Feds announce crackdown on Russian disinformation campaign in 2024 election

The Biden administration is taking action against Russian disinformation efforts in the 2024 presidential election. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Wednesday, Sept. 4, the filing of criminal charges, the seizure of more than two dozen Moscow-linked internet domains and sanctions on a Russian-run media company.

“The Justice Department’s message is clear,” Garland said. “We have no tolerance for attempts by authoritarian regimes to exploit our democratic system of government.”

Garland expanded on the efforts by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) during a meeting of the Election Threats Task Force, announcing the indictment of a pair of Russia-based employees at a state-run media outlet.

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“This morning, we unsealed an indictment in the Southern District of New York of Constantine Kalashnikov and Elena [Afanasyeva], two Russian-based employees at RT, a Russian state-controlled media outlet,” Garland said. “They are charged with conspiring to commit money laundering and to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act.”

Garland said the RT’s employees , otherwise known as Russia Today, had a $10 million plan to funnel money into a Tennessee-based company to publish and spread pro-Russian propaganda, with the goal of sowing divisions in the U.S. and pushing anti-Ukrainian narratives.

The U.S. Treasury Department also imposed sanctions and visa restrictions against RT’s editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonovna Simonyan, and others affiliated with the network, including visa restrictions.

Garland also said the DOJ seized 32 internet domains used by the Kremlin and pro-Russian agents in a “covert campaign” to influence the 2024 election.

Federal investigators say that Russian companies have used domains, some impersonating legitimate publications like the Washington Post and Fox News, to secretly spread false information since at least 2022.

The U.S. attorney general said the plots show the lengths Russia is willing to reach in order to sow distrust in U.S. elections but also warned that it is not the only foreign adversary doing so.

“Unfortunately, we know that Russia is not the only foreign power seeking to interfere in our elections,” Garland said. “As the U.S intelligence community noted two weeks ago, we have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle. That includes recently reported activities by Iran to compromise Former President Trump’s campaign.

Garland vowed that the DOJ will be “relentlessly aggressive” in “disrupting attempts by Russia,” China, Iran or any other foreign actor to “undermine our democracy.”

Meanwhile, Russia and RT have denied the accusations from the DOJ.

“Three things are certain in life: death, taxes and RT’s interference in the US elections,” the RT told Reuters.

The media outlet reportedly shuttered operations in the United States after Russia invaded Ukraine.

A Russian lawmaker claimed the accusations by the DOJ were “pure rubbish” and said Russia does not think it matters whether Former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris wins the election on Nov. 5.

“The only winner of the U.S. election is the U.S. private military industrial complex,” State Duma deputy Maria Butina told Reuters.