The Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged two employees of Russian state-owned broadcaster RT for an alleged pro-Russia influence scheme on social media platforms. Kostiantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva are accused of participating in a scheme to pay an unnamed Tennessee company nearly $10 million to spread nearly 2,000 videos (most of which contained misinformation and/or pro-Russia propaganda) in English on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and X.
The DOJ says the videos were viewed more than 16 million times on YouTube alone. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press conference that, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, “RT’s editor-in-chief said the company had built ‘an entire empire of secret projects’ designed to shape public opinion in ‘Western audiences.'”
As part of that goal, RT and employees (including two defendants) “implemented a nearly $10 million scheme to fund and direct the Tennessee-based company to publish and disseminate content deemed favorable to the Russian government.”
“To implement this scheme, the defendants directed the company to enter into contracts with U.S.-based social media influencers to share this content and their platforms.
The subject matter and content of many of the videos published by the company were often consistent with Russia’s interest in exacerbating U.S. domestic divisions in order to undermine core Russian interests, particularly U.S. opposition to the ongoing war in Ukraine,” Garland said.
Garland said the Tennessee company did not tell the influencers or their millions of followers about its ties to the Russian government. Instead, according to the DOJ, it claimed to be sponsored by a fictitious “private investor.”
Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva have been charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and conspiring to commit money laundering. Both are at large. However, the charges do not signal the end of the case. Galland said the investigation is ongoing.
The DOJ unsealed the indictment amid a broad effort by the government to rein in Russian propaganda and misinformation ahead of the November general election. In a separate action, the DOJ seized 32 websites “that the Russian government and Russian-sponsored actors have used to engage in a covert campaign to interfere with and influence the outcome of our country’s elections,” Garland said.
The campaign, which Russia has called “doppelganger,” involved creating websites that “appeared to American readers as if they were major U.S. news sites such as The Washington Post or Fox News, but in fact, they were fake sites,” Garland said.
“They were filled with Russian government propaganda, which the Kremlin created to undermine international support for Ukraine, promote pro-Russian policies and interests, and influence voters in the United States and other countries.” Meanwhile, the Treasury and State departments announced parallel actions.
The Treasury Department sanctioned ANO Dialogue, a Russian nonprofit said to have helped organize the doppelganger campaign, as well as RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan and other RT staffers.
The State Department sanctioned RT and four other state-funded publishers. It is also offering a $10 million bounty for information about foreign interference in the U.S. election.
After this story was originally published, CNN reported that the unnamed company that Russian operatives were paying to spread misinformation was Tennessee-based Tenet Media, known for employing far-right commentators including Tim Pool and Benny Johnson, who have millions of subscribers on YouTube. As of now, there has been no official confirmation from the government to verify CNN’s report.