By Simon Lewis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Countries should treat the activities of Russian state broadcaster RT as they do covert intelligence operations, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday as he unveiled new sanctions aimed at alleged Russian overseas influence campaigns.
The United States last week filed money-laundering charges against two employees of RT and imposed sanctions on Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan over what officials said was a scheme to hire an American company to produce online content to influence the 2024 U.S. election.
Blinken told reporters at the State Department that Russian media entities were “functioning like a de facto arm of Russia’s intelligence apparatus.” RT had moved beyond being a media outlet to possess cyber capabilities and conduct covert information and influence operations overseas as well, he said, citing new information, much of which he said came from RT employees.
“Today, we’re announcing that these Kremlin-backed media outlets are not only playing this covert influence role to undermine democracy in the United States, but also to meddle in the sovereign affairs of countries around the world,” Blinken said.
The war in Ukraine has sunk U.S.-Russian relations to new lows since President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion in 2022 and the Biden administration responded by arming Kyiv and rallying a broad international sanctions campaign against Moscow.
RT has mocked the U.S. actions. Simonyan has said Washington is trying to prevent the broadcaster from operating as a journalistic organization and has vowed to get around sanctions to continue that work.
Russia’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S., Britain and Canada would cooperate on a diplomatic campaign to inform other countries of the Russian efforts, including by sharing evidence.
“Each government, of course, is going to decide how it responds to this threat, but we urge every ally, every partner, to start by treating RTs activities as they do other intelligence activities by Russia within their border,” Blinken said.
UNACKNOWLEDGED NEWS OUTLETS
The Biden administration on Friday was imposing sanctions on three Russian entity and two individuals linked to RT and to what it calls a “malign influence campaign” in Moldova, according to a State Department fact sheet.
Moldova, which borders Ukraine, has become a key location for the tussle between Moscow and the West. The U.S. and allies in June accused Russia of carrying out a plot to sway the outcome of presidential elections in the country next month.
Blinken said RT will almost certainly coordinate with Russian intelligence services to try to manipulate the poll.
The department also identified news outlets secretly run by RT: website African Stream and Berlin-based English language platform Red.
RT also hired a Paris-based journalist to run influence projects targeting French speakers, it said, without identifying the journalist.
Russia was also conducting operations aimed at destabilizing the government of Argentina and escalating tensions with Argentina’s neighbors, it said.
“We expect that the Russian government will leverage RT, its affiliates, and its overall covert playbook in pursuit of these malign efforts,” the fact sheet said.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis; additional reporting by David Ljunggren and Chris BingEditing by Alistair Bell)
