State Department ‘Fact Sheet:' Sweeping Charges, Penalties against RT; Pledges To Police World Media
Sept. 17—A five-page State Department “fact sheet” posted Sept. 13, accompanying Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s media briefing the same day, details the allegations against RT and its parent company Rossiya Segodnya, as well as the sanctions levied against them.
It opens by claiming: “According to new information, much of which originates from employees of Russian state-funded RT (formerly ‘Russia Today’), we now know that RT moved beyond being simply a media outlet and has been an entity with cyber capabilities. It is also engaged in information operations, covert influence, and military procurement. These operations are targeting countries around the world, including in Europe, Africa, and North and South America.”
The fact sheet is titled, “Alerting the World to RT’s Global Covert Activities.” It identifies five parties—three organizations and two persons, designated as engaging in activities to be punished. Under the subheading, “Sanctions Implications,” the penalties are described: “All transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons are prohibited unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC [Office of Foreign Asset Control] or exempt. These prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any blocked person and the receipts of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.”
Among other things, the fact sheet charges that RT is part of a covert Russian effort to “undermine” democracy in Moldova: “As we previously described, some of these covert efforts include RT personnel’s involvement in providing direct support to U.S.-designated fugitive Moldovan oligarch ILAN SHOR (SHOR) for several years with Russian government assent,. Leveraging its expanded covert capabilities, RT will almost certainly coordinate with traditional Russian intelligence services to try to manipulate the outcome of the October 2024 Moldovan presidential election in Moscow’s favor.”
Besides sanctions, “the U.S. Department of State is actively engaged in a diplomatic effort to inform other governments around the world of Russia’s use of RT to conduct covert activities and encourage them to take action to limit Russia’s ability to interfere in foreign elections and procure weapons for its war against Ukraine.”
It also accuses RT of being involved in procuring “lethal aid” for the Russian military, and of having “cyber operational capabilities and ties to Russian intelligence … focused primarily on influence and intelligence operations all over the world.” RT has also “leveraged its extensive state funding to covertly recruit and pay social media personalities and provide them with unbranded content to disseminate and promote around the world while hiding RT’s involvement. RT employees are leveraging intelligence tactics, front companies, and network technologies to obfuscate their role in these covert efforts.”