U.S. Charges Russia Today Employees with Money Laundering in Election Influence Scheme

The U.S. has filed money-laundering charges against two employees of Russia’s state-backed media outlet, Russia Today (RT), accusing them of orchestrating a scheme to hire an American company to produce online content intended to influence the 2024 U.S. presidential election. In addition to the charges, the U.S. announced sanctions targeting RT’s Editor-in-Chief, Margarita Simonyan, describing her as “a central figure in Russian government malign influence efforts.”

In response, Simonyan claimed on RT that Western nations have been tightening their grip on the network since 2014, following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, with even greater intensity since 2022 when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. She argued that the West is attempting to block RT from operating as “a normal journalist organisation.”

“We stayed in those countries, we worked there, and we shall work there – just not now in a straight line,” Simonyan said. “We will continue to do that as far as we can – so far it is working out – it’s almost like an exquisite gambling thrill.” She added, “They close entry to us, and we will go through the window, close the window and we will go through the vents and we will see what holes there are in the organism of the United States of America.”

A senior U.S. intelligence official claimed that RT is using both American and foreign personalities to sway U.S. voters in favor of former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump, over his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Since 2022, Russia has shut down nearly all remaining independent media outlets, especially those that deviate from the government's official stance on the war in Ukraine. Russia has also banned numerous Western media staff members and has pledged to retaliate against U.S. media in response to actions taken against RT. This adds to the growing list of media restrictions on both sides, with each accusing the other of spreading falsehoods.

In June, Russia escalated its media retaliation by blocking broadcasts from 81 European Union outlets after the EU banned several Russian media platforms. Simonyan has since called for the expulsion of all U.S. media from Russia and advocated for the replacement of major U.S.-based social media platforms like Alphabet’s YouTube and Meta’s Instagram with Russian equivalents due to their influence in the country.

“We need to make a final, serious leap so that our sites are fully competitive and better, so that they can replace those ones and so that we throw them out of here,” Simonyan said. She compared the continued operation of these platforms in Russia to “settling a serious enemy army unit here in barracks and taking young people on excursions there, day and night.”

Although Instagram is officially banned in Russia, many users still access it using VPNs. YouTube, the most popular foreign video platform in Russia, remains available, but access has noticeably slowed recently. Neither Alphabet nor Meta has responded to requests for comment.

By fLEXI tEAM