The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Wednesday (4) that the Attorney General’s Office for the Southern District of New York filed charges against two Russian citizens for alleged actions to interfere in the American presidential election, scheduled for November 5.
According to a DOJ statement, Konstantin Kalashnikov, 31, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27, were charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (Fara) and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Both are employees of the Russian state broadcaster RT and are targets of sanctions by the United States Treasury Department, along with eight other Russian individuals and two organizations, according to a report also released on Wednesday, also for alleged attempts to influence the US election.
According to the DOJ statement, RT and its employees, including Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva, invested nearly $10 million since last year to secretly fund and run a Tennessee-based online content creation company.
That company, US Company-1, posted English-language videos on multiple social media channels, including TikTok, Instagram, X and YouTube, with the goal of “amplifying internal divisions in the United States” on issues such as immigration, inflation and foreign relations, the indictment said.
In one of the cases reported by the prosecutor’s office, Afanasyeva allegedly instructed US Company-1 to produce content blaming the United States and Ukraine for the attack on a concert hall in the Moscow region in March this year that killed 145 people and was claimed by the Islamic State.
According to the indictment, Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva adopted false identities to coordinate this work at the American company.
In contact with Reuters, RT mocked the accusations made by the DOJ and the Treasury Department. “Three things are certain in life: death, taxes and RT’s interference in the US elections,” it pointed out.
#accuses #Russian #state #broadcaster #employees #interfere #presidential #election
