Russia accused of disinformation campaign to sway US election result

The Biden administration has accused Russia of carrying out a sustained disinformation campaign targeted at US voters and meant to influence the outcome of November's presidential elections.

- Andrew Roth

In its most direct accusation of meddling by the Kremlin to date, the US government accused the state-financed RT (formerly known as Russia Today) and other Russian state-backed media of spearheading a covert campaign of disinformation promoting pro-Kremlin views laundered through their online and television networks.

The treasury department also imposed sanctions on RT's head, Margarita Simonyan, and nine other employees over the campaign of disinformation around the elections.

Simonyan was a "central figure in Russian government malign influence efforts", the department said.

It also accused RT of spending millions of dollars to "recruit unwitting American influencers" in order to spread a message meant to undermine confidence in the US elections system and US foreign policy goals, including support for Ukraine.

The attorney general, Merrick Garland, condemned the alleged information campaign during a meeting of the justice department's election threats taskforce that included the FBI director, Christopher Wray, and other senior law enforcement leaders.