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WASHINGTON —The United States on Wednesday hit Moscow-linked companies and their employees with a combination of criminal charges, sanctions and other measures in response to what U.S. officials described as a malicious influence campaign meant to upend American society and impact the outcome of the presidential election.
Wednesday's announcements by the departments of Justice, State and Treasury charge Russia with breaking U.S. laws and international norms in a wide-ranging effort directed, in part, by members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.
The schemes "make clear the ends to which the Russian government, including at its highest levels, is willing to go to undermine our democratic process," said U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, addressing a meeting of the Justice Department's Election Threats Task Force.
"This is deadly serious, and we are going to treat it accordingly," he added.
The Justice Department indictment unsealed Wednesday alleges Russia tried to "hide its hand," using two employees of the state-controlled RT media outlet, shell companies and fake personas to funnel nearly $10 million to a U.S. company in Tennessee to promote and distribute English-language material favorable to the Russian government.
Officials said the unnamed company has produced almost 2,000 videos since November 2023, posting on social media platforms such as TikTok, X and YouTube, garnering more than 16 million views on YouTube alone.
But there are concerns the Russian operation may be even bigger.
"While RT America suspended its official operations in the U.S. back in early 2022, our investigation revealed that since at least last year, RT has used people living and working inside the U.S. to facilitate contracts with American media figures to create and disseminate Russian propaganda," said FBI Director Christopher Wray.
"The content was pitched as legitimate independent news, when in fact, much of it was created in Russia by RT employees who work for the Russian government," he added.
VOA has reached out to the Russian Embassy in Washington and to a media company matching the description of the company in the indictment, for comment. Neither have so far responded.
Some of the commentators and influencers who say they are linked to the company in question, Tenet Media, have spoken out.
"Should these allegations prove true, I as well as the other personalities and commentators were deceived and are victims," podcast host Tim Pool posted on X.
"I cannot speak for anyone else at the company as to what they do or to what they are instructed," he wrote, adding, "Never at any point did anyone other than I have full editorial control of the show and the contents of the show are often apolitical."
Benny Johnson, host of "The Benny Show" podcast, called the allegations in the Justice Department indictment disturbing, adding that they also "make clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme."
The U.S.-based company has not been charged, although the Justice Department said it failed to inform audiences that it was funded and directed by RT. Officials also noted that the U.S. company and its founders also failed to register, as required, as foreign agents.
RT ridiculed the U.S. allegations on its website and on social media.
"If they kick us out completely, how will they conduct the next elections?" RT's website quoted Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan as writing on Telegram. "They don't have any other strategies except to scaremonger about the almighty RT."
The RT employees identified in the indictment - 31-year-old Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and 27-year-old Elena Afanasyeva - are charged with failing to register as foreign agents and money laundering.
The violation of the foreign agent registration rules carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. If convicted on the money laundering charge, they could each face a maximum of 20 years behind bars.
In addition to targeting the main players in the RT-led influence operation, U.S. officials took aim at another Russian operation Wednesday, seizing 32 internet domains used by Moscow to spread disinformation.
The separate indictment alleges three Russian companies - Social Design Agency, Structura National Technology and ANO Dialog - violated U.S. money laundering and trademark laws in another attempt to confuse Americans in what was known as Operation Doppelganger.
"These websites were designed to appear to American readers as if they were major U.S. news sites like The Washington Post or Fox News," Garland said. "But in fact, they were fake sites."
Instead, internal Kremlin documents obtained by the U.S. allege Russian officials sought to fill the sites with propaganda designed to bolster the chances of former President Donald Trump, assessed by U.S. intelligence agencies to be Moscow's preferred candidate, winning the White House in November.
In addition to the actions taken by the U.S. Justice Department, the Treasury Department on Wednesday sanctioned two Russian entities and 10 Russia nationals, including the RT's Simonyan.
And the State Department announced Wednesday new visa restrictions for individuals acting on behalf on Russian-supported media organizations.
State Department officials also designated several Russian media outlets as foreign missions.
Rossiya Segodnya, RIA Novosti, RT, TV-Novosti, Ruptly and Sputnik must now notify the U.S. government of all personnel they have working in the U.S. and also disclose any property holdings.
"Russia remains the predominant threat to U.S. elections," said a senior FBI official, briefing reporters following the announcement of the U.S. actions.
"Moscow continues to use a broad stable of influence actors and tactics and is working to hide its hand, enhance its reach and create content that resonates more with United States-based audiences," the official added.
Not all of Russia's tactics are new.
Moscow began leaning heavily on social media personalities in the lead-up to the U.S. presidential elections four years ago. And some of the Russian companies charged with creating fake news sites have also been called out for trying to seed Russian-generated content in news outlets across Latin America.
What worries, U.S. officials now, though, is the pace and scale of the Russian operations targeting the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
"It's an acceleration," Garland said. "It's use of AI and cyber techniques that were not available in earlier elections ... therefore, it's a bigger threat than it ever was before."
And Russia is not alone. U.S. officials have also shared worries about China and Iran, expressing particular concerns about Tehran's meddling efforts.
"We have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle that includes recently reported activities by Iran to compromise former President [Donald] Trump's campaign and to avoid an election outcome that it regards as against its interests," Garland said.
"The Justice Department's message is clear," he added. "We have no tolerance for attempts by authoritarian regimes to exploit our demographic, our democratic system of government."