The US Department of Justice has indicted two employees of the Russian state-owned broadcaster RT, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, for their alleged involvement in a scheme to spread pro-Russia propaganda on social media platforms.
According to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the scheme involved paying a Tennessee-based company nearly $10 million to publish and disseminate content favorable to the Russian government on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and X. The videos, which included disinformation and pro-Russia propaganda, were viewed over 16 million times on YouTube alone.
Garland stated that RT’s editor-in-chief had boasted of building an “entire empire of covert projects” to shape public opinion in Western audiences. As part of this goal, RT and its employees, including the two defendants, implemented the scheme to fund and direct the Tennessee-based company to publish and disseminate content that amplified US domestic divisions and weakened US opposition to Russian interests.
The defendants directed the company to contract with US-based social media influencers to share the content on their platforms, without disclosing the company’s links to the Russian government. Instead, the company claimed to be sponsored by a fictitious “private investor”.
Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva have been charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The investigation is ongoing, and the DOJ has also seized 32 websites used by Russian-sponsored actors to engage in a covert campaign to interfere with US elections.
The Treasury Department has sanctioned ANO Dialog, a Russian nonprofit that allegedly orchestrated the campaign, along with RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan and other RT employees. The State Department has also sanctioned RT and four other state-funded publishers, and is offering a $10 million reward for information regarding foreign interference in US elections.
