JUSTICE DEPT. INDICTS RUSSIAN CONTROLLED MEDIA EMPLOYEES FOR ATTEMPTING TO COVERTLY INFLUENCE U.S. ELECTIONS

View the indictment here. 

Source: U.S. Dept. of Justice

September 4, 2024 (Washington D.C.) – Attorney General Merrick Garland today announced criminal indictments against two Russian nationals in a scheme to spread disinformation across social media under covert identities posing as U.S.-based media outlets. Their aim was to illegally influence the 2024 election, sow division among Americans, and spread propaganda favorable to Russia regarding its invasion of Ukraine. 

The defendants, Kostiantyn “Kostya” Kalashnikov and Elena “Lena”Afanasyeva, are both employees of Russia’s state-controlled media outlet in Moscow,  RT, formerly known as Russia Today.

The defendants, who remain at large, are charged with with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering

“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,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “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.”

“Covert attempts to sow division and trick Americans into unwittingly consuming foreign propaganda represents attacks on our democracy,” said FBI Director Christopher A. Wray. “Today’s actions show that as long as foreign adversaries like Russia keep engaging in hostile influence campaigns, they are going to keep running into the FBI. We will continue to do everything we can to expose the hidden hand of foreign adversaries like Russia and disrupt their efforts to meddle in our free and open society.”

“As alleged, the Russian state broadcaster RT orchestrated a massive scheme to influence the American public by secretly planting and financing a content creation company on U.S. soil,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York. The defendants allegedly “managed the operation from Moscow using fake personas and shell companies, and the victims of the scheme were the American people, who received Russian messaging without knowing it. As the charges unsealed today demonstrate, this Office will work with our law enforcement partners to unmask and hold accountable all those who conduct malign influence campaigns in the United States, no matter how hard they try to hide their tracks.”

Over at least the past year, RT and its employees, including Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva, deployed nearly $10 million to covertly finance and direct a Tennessee-based online content creation company (U.S. Company-1). In turn, U.S. Company-1 published English-language videos on multiple social media channels, including TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube. Since publicly launching in or about November 2023, U.S. Company-1 has posted nearly 2,000 videos that have garnered more than 16 million views on YouTube alone. Many of the videos contain commentary on events and issues in the U.S., such as immigration, inflation, and other topics related to domestic and foreign policy. While the views expressed in the videos are not uniform, most are directed to the publicly stated goals of the Government of Russia and RT — to amplify domestic divisions in the United States, according to the Justice Dept.

According to the indictment, to order to carry out RT’s secret influence campaign in the United States, Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva operated under covert identities. Posing as an outside editor, Kalashnikov edited U.S. Company-1 content, monitored U.S. Company-1’s funding and hiring, and introduced Afanasyeva as a member of his purported editing team. Using the fake personas Helena Shudra and Victoria Pesti, Afanasyeva posted and directed the posting by U.S. Company-1 of hundreds of videos. Afanasyeva also collected information from and gave instructions to U.S. Company-1  staff.

For example, after the March 22, 2024, terrorist attack on a music venue in Moscow, Afanasyeva asked one of U.S. Company-1’s founders to blame Ukraine and the United States for the attack, writing: “I think we can focus on the Ukraine/U.S. angle. . . . [T]he mainstream media spread fake news that ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack yet ISIS itself never made such statements. All terrorists are now detained while they were heading to the border with Ukraine which makes it even more suspicious why they would want to go to Ukraine to hide.” 

Between October 2023 and August 2024, RT reportedly sent wire transfers to U.S. Company-1 totaling approximately $9.7 million, which represented nearly 90% of U.S. the company’s bank deposits from all sources combined. The wires were sent from shell companies in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Mauritius, and were often accompanied by wire notes ascribing the payments to the purchase of electronics, according to the DOJ. U.S. Company-1 never disclosed to its viewers that it was funded and directed by RT. Nor did U.S. Company-1 or its two founders register with the Attorney General as an agent of a foreign principal.

Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva both of Russia, if apprehended and convicted, could face up to 25 years in prison.

Attorney General Garland revealed in a press conference that the Justice Dept. is also investigating election interference efforts by Iran, and has also secured convictions in several domestic election interference cases.