US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States imposed new sanctions against three entities and two individuals for their alleged disinformation campaign on Russia’s behalf, Sputnik reports.
The United States has imposed sanctions on the Russian media group Rossiya Segodnya and its Director General Dmitry Kiselev for their roles in alleged covert influence operations, the US Treasury Department announced on Friday.
The Treasury Department issued a general license authorizing wind-down transactions with Russia’s Rossiya Segodnya and TV Novosti through November 13 after it imposed full blocking sanctions against the two entities.
"Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this general license, all transactions prohibited by Executive Order (E.O.) 14024 that are ordinarily incident and necessary to the wind down of any transaction involving one or more of the following blocked entities are authorized through 12:01 am Eastern Standard Time, November 13, 2024," the license said.
However, the US State Department said that the blocked Russian media outlets may continue to engage in journalism and media operations not prohibited by US sanctions.
"Consistent with General License 25F, these targets may continue to engage in journalism and media operations not prohibited by US sanctions," the State Department said in a press release.
The US, UK and Canadian governments have teamed up to expose Russia’s alleged efforts to engage in subversive activities and electoral interference targeting Moldova, the release said.
The Russian broadcaster RT and its employees have "directly coordinated" with the Russian authorities to support Russian government efforts to influence the October 2024 Moldovan election, the release said.
The US government is also claiming that RT has participated in a "large online crowdfunding platform" providing material support and weaponry to Russia’s military units in Ukraine.
The State Department said that RT used "proxy outlets that purport to be independent" to spread information about Ukraine, as well as maintain activities related to other countries, including Argentina.
Earlier, the USA also imposed sanctions on Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the RT TV channel, who was accused of trying to interfere in the election of the US president.
The action follows a series of US sanctions, indictments and other measures against Russian media last week, amid allegations of efforts to interfere in US politics and elections.
In response to the previous actions, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the measures were undertaken by US security services to "sterilize" the national and global information space from any form of dissent and Russia will respond to them.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the measures "nonsense" and likewise said that the US government is attempting to suppress the work of journalists to hide unpleasant truths. Allegations of Russian interference in US elections are baseless, Peskov added.
