The US Department of Justice on Wednesday announced the seizure of 32 internet domains linked to an alleged Russian government-backed disinformation campaign aimed at influencing US and global audiences.
According to the DOJ, the operation, known as “Doppelganger,” sought to sway public opinion in favor of Russian interests and interfere in the 2024 US presidential election. The campaign was allegedly orchestrated by several Russian organizations under the supervision of Sergei Kiriyenko, a senior official in the Russian Presidential Administration. These organizations utilized the domains to distribute pro-Russian propaganda and undermine support for Ukraine.
Announcing the seizures, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said:
An internal planning document created by the Kremlin states that a goal of the campaign is to secure Russia’s preferred outcome in the election. The sites we are seizing today were filled with Russian government propaganda that had been created by the Kremlin to reduce international support for Ukraine, bolster pro-Russian policies and interests, and influence voters in the United States and other countries. Our actions today make clear that the Justice Department will be aggressive in countering and disrupting attempts by the Russian government, or any other malign actor, to interfere in our elections and undermine our democracy.
In conjunction with the DOJ seizures, the US Treasury Department announced it had imposed new sanctions against 10 individuals and two organizations linked to Doppelganger. The individuals designated for sanctions included Margarita Simonyan, chief editor of Russian state news broadcaster RT.
Separately on Wednesday, the DOJ announced the indictment of two employees of RT. The individuals, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, are accused of having directed nearly $10 million to create and distribute Russian propaganda for a US audience. Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva are accused of having financed a Tennessee-based content-creation company which in turn posted nearly 2,000 videos “curated” by RT, generating some 16 million views on YouTube. The videos were also posted across TikTok, Instagram, and X. Many of the videos focused on contentious issues for US voters, such as immigration and inflation.
US Attorney Damian Williams described the alleged influence scheme in a statement:
The instruments of the scheme were RT employees Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, who managed the operation from Moscow using fake personas and shell companies, and the victims of the scheme were the American people, who received Russian messaging without knowing it.
History holds no shortage of examples of efforts by nations to interfere with other nations’ internal and electoral processes, often with the use of propaganda and targeted information or disinformation campaigns. Russian government-backed actors have long been accused of orchestrating disinformation campaigns on social media and other online platforms aimed at sowing discord, manipulating political debates, and exploiting divisions within US society. These allegations feature prominently in a trial that began this week in Florida against four American socialist activists accused of disseminating Russian propaganda at the Kremlin’s behest.
