Sept. 4 (UPI) — A new visa-restriction policy will help protect the integrity of U.S. elections against Russian interference designed to undermine the nation’s democratic institutions.
The U.S. Department of State on Wednesday announced three actions designed to “hinder malicious actors from using Kremlin-supported media as cover to conduct covert influence activities that target the U.S. elections in 2024.”
The State Department is coordinating with the Department of Treasury and other federal agencies to introduce a new visa-restriction policy, determine violations of the Foreign Missions Act and offer $10 million “Rewards for Justice.”
“We are taking actions against these individuals exclusively for their nefarious, covert influence actions, and not for the content of any reporting or disinformation activities,” officials with the U.S. Department of State said.
As the federal government restricts visas, officials won’t announce which individuals are affected due to the private nature of visa records.
Targeting Russian media site RT
The State Department also is using the provisions of the Foreign Missions Act to designated media outlets Rossiya Segodnya, subsidiaries of RIA Novosti, RT, TV-Novosti, Ruptly and Sputnik as foreign missions.
“These entities have an operational presence in the United States and are effective controlled by the government of the Russian Federation,” State Department officials said.
Those entities now are required to notify the federal government of all its personnel working in the United States and any real property that is held within the nation.
Indicted were two employees of Russian-controlled media outlet RT, Russian nationals Kostiantyn Kalashnikov, 31, also known as Kostya, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27, also known as Lena.
They allegedly schemed to covertly use social media to distribute content to U.S. audiences containing hidden Russian government propaganda. The purpose, the DOJ, said, was to influence the U.S. election.
In a statement Wednesday Attorney General Merrick Garland said, “The Justice Department has charged two employees of RT, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, in a $10 million scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging. The Justice Department will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to exploit our country’s free exchange of ideas in order to covertly further its own propaganda efforts, and our investigation into this matter remains ongoing.”
The DOJ also seized 32 internet domains that were allegedly part of a wide-ranging covert Russian operation to influence the outcome the 2024 election, according to Garland.
Court documents allege that RT is controlled and directed by Russia and Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva deployed nearly $10 million to covertly finance and direct a Tennessee-based online content creation company.
That company published English-language videos on social media channels including TikTok, Instagram, X and You Tube.
The covert effort posted nearly 2,000 videos with over 16 million views on You Tube alone.
According to the indictment, Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva from at least in or about December 2022 through at least in or about September 2024 conspired to act as Russian agents without registering as required by federal law.
Rewards for Justice program
The State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service is administering the Rewards for Justice program that seeks information on foreign efforts to influence or interfere with U.S. elections.
An example of such activities is the activities of the”Russian Angry Hackers Did It” organization that the State Department says has engaged in election influence in other nations and is a threat to the upcoming U.S. elections.
The Russian hackers engage in “cyber-enabled influence operations,” and individuals who provide the federal government within formation regarding the Russian hackers’ activities in the United States could be eligible for eligible for a $10 million reward.
Trial’s ‘political discord’
The announcement comes a day after the start of a federal trial in the U.S. District Court in Tampa, Fla., in which four U.S. citizens are accused of helping Russia “sow political discord and interfere in U.S. elections.”
The four defendants are or were members of the African People’s Socialist Party and Uhuru Movement, which has locations in St. Petersburg, Fla., and St. Louis.
The defendants include Omali Yeshitela, 82, who chairs the Uhuru Movement that seeks to empower Blacks and secure reparations for slavery and prior genocide of Africans.
Yeshitela’s attorney Ade Griffin told the federal jury his client and organization he leads isn’t controlled by Russia.
Yeshitela and two other defendants are charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and not registering as agents of a foreign government.
A fourth defendant only is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and is the founder of the Atlanta-based Black Hammer organization.
All defendants have pleaded not guilty.
The case also involves three individuals whom federal prosecutors accuse of being Russian intelligence agents but haven’t been arrested.
Federal prosecutor Menno Goedman told the jury the four defendants acted under the direction of Russian agents to hold protests in2016 that claimed Blacks in the United States are victims of genocide.
Goedman also said the defendants engaged in other actions beneficial to the Russian government in regard to U.S. policy toward the war in Ukraine.
“This is about dividing Americans, dividing communities, turning neighbor against neighbor,” Goedman told the court.
“The defendants acted at the direction of the Russian government to sow division right here in the U.S.,” he said.
