Biden administration acts against Russia-tied influence efforts

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department announced Wednesday an indictment against two Russian nationals and a move to seize 32 internet domains in a push to combat what authorities described as covert foreign influence operations targeted at the American public.

And White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby announced new sanctions Wednesday specifically aimed at countering activities directed and funded by RT, a Russian state-funded media organization commonly known as Russia Today.

According to Kirby, RT has worked to covertly spread Russian government propaganda with the aim of reducing global support for Ukraine, and influencing voters in the U.S. “RT is no longer just a propaganda arm of the Kremlin. It is being used to advance covert Russian influence actions,” Kirby said.

Taken together, the actions reflected a show of force from the Biden administration as it seeks to protect the November 2024 general election amid a contentious presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

The DOJ announcement coincided with a meeting in Washington of a task force aimed at combating threats to the nation’s election workers, with the agency pledging to aggressively investigate and prosecute those threats.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said the department has no tolerance for attempts by authoritarian regimes to exploit Americans’ democratic system of government.

“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,” Garland said.

FBI Director Christopher Wray, when asked what message he would give to the leaders of China and Iran, took a blunter approach: “Knock it off,” he said.

“As long as adversaries keep trying to influence and interfere in our society and our democratic processes, they’re going to keep running into the FBI. We’re going to keep calling it out,” he said.

Wray said other nations have started to see the same activity as well. “It’s not the kind of activity we would expect from nations that want to play in the First World space,” he said.

In an unsealed affidavit in support of seizing the 32 domains, an FBI agent said the Russian government and government-sponsored actors engaged in “foreign malign influence campaigns” using the internet domains, with Russian companies using domains that impersonated legitimate news outlets to covertly spread Russian government propaganda.

The aim was to hurt international support for Ukraine, prop up pro-Russian policies and influence voters in U.S. elections without tipping off that the Russian efforts were behind the content, according to the affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Garland, speaking to reporters Wednesday, said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle directed Russian public relations companies to “promote disinformation and state sponsored narratives” to influence the November presidential election.

“These websites were designed to appear to American readers as if they were major U.S. news sites like The Washington Post or Fox News. But in fact, they were fake sites. They were filled with Russian government propaganda,” Garland said.

DOJ also announced an indictment against two Russian nationals, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, in a nearly $10 million scheme to covertly fund a company that published videos on social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

The videos were often in line with the Russian government’s interest in heightening domestic divisions within the U.S., according to the indictment.

Both Russian nationals are not in custody and the indictment came from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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(Mark Satter contributed to this report.)

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