U.S. and Russia clash over media propaganda and election interference
On Friday, the Kremlin accused the United States of exerting unacceptable pressure on Russian media. This accusation followed the U.S. Department of Justice's claim that a Russian television correspondent and his wife paid American companies to spread Russian propaganda.
Many reports provided by Russian state media or Kremlin officials are likely untrue. These reports may be part of an information war by the Russian Federation.
On Wednesday, U.S. authorities accused Moscow of attempting to interfere in this year’s U.S. elections. The Department of Justice seized 32 internet domains used to spread disinformation, charged two employees of the RT channel (formerly Russia Today), and imposed sanctions on ten individuals and two organizations.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that employees of Russian television paid American influencers and commentators to spread Russian propaganda.
The prosecution charged Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, who, using false names, paid $10 million to an American company.
The campaign aimed to deepen social divisions and polarize public opinion in the United States, utilizing various topics unrelated to Russia. As a result, the U.S. imposed sanctions on ten RT employees and two organizations.
Russia plans to retaliate
On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the USA is trying to prevent people from accessing Moscow's views on world affairs.
"Washington continues to try to put pressure on Russia, on Russian citizens, and even on the Russian media, which is engaged in informing both citizens inside our country and world public opinion about what is happening, from our perspective," he commented.
"This is nothing other than blatant pressure. We strongly condemn this stance as unacceptable," he stated.
Russia announced that in response to Washington's actions against RT, it would take retaliatory measures against American media, Reuters reported. When asked what those measures would be, Peskov said that Moscow had thoroughly assessed the editorial policies of various foreign media and would take this into account when making decisions, which, he suggested, would be an individual matter.
