U.S. Sanctions RT for Alleged Russian Interference in Elections
RT Recording Set, Photo: @OsiOsint1
September 4, 2024 Hour: 11:28 pm
RT Director Margarita Simonyan and nine others have been accused of promoting «evil influence efforts» in connection with the 2024 US presidential election.
The US Attorney General, Merrick Garland, announced on Wednesday that the US justice has filed charges against two employees of the Russian news channel RT, accusing them of money laundering and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
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«This morning we have filed an indictment in the southern district of New York against Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, two employees of the Russian state news channel RT. Both are accused of conspiracy to launder money and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)», Garland said at a press conference.
Also on Wednesday, the US imposed visa restrictions on the Russian news agency Rossiya Segodnya, the RT channel and its subsidiaries. In addition, the US State Department designated Russian state media as «foreign missions», while the Treasury Department sanctioned ten people linked to these agencies for their alleged attempts to «influence» in the November US presidential elections.
In 2017, the US Department of Justice already forced the defunct RT America to register as a foreign agent after several US intelligence agencies claimed that RT had helped to elect Donald Trump by publishing «negative coverage» of Hillary Clinton and criticising the «corrupt political establishment» in the US.
Now, the US government has filed charges against two current employees of RT, Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva. They face a maximum sentence of five years in prison for violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and 20 years for money laundering. However, it is unlikely that these charges will be proven in a US court as the US does not have an extradition treaty with Russia. The two Russians were also sanctioned on Wednesday by the US Treasury Department, along with RT’s chief editor, Margarita Simonyan, and three other senior RT employees. Simonyan rejected the accusations, responding with a «Good work, team!» on Telegram.
At a press conference on Wednesday, the US Attorney General Merrick Garland stated that the charges against Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva, as well as another alleged Russian plan to disseminate anti-Ukrainian content on the Internet, «They make clear how far the Russian government is willing to go, even at the highest levels, in order to undermine our democratic process.»
Simonyan ridiculed the US authorities for claiming, for the third consecutive election, that RT is trying to interfere in US policy. «If we are completely thrown out, how will they hold the next elections?» he wrote in a follow-up post on Telegram. «They have no other strategy than the alarmism about the all-powerful RT».
Autor: CC
Fuente: RT-Sputnik