The US government accuses Russia of interfering in the elections. US influencers are also said to have played an unwitting role. Now Washington is responding with sanctions against the Russian state broadcaster RT.
The US has accused Russia of trying to influence the presidential election with targeted disinformation. The Kremlin used its state media to persuade unsuspecting influencers from the US to adopt its own propaganda, said Attorney General Merrick Garland. That is why sanctions were imposed, criminal charges brought and the seizure of internet domains ordered.
Representatives of the Russian state broadcaster RT are reportedly affected. Garland said the inner circle around Russian President Vladimir Putin had instructed Russian PR firms to “promote disinformation and state-sponsored narratives as part of a campaign to influence the 2024 US presidential election.”
KI und Deep Fakes
The Treasury Department said actors backed by the Russian state have long used a variety of tools, such as artificial intelligence, deep fakes and targeted disinformation, to undermine trust in the processes and institutions surrounding U.S. elections.
Among those affected by the sanctions are RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan and other members of the channel’s management team. As a result of the sanctions, any assets of those affected in the USA will be frozen. US citizens will be prohibited from doing business with them. The sanctions also make international business much more difficult for those affected.
Repeated influence
These are not the first allegations of this kind: According to official US sources, Moscow had already interfered in previous US elections. According to US intelligence services, Russia supported Republican Donald Trump in the 2020 election and tried to harm Democrat Joe Biden. Moscow wanted to influence the outcome of the election and sow discord in the country, according to a published intelligence report.
US security authorities are also convinced that Russia intervened in the 2016 election in favor of candidate Trump in order to thwart Democrat Hillary Clinton. A special investigator later investigated possible illegal agreements between Russia and Trump’s team. There was insufficient evidence for this.
