Russian state media outlet RT is trying to sway voters toward former President Donald Trump ahead of the November election by using Western influencers, an unnamed US intelligence official told Reuters.
The official said that RT, formerly known as Russia Today, had “built and used networks of US and other Western personalities to create and disseminate Russia-friendly narratives.”
“These actors among others are supporting Moscow’s efforts to influence voter preferences in favor of the former president and diminish the prospects of the vice president,” they added.
It follows an announcement from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday saying that the US had charged two Russian nationals who were employees of RT with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Prosecutors said that the employees, named as Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, managed an operation from Moscow that aimed “to influence the American public by secretly planting and financing a content creation company on US soil.”
The indictment said that over at least the past year, RT had “deployed nearly $10 million to covertly finance and direct a Tennessee-based online content creation company.”
The unnamed Tennessee-based company was later named by several media outlets as Tenet Media, a media firm founded by the conservative couple Lauren Chen and Liam Donovan.
Several pro-Trump influencers whose content has been published by the company, including Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson, said they were unaware of any Russian involvement.
RT mocked Wednesday’s charges, saying: “Three things are certain in life: death, taxes, and RT’s interference in the US elections,” per Reuters.
It comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this week that he was backing Vice President Kamala Harris in the US election race.
“Like I said before, the current president, Mr. Biden, was our guy, if I may say so. He was withdrawn from the race but asked his supporters to back Ms. Harris. This is what we are doing; we will back her,” Putin said, per Russia’s Tass news agency.
“At the end of the day, the choice is up to the American people and we will respect it,” he said.
