US accuses RT, others of covert arms dealing, global influence operations

The State Department announced a fresh round of sanctions for RT and related media companies Friday, accusing the Russian state-funded news outlet of operating a crowdfunding website that funneled weaponry and equipment to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the crowdfunding site was used to purchase weapons and equipment, including drones, radio equipment, sniper rifles, suppressors, body armor, night vision equipment, diesel generators and personal weapon sights.

“While the crowdfunding campaign is out in the open, what’s hidden is that this program is administered by the leaders of RT,” Blinken said.

Additionally, State officials said that since 2023, Russian intelligence services were embedded within RT, operating as a unit with “cyber operational capabilities” to collect information on targets and feed Russian government influence and disinformation operations across the globe.

Blinken said the evidence compiled by the U.S. government — some of which he said came directly from RT employees — demonstrates that RT and affiliates “are no longer merely firehoses of Russian propaganda and disinformation” but “functioning like a de facto arm” of the Russian government.

The department placed sanctions on three entities for their roles in an alleged operation to influence upcoming presidential elections in Moldova and foment violent unrest: Rossiya Segodnya, a state-funded broadcast agency headquartered in Moscow, TV Novosti, a state-funded entity that officials said controlled RT’s media channels, and Ano Evraziya, which State described as a “vote-buying campaign” for pro-Kremlin candidates under the guise of humanitarian assistance.

Additionally, the department placed Nelli Alekseyevna Parutenko, general director of Ano Evraziya, and Dmitry Konstantinovich Kiselev, general director of Rossiya Segodnya, on U.S. sanctions lists.

News of the State Department’s actions was first reported by CNN. 

State officials that the announced sanctions were not for RT officials knowingly spreading Russian propaganda, something they said would still fall under the principles of free expression.

Jim O’Brien, assistant secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, said the crowdfunding effort “wasn’t just some employees putting on a telethon” but a covert effort to help Russia procure arms.

While State officials described this new organization as a “cyber” unit, it’s not clear from their descriptions whether the unit engaged in actual hacking or digital compromises of any victims or organizations. They cited two examples of the unit’s work: helping to manage the crowdsourcing website on social media and other platforms, and using “cyber tools” to gather information on behalf of the Russian government. Officials declined to answer whether the unit was still active within RT today.

According to the fact sheet, the unit “has focused primarily on influence and intelligence operations all over the world. Under the cover of RT, information produced through this entity’s capabilities flows to Russia’s intelligence services, Russian media outlets, Russian mercenary groups, and other various state and proxy arms of the Russian Government.”

The reference to an FSB unit created within RT is similar to allegations made by the FBI in July, when they announced the seizure of websites and social media accounts related to a Russian AI-powered bot farm targeting the U.S. 2024 elections.  

According to search warrants and affidavits, the FBI received information from another unnamed federal agency that RT’s deputy editor-in-chief pitched the outlet’s leadership on the development of a new AI software tool called Meliorator in 2022.

The tool could create social media personas “en masse,” post content, mimic the tone of ordinary social media users and align the substance of their posts with other disinformation accounts and bots, according to the advisory. There was also evidence that program developers were working to expand its functionality to other social platforms.

According to U.S. officials, leadership at RT approved the development of Meliorator, and less than a year later the project was folded into a new private intelligence organization created by the FSB and approved by top Kremlin leadership in order to sow discord in the United States, according to court documents.

That timeline roughly lines up with the cyber unit described by State officials Friday. CyberScoop has reached out to the State Department for additional details.

RT officials, who have responded to previous requests for comment with snarky or sarcastic replies, did not immediately respond to the latest charges when contacted by CyberScoop.

Just last week, the U.S. government unveiled criminal charges and sanctions to 10 RT employees for their alleged roles in supporting Russian disinformation operations targeting the U.S. elections. That scheme involved using foreign shell companies and a fictitious investor to direct at least $10 million in foreign funds to an unnamed Tennessee media company — later identified as Tenet Media — in exchange for laundering pro-Russian propaganda through popular online conservative influencers.

State officials said while those announcements were focused more on Russian operations targeting the U.S., their sanctions were designed to highlight Russia’s global role in influencing and undermining democracies around the world.