US accuses Russian propaganda outlet RT of interference in 2024 election

The US government has indicted two employees of Russian state-owned propaganda broadcaster RT and sanctioned 10 more for attempting to influence the outcome of the US presidential election in November, the US State, Justice and Treasury Departments announced in coordinated statements on Wednesday.

Accusing RT, formerly known as Russia Today, of having “moved beyond being simply a media organisation”, the Department of State alleged that it had contracted with a private company to “pay unwitting Americans millions of dollars to carry the Kremlin’s message to influence the US elections and undermine democracy” in a disinformation campaign.

The Department of Justice brought direct charges against two RT managers, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Yelena Afanasyeva, who it said had worked under fake identities from Moscow and used shell companies to “covertly finance and direct” a Tennessee-based online content creation company to spread pro-Kremlin narratives across the US in a scheme worth $10 million.

Between November 2023 and August 2024, the company posted almost 2,000 videos on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and X that aimed to “amplify domestic divisions” in the US by covering topics such as immigration, inflation and foreign policy, garnering over 16 million views on YouTube alone, the Department of Justice said.

Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva are charged with conspiracy to violate the US law on foreign agents and conspiracy to launder money, which carry maximum prison sentences of five and 20 years respectively.

The Department of the Treasury also sanctioned 10 individuals and two entities associated with RT, including its editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan and deputy editor-in-chief Yelizaveta Brodskaya, for “malign influence efforts” aimed at manipulating US public opinion in the buildup to November’s presidential election, including a “nefarious effort to covertly recruit unwitting American influencers”.

“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.

Responding to the allegations on its English-language Telegram channel, RT dismissed them as “clichés”, saying that “three things are certain in life: death, taxes and RT’s interference in the US elections”.

Following years of accusations that the Russian government was using RT to spread Kremlin propaganda, it registered as a foreign agent in the US in 2017. However, its US arm closed shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.