Russia uses popular American right-wing figures in its influence operations - US prosecutor
Illustrative photo (getty images)
An American media company associated with six influential conservative figures was secretly funded by Russian state media employees. Russian money was used to create English-language videos that met the interests of the Kremlin, according to AP.
The videos were allegedly aimed at increasing divisions in American society, in particular over Russia's war against Ukraine.
The agency notes that this information is set out in the indictment, which was filed on Wednesday.
The six conservatives mentioned include the well-known Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Benny Johnson.
The indictment points to how Moscow may be trying to cash in on the rapidly growing popularity of right-wing podcasters, live streamers, and other content creators who have made successful careers on social media in the years since Donald Trump was president.
The US Department of Justice is not alleging any wrongdoing by the influencers, some of whom it says received false information about the company's funding source. Instead, it accuses two employees of RT, Russia's state-owned media company, of funneling nearly $10 million to a Tennessee-based company to create Russia-friendly content.
Following the announcement of the charges, both Poole and Johnson made statements on social media, which Rubin retweeted, saying they were victims of the alleged crimes and had done nothing wrong.
"We still do not know what is true as these are only allegations," Pool says, adding that "Putin is a scumbag."
In his post, Johnson wrote that a year ago he was asked to provide content to a "media startup". He said that his lawyers agreed on a "standard, arms length deal, which was later terminated".
Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva are accused of conspiracy to launder money and violating the law on the registration of foreign agents. They are still at large.
On September 4, the United States imposed new sanctions against Russia. They apply to 10 individuals and two legal entities. The US suspects them of Moscow's malicious influence on the US presidential election in 2024. The US Treasury Department noted that Russian state media use a variety of tools, such as generative fakes and artificial intelligence-based disinformation. RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan is on the list.
