US charges employees of Russia's RT network for election influence

The US filed money-laundering charges against two employees of Russian state media network RT on Wednesday, for what officials said was a scheme to hire an American company to produce online content to influence the 2024 presidential election.

Justice Department officials said the two employees used shell companies and fake personas to pay $10 million (AED 36 million) to an unnamed Tennessee company to produce online videos aimed at amplifying political divisions in the United States.

The US Treasury and State departments also announced actions targeting RT, including the network's top editor, Margarita Simonovna Simonyan.

US officials said Russia's goal is to exacerbate US political divisions and weaken public support for American aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

"We will be relentlessly aggressive in countering and disrupting attempts by Russia and Iran, as well as China or any other foreign malign actor, (to) interfere in our elections and undermine our democracy," US Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

The FBI separately sought court permission to seize 32 internet domains it said were part of Russia's foreign influence effort.

RT responded with ridicule. "Three things are certain in life: death, taxes and RT's interference in the US elections," the media outlet told Reuters.

RT ceased operating in the United States after major television distributors dropped it following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russian lawmaker Maria Butina told Reuters that Moscow does not think it matters whether Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris wins the November 5 election.

"The only winner of the US election is the US private military industrial complex," said Butina, who spent 15 months in US prison for acting as an unregistered Russian agent.

The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Moscow has repeatedly said it has not meddled in the upcoming US election.

The criminal indictment charged the two RT employees, Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, with conspiracy to violate US money laundering and foreign agent laws. Both are based in Russia and remain at large, US officials said.

Authorities said the RT employees worked with two foreign nationals in the United States, who set up a company that recruited prominent conservative commentators to post regular videos on topics like immigration and US politics.

Though the company is not named in the indictment, details provided in court filings match up with Tenet Media, a Nashville-based company that has posted nearly 2,000 videos to YouTube in less than a year.

The indictment's description of a "network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues" matches Tenet's own promotional wording on its website. In addition, Tenet's incorporation date of February 19, 2022, filed with the Tennessee Secretary of State matches the date mentioned in the indictment.

The company did not respond to a request for comment and Justice Department officials declined to confirm that it was the company mentioned in the indictment.