U.S. imposes sanctions on Russia over attempts to influence election

The U.S. government has announced sanctions against RT, Margarita Simonyan, other Russian propagandists and hackers in response to influence efforts targeting the U.S. election.

This is said in an official statement by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Ukrinform reports.

“Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated 10 individuals and two entities as part of a coordinated U.S. government response to Moscow’s malign influence efforts targeting the 2024 U.S. presidential election,” the statement says.

The sanctions have been imposed against RT (formerly Russia Today), RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonian, her deputies Elizaveta Brodskaya, Anton Anisimov, Andrey Kiyashko, and other employees of the propaganda resource.

In addition, restrictions have been imposed on the pro-Kremlin hacker group RaHDit, which is affiliated with the FSB, as well as the Dialog and Dialog Regions civic platforms.

The U.S. Department of Treasury noted that these Russian state-sponsored actors have long used a variety of tools, such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) deep fakes and disinformation, in an attempt “to undermine confidence in the United States’ election processes and institutions.”

As reported by Ukrinform, the U.S. government considers the Russian state media network RT a key part of the Kremlin's propaganda efforts.