The Justice Department unsealed an indictment on Wednesday against two Russian nationals who allegedly carried out a foreign influence plot in the United States, a move that came as part of the department’s broader investigation into election interference activities.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said that in addition to a grand jury indicting the pair, who are both employees of the Russia-controlled media outlet RT, the department was also seizing dozens of internet domains that it alleged were spreading Russian government propaganda in the U.S. at the behest of the Kremlin.
Kostiantyn Kalashnikov, 31, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27, face charges of conspiring to commit money laundering and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The pair are at large, DOJ officials said. They would each face up to 25 years in prison if they were apprehended and convicted.
Garland addressed the indictment during an election-related roundtable, saying that Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva’s malign foreign influence scheme included pushing out to millions of people content that was intended to sow divisions in the U.S. and weaken the country’s overall opposition to Russian interests, including when it comes to the Russia-Ukraine war.
“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,” Garland said.
Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva allegedly funneled $10 million to a Tennessee-based company, which, in turn, pushed out videos to millions of viewers on social media platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and X, according to government prosecutors.
The two defendants used fake personas at times to conceal that they were working covertly on behalf of the Russian government, according to the indictment.
For example, when the Tennessee-based company approached one unnamed social media influencer with more than 2 million followers to publish content, the influencer asked how the company was funded. One of the defendants claimed the funding came from “Eduard Grigoriann,” who was a fictitious person, and the defendant provided a fabricated one-page biography to back up her claim.
Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray also said Wednesday that the DOJ was seizing 32 internet domains, and they revealed a 69-page affidavit with dozens of attachments showcasing how the Russian government was allegedly using the websites to influence the 2024 presidential election to benefit Russia.
“Companies operating at the direction of the Russian government-created websites to trick Americans into unwittingly consuming Russian propaganda,” Wray said.
The announcements on Wednesday mark the latest instance in the last several years of the government accusing Russia and other foreign adversaries, including Iran, of secretly attempting to peddle their countries’ propaganda in the U.S. during an election season.
The U.S. government previously accused RT, which was formerly known as Russia Today, of working to disadvantage former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016.
RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan derided the U.S. on Telegram for repeatedly targeting RT during presidential election seasons.
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“If they kick us out completely, how will they conduct the next elections,” Simonyan wrote. “They don’t have any other strategies except to scaremonger about the almighty RT.”
U.S. Treasury Department officials announced concurrently Wednesday that they were imposing sanctions on Simonyan, Afanasyeva, Kalashnikov, and seven others.