Chicago – September 09, 2024
Russian state media outlet RT is trying to sway voters toward former President Donald Trump ahead of the November election by using Western influencers, an unnamed US intelligence official told Reuters.
The official said that RT, formerly known as Russia Today, had “built and used networks of US and other Western personalities to create and disseminate Russia-friendly narratives.”
“These actors among others are supporting Moscow’s efforts to influence voter preferences in favor of the former president and diminish the prospects of the vice president,” they added.
It follows an announcement from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday saying that the US had charged two Russian nationals who were employees of RT with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Prosecutors said that the employees, named as Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, managed an operation from Moscow that aimed “to influence the American public by secretly planting and financing a content creation company on US soil.”
The indictment said that over at least the past year, RT had “deployed nearly $10 million to covertly finance and direct a Tennessee-based online content creation company.”
