizations.
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