Treasury sanctions Russians over 2018 election meddling
The Treasury Department on Monday sanctioned multiple Russian individuals for their efforts to interfere in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections.
The individuals included Yevgeny Prigozhin, the main financier behind the Russian Internet Research Agency, a group that former special counsel Robert Mueller found to have launched a sustained disinformation campaign “designed to provoke and amplify political and social discord in the United States” ahead of the 2016 elections.
Prigozhin has been dubbed by the Russian media as Putin’s “chef” due to his catering company being used by the Kremlin on multiple occasions, and is considered part of Putin’s inner circle, according to CNN.
The Treasury Department on Monday alleged that the Internet Research Agency used “fictitious personas on social media and disseminated false information in an effort to attempt to influence the 2018 U.S. midterm elections and try to undermine faith in U.S. democratic institutions.”
In sanctioning Prigozhin, the Treasury Department targeted his physical assets, including private planes, a yacht and front companies associated with Prigozhin.
The Treasury Department also sanctioned six Russian individuals known to be members of the Internet Research Agency, and who are all accused of having attempted to interfere in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections. Prigozhin, the Internet Research Agency, and four of the other Russian individuals were previously sanctioned for malicious cyber activity by the Treasury Department in March of 2018.
Not just Russia: The agency also noted that while Russian actors were their target as part of this round of sanctions, the U.S. government was also working to protect U.S. elections against malicious actors in Iran and China that may attempt to interfere in the 2020 elections.
“Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of American democracy, and we will use our authorities against anyone seeking to undermine our processes and subversively influence voters,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “This Administration will work tirelessly to safeguard our electoral process, and will aggressively pursue any other foreign actor that attempts to interfere in the 2020 elections.”
A first: The decision by the Treasury Department to sanction the Russian individuals was the first time the sanction authority granted by an executive order signed by President Trump in 2018 was used.
