US Justice Department says two employees of Russia’s RT secretly paid $10m to Tennessee-based media outlet.
The United States has announced a range of actions to combat Russian efforts to influence the 2024 presidential election, including the indictment of two state media employees accused of secretly funding a US media company to sow political divisions.
In an indictment unsealed on Wednesday, the US Justice Department alleged that two employees of Russia’s RT used shell companies and fake identities to pay $10m to a media outlet in Tennessee as part of a Moscow-directed influence operation.
Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva face charges of conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
US Attorney General Merrick B Garland said the influence campaign had targeted US audiences with “hidden Russian government messaging”.
“The company never disclosed to the influencers – or to their millions of followers – its ties to RT and the Russian government. Instead, the defendants and the company claimed that the company was sponsored by a private investor. That private investor was a fictitious persona,” Garland said.
Garland said authorities would not tolerate attempts by an “authoritarian regime to exploit our country’s free exchange of ideas in order to covertly further its own propaganda efforts”, and that investigations were ongoing.
While US officials did not identify the Tennessee-based outlet by name, the indictment says the company describes itself as a “network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues”.
The description matches Tenet Media, a network of influencers known for their right-wing views that includes Dave Rubin, Tim Pool, Lauren Southern and Benny Johnson.
Tenet Media and RT did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Rubin said the allegations “clearly show that I and other commentators were the victims of this scheme”.
“I knew absolutely nothing about any of this fraudulent activity,” he said in a post on X.
Johnson said he was “disturbed” by the allegations, which “make clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme”.
“My lawyers will handle anyone who states or suggests otherwise,” he said on X.
Pool said he had been deceived if the allegations were true.
“Never at any point did anyone other than I have full editorial control of the show and the contents of the show are often apolitical,” he said on X.
Separately, US officials said they had seized 32 internet domains used for Russian-led “malign influence campaigns” aimed at interfering in the US election and reducing international support for Ukraine.
“Companies operating at the direction of the Russian government created websites to trick Americans into unwittingly consuming Russian propaganda,” FBI director, Christopher Wray, said in a statement.
“By seizing these websites, the FBI is making clear to the world what they are, Russian attempts to interfere in our elections and influence our society.”
US officials have repeatedly accused foreign governments, including Moscow, of seeking to meddle in the country’s elections, including the presidential votes in 2016 and 2020.
Last month, US intelligence agencies accused Iran of conducting cyber attacks on the presidential campaigns of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump.
In May, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines named Russia, China and Iran as the most prolific “foreign actors” seeking to meddle in elections.
US prosecutors in 2018 charged 13 Russian citizens and entities with interfering in the 2016 election to benefit then-candidate Trump.