US issues new sanctions against Russian influence operators

U.S. officials extended their efforts to disrupt Russian election meddling and other disinformation campaigns on Friday, announcing new sanctions on state-backed media. 

The RT media outlet is part of continued and coordinated Kremlin efforts to attack elections, support Russia’s war on Ukraine, and collect intelligence, State Department officials said.

“We know that RT possessed cyber capabilities and engaged in covert information and influence operations and military procurement,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters. 

In 2023, the Kremlin transformed RT from a simple propaganda outlet into “a de facto arm of Russia's intelligence apparatus,” Blinken said. “As part of RTs expanded capabilities, the Russian government embedded within RT a unit with cyber operation capabilities and ties to Russian intelligence.”  

A State Department statement on Friday said, “We will not stand for attempts by state actors to carry out covert activities with the goal of hijacking that discourse.” 

The statement calls out recent efforts by Russia to disrupt upcoming elections in Moldova. 

“Leveraging its expanded covert capabilities, RT will almost certainly coordinate with traditional Russian intelligence services to try to manipulate the outcome of the October 2024 Moldovan presidential election in Moscow’s favor,” it said. 

In June, State officials said that Russia was “agitating criticism of the incumbent Moldovan president’s government and political party, in order to incite protests.  Part of these operations would include spreading lies about the incumbent president’s character and intentions, and about supposed electoral irregularities.”

The Department is sanctioning TV-Novosti as well as Rossiya Segodnya and its director, Russian TV presenter Dmitry Konstantinovich Kiselyov. Segodnya is the parent entity of RT. 

What’s striking in the announcement is the growing collaboration between Russian media and its military to achieve a variety of aims, from fundraising to spying. 

“Under the cover of RT, information produced through this entity’s capabilities flows to Russia’s intelligence services, Russian media outlets, Russian mercenary groups, and other various state and proxy arms of the Russian Government,” the statement said. “A large online crowdfunding platform operating within the quasi-intelligence, state-funded RT and through social media channels is providing material support and weaponry to Russia’s military units in Ukraine,” it says. 

The announcement comes on the heels of the Justice Department’s Sept. 5 indictment  of RT employees who paid social media influencers, including some Americans, to undermine U.S. support for Ukraine. Some were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars per month—perhaps unwittingly—to produce content.

Russia is also targeting audiences elsewhere: in Germany via a platform called “Red” (thered.stream), across Africa via a website called African Stream, and  and in France and Argentina, according to today’s statement. 

Also this week, U.S. AFRICOM commander Gen. Michael Langley echoed earlier statements that Russian disinformation efforts were destabilizing the region and distorting U.S. efforts in Africa with partner militaries. 

"Misinformation and disinformation [have] stoked a lot of instability across civil society and across some of these militaries,” Langley said.