The US Division of Justice on Wednesday announced the seizure of 32 web domains linked to an alleged Russian government-backed disinformation marketing campaign aimed toward influencing US and international audiences.
In response to the DOJ, the operation, referred to as “Doppelganger,” reportedly sought to sway public opinion in favor of Russian pursuits and intervene within the 2024 US presidential election. The marketing campaign was allegedly orchestrated by a number of Russian organizations underneath the supervision of Sergei Kiriyenko, a senior official within the Russian Presidential Administration. These organizations utilized the seized domains to distribute pro-Russian propaganda and undermine worldwide help for Ukraine.
Saying the seizures, US Lawyer Normal Merrick Garland stated:
An inner planning doc created by the Kremlin states {that a} purpose of the marketing campaign is to safe Russia’s most well-liked final result within the election. The websites we’re seizing at the moment have been crammed with Russian authorities propaganda that had been created by the Kremlin to scale back worldwide help for Ukraine, bolster pro-Russian insurance policies and pursuits, and affect voters in the US and different international locations. Our actions at the moment clarify that the Justice Division will likely be aggressive in countering and disrupting makes an attempt by the Russian authorities, or every other malign actor, to intervene in our elections and undermine our democracy.
At the side of the DOJ seizures, the US Treasury Division introduced Wednesday it had imposed new sanctions in opposition to 10 people and two organizations linked to Doppelganger.
Individually on Wednesday, the DOJ introduced the indictment of two workers of Russian state information broadcaster RT. The people, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, are accused of getting directed practically $10 million to create and distribute Russian propaganda for a US viewers. In response to the indictment, Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva are accused of getting financed a Tennessee-based content-creation firm which in flip posted practically 2,000 movies curated by RT, producing some 16 million views on YouTube. The movies have been additionally posted throughout TikTok, Instagram, and X. Most of the movies targeted on contentious points for US voters, reminiscent of immigration and inflation.
US Lawyer Damian Williams described the alleged affect scheme in a press release:
The devices of the scheme have been RT workers Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, who managed the operation from Moscow utilizing pretend personas and shell corporations, and the victims of the scheme have been the American individuals, who obtained Russian messaging with out understanding it.
Historical past holds no scarcity of examples of efforts by nations to intervene with different nations’ inner and electoral processes, usually with the usage of propaganda and focused info or disinformation campaigns. Russian government-backed actors have lengthy been accused of orchestrating disinformation campaigns on social media and different on-line platforms aimed toward sowing discord, manipulating political debates, and exploiting divisions inside US society. These allegations characteristic prominently in a trial that started this week in Florida in opposition to 4 American socialist activists accused of disseminating Russian propaganda on the Kremlin’s behest.
Source / Picture: jurist.org
