US citizens suspected to be Kremlin influencers put on FBI watch list as they could potentially impact the outcome of the November elections according to the NYT
The FBI is targeting American citizens linked to Russian media in a bid to combat potential “Kremlin influence” in the run-up to the US presidential election in November, insiders have told the New York Times.
Earlier this month, the US security agency raided the homes of Scott Ritter, a former UN weapons inspector RT contributor, and Dimitri K. Simes, a Soviet-born US political pundit who hosts a show on domestic Russian television.
The raids are part of a “broad criminal investigation” that is part of “an aggressive effort to combat the Kremlin’s influence operations,” the NYT reported on Wednesday, citing anonymous US officials. The federal government plans more raids and may issue criminal charges, the sources said.
Members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Washington, DC. © Kyle Mazza / Anadolu via Getty Images
On Wednesday, the US Treasury Department announced the imposition of sanctions against several Russian media outlets, including RT and a number of its employees. The US authorities accused the media outlet of “covertly recruit[ing] unwitting American influencers” in a bid to “undermine confidence in the United States’ election processes and institutions” ahead of the November 5 presidential election.
Aside from visa restrictions, the targeted entities and individuals will have their property rights on US soil blocked, with all transactions prohibited unless a special waver is issued.
“The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any designated person,” the document clarified.
In a criminal indictment unsealed on Wednesday, US prosecutors claimed that Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva two RT employees based in Russia financed and directed a Tennessee-based production company that published English-language videos to various social media platforms aimed at amplifying “domestic divisions in the United States.”
These videos were viewed more than 16 million times on YouTube alone, the indictment alleged, and, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray, represented an attempt to “trick Americans into unwittingly consuming foreign propaganda.”
Scott Ritter presents his book ‘Disarmament Race’ on May 1, 2023 in Novosibirsk, Russia. © Sputnik / Sputnik/Andrey Bortko
US law enforcement officials described the targets as “individuals intentionally spreading disinformation from Moscow,”the report said. The newspaper noted that the investigation could “bump up against the First Amendment’s protection of rights to free speech.” Both Ritter and Simes are staunch critics of US foreign policy under President Joe Biden, which they believe misguidedly antagonizes Russia and increases the risk of nuclear war.
The FBI suspects them and others of possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which requires disclosure from people in the US acting on behalf of foreign governments, as well as of sanctions on Russia.
The raids did not result in any charges being brought against the two US citizens.
Ritter detailed his position on the situation in an opinion piece published on RT this week. He described his motives for being a contributor to a Russian media outlet, contrasting the experience with working with American legacy media, which he claims are often subservient to US foreign policy. A former US Marine Corps major who also served as a UN weapons inspector in Iraq during the 1990s, Ritter came into the spotlight in 2003 when he opposed the US military operation against the Middle Eastern country. He argued that Saddam Hussein’s government did not possess weapons of mass destruction, despite Washington’s claims.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, Ritter stressed that the content of his contributions for RT and several other sanctioned media outlets “has been factually correct and analytically sound, and always of my own creation.”
While condemning Washington’s decision as running counter to “constitutional norms and values,” Ritter noted that he is “fully committed to obeying US law, and as such will be terminating all contractual relationships with both RT and Sputnik effective immediately.”
“The US government works overtime to stigmatize any journalism possessing connectivity with Russia,” Ritter said.
Simes, who has been living in Moscow since 2022, has a similar impression of what Washington aimed to achieve by raiding his family home in Virginia.
“It clearly is an attempt to intimidate, not only somebody from Russia, but just anyone who goes against official policies and particularly against the deep state,” he told Sputnik last week.
Source X/RTNYT