Kremlin propaganda, russian fakers, Scott Ritter, Russia today, Sputnik

The day before, the USA applied new sanctions against Kremlin propagandists. In addition, the American Ministry of Justice officially accused two employees of the russian media holding RT of money laundering and violation of the law on "foreign agents". The key persons are Konstantin Kalashnikov and Olena Afanasyeva (RT employees). According to the indictment by the Southern District of New York and according to US Attorney Damian Williams, they ran a disinformation operation from moscow using fake identities and a front company.

The named individuals created a firm in Tennessee that paid online commentators to spread pro-russian propaganda and disinformation. At the same time, the russian origin of the structure was hidden and the commentators did not know that they were actually working for moscow. In total, $10 million was spent under this scheme.
Created by RT employees, the company published videos in English on TikTok, Instagram, X and YouTube. Since its creation in November 2023, it has published approximately 2,000 videos that have garnered over 16 million views on YouTube alone. Many of them contain comments about events and problems in the United States and are aimed at inciting internal contradictions in the country.
The indictment refers to Tenet Media, said Bellingcat journalist Arik Toler, who discovered the phrase included in the indictment in the description of the company's YouTube channel.
Kalashnikov monitored the financing and hiring of employees. Under the fake identities of Helena Shudra and Victoria Pesti, Afanasyeva managed the placement of hundreds of videos, giving instructions to other employees. For example, after the terrorist attack in "Crocus City Hall" on March 22, she asked one of them to blame Ukraine and the USA for the attack. “I think we can focus on the Ukrainian-American aspect... The media spread fake news that ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, even though ISIS itself has never made such a claim. All terrorists were detained when they were heading to the border with Ukraine."
Between October 2023 and August 2024, RT sent wire transfers to its US company totaling about $9.7 million. The transfers were made through front companies in Turkey, the UAE and Mauritius, and were often accompanied by comments that the payments were allegedly fraudulent. related to the purchase of electronics. At the same time, neither the company nor its founders were registered as foreign agents.
31-year-old Kalashnikov and 27-year-old Afanasieva face up to five years in prison for this violation and up to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to launder money.
The second "irreparable" loss on the American side was the refusal of the famous propagandist Scott Ritter (pictured is) to further cooperate with the russian RT and Sputnik. "I am deeply grateful for the professionalism of all my Russian colleagues over the past few years and am proud to know them," he said. IN FACT, Scott's farewell came just after the US imposed sanctions on these colleagues of his. "I am fully committed to complying with US law and therefore immediately terminate all contractual relationships with both RT and Sputnik, as well as cease my involvement in any media engagement with sanctioned individuals and entities until US authorities doesn't recognize it as legitimate," Ritter explained.
It will be recalled that on August 8, the FBI searched Mr. Ritter "in connection with the federal investigation". Then, during the investigation, law enforcement officers took "more than two dozen boxes" out of the pseudo-journalist's house. In June, the State Department confiscated Ritter's passport when he was about to fly to russia for an economic forum.
In the context of the powerful American attack on russian propaganda, it is worth adding that the US State Department announced the following three steps:

As a result, on September 5, the US Ministry of Justice indicted Dmitri Sims, the host of the russian "First Channel" and his wife Anastasia, for "violation of sanctions." They can face up to 60 years in prison.
We welcome the effective sanctions measures of the American state structures against the russian propaganda machine and hope for a powerful continuation. All agents of the kremlin around the world must bear maximum responsibility.

According to the materials of Spravdi.ua