{"id":50907,"date":"2022-07-29T13:10:39","date_gmt":"2022-07-29T20:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=50907"},"modified":"2022-07-29T13:10:39","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T20:10:39","slug":"treasury-targets-the-kremlins-continued-malign-political-influence-operations-in-the-u-s-and-globally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=50907","title":{"rendered":"Treasury Targets the Kremlin\u2019s Continued Malign Political Influence Operations in the U.S. and Globally"},"content":{"rendered":"

July 29, 2022.\u00a0WASHINGTON \u2014 Today, the Department of the Treasury\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), as part of a\u00a0joint action with the Department of Justice<\/a>, sanctioned two individuals and four entities that support the Kremlin\u2019s global malign influence operations and election interference activities. The individuals and entities designated today played various roles in Russia\u2019s attempts to manipulate and destabilize the United States and its allies and partners, including Ukraine. This action follows a series of OFAC designations that have highlighted and disrupted Russia\u2019s persistent election\u00a0interference operations<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0destabilization efforts<\/a>\u00a0against Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s actions demonstrate the U.S. government\u2019s resolve to protect free and fair elections, as well as other democratic institutions and processes. This action is separate and distinct from the broad range of high impact measures the United States and its allies and partners continue to impose on Russia for its war against Ukraine, which is another clear example of the Kremlin\u2019s disregard for the sovereignty – and independence – of other states.<\/p>\n

\u201cFree and fair elections form a pillar of American democracy that must be protected from outside influence,\u201d said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. \u201cThe Kremlin has repeatedly sought to threaten and undermine our democratic processes and institutions. The United States will continue our extensive work to counter these efforts and safeguard our democracy from Russia\u2019s interference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russian intelligence services, including the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), support Kremlin-directed influence operations against the United States and its allies and partners, and often recruit individuals, known as \u201cco-optees. Russia\u2019s intelligence services then leverage these individuals to create or heighten divisions within the country. Russia\u2019s co-optees carry out specific assignments, inform Russia\u2019s intelligence services about specific people and events, and conduct specific assignments for them.<\/p>\n

In addition to using co-optees to advance its malign influence operations, the Kremlin is known to use a collection of official, proxy, and unattributed digital channels and platforms, such as outlets operated by Russian intelligence services and witting and unwitting propagators of the Kremlin\u2019s narratives, to create and amplify misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda. One notable broad Kremlin interference effort is Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin\u2019s (Prigozhin)\u00a0Project Lakhta<\/a>, which is a disinformation campaign and scheme funded by Prigozhin targeting audiences in the United States, Europe, Ukraine, and even Russia.<\/p>\n

Project Lakhta has expenses in the tens of millions of dollars, including an operating budget in the millions of dollars, which it uses to fund troll farms and other mechanisms of malign influence. Since at least 2014, Project Lakhta has used, among other things, fictitious online personas that posed as U.S. persons in an effort to interfere in U.S. elections. Prigozhin is the financier of the Internet Research Agency (IRA), the Project Lakhta-related troll farm in Russia that OFAC designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.)\u00a013848 in 2018 for interfering in the 2016 presidential election. Prigozhin himself has been designated pursuant to E.O.\u00a013661,\u00a013694, as amended, and\u00a013848. In addition to today\u2019s sanctions designation, the U.S. is seeking, via the Department of State\u2019s\u00a0Reward for Justice program<\/a>, any tips on his planned future election interference efforts.<\/p>\n

FSB CO-OPTEE TARGETS U.S. ELECTIONS AND SOCIO-POLITICAL DIVISIONS<\/strong><\/b><\/h3>\n

Since at least mid-2018, Russian Federation national\u00a0Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0(Ionov) has been an FSB co-optee who uses his positions and various companies to promulgate the Kremlin\u2019s disinformation and malign influence agenda.<\/p>\n

Since at least the summer 2020, Ionov cooperated and coordinated with the FSB to identify socio-political points of contention within the United States. He provided support, usually in the form of monetary donations, to organizations that he and Russia\u2019s intelligence services believed would create socio-political disturbances in the United States. In the summer of 2021, Ionov informed the FSB about a known U.S. person\u2019s political ambitions; the FSB subsequently expressed an interest in this person.<\/p>\n

Ionov cooperates with Prigozhin\u2019s Project Lakhta entities to publish and disseminate disinformation. In the summer 2021, Ionov sought to collaborate with Prigozhin\u2019s Foundation for Battling Injustice (FBR) about the feasibility of directly supporting a specific candidate in a 2022 U.S. gubernatorial election. In mid-2021, Ionov worked to disseminate and promulgate disinformation that would influence the US. election process and exacerbate the socio-political division within the United States.<\/p>\n

In addition to his disinformation activities at the direction of the FSB and in support of the Kremlin, in 2018, Ionov established a fundraising campaign through a website for Maria Butina (Butina),the Russia Federation national who plead guilty to felony charges of conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent of the Russian state in December 2018. Ionov indicated in a March 2019 interview that the website, at the time, had raised about $30,000 to help pay Butina\u2019s legal fees.<\/p>\n

Ionov is the president and founder of the\u00a0Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0(AGMR), whose English-language website claims to be a socio-political movement \u201cagainst certain aspects of the globalization process\u201d and seeks to stop \u201cmanifestations\u201d of the so-called \u201cnew world order.\u201d AGMR has maintained connections with separatists and anti-establishment groups in the United States and abroad, holding conferences and protests in the United States in opposition to U.S. policy. AGMR has received funding from Russia\u2019s National Charity Fund, a trust created by Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin which gathers money from Russia\u2019s state-owned companies and oligarchs.<\/p>\n

Ionov is also the president, founder, and 100% shareholder of\u00a0Ionov Transkontinental, OOO<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0(Ionov Transkontinental), which has a footprint in Iran, Venezuela, and Lebanon.<\/p>\n

STOP-Imperialism<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0is an English and Russian-language website that styles itself as a \u201cglobal information agency.\u201d STOP-Imperialism\u2019s website does not provide any contact or \u201cabout us\u201d information, a tactic often used to obfuscate ownership or association, yet Ionov is the registrant of STOP-Imperialism\u2019s domain. Additionally, STOP-Imperialism is identified on AGMR\u2019s website as an \u201cinformation partner,\u201d which indicates that Ionov and AGMR use STOP-Imperialism as a means of further disseminating disinformation in fulfillment of the Kremlin\u2019s overall malign influence campaign.<\/p>\n

Ionov was designated pursuant to E.O.\u00a014024 for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the Government of the Russian Federation.<\/p>\n

In addition to being added to the SDN List, the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment charging Ionov for his foreign malign influence activities against the United States.<\/a><\/p>\n

AGMR and Ionov Transkontinental were designated pursuant to E.O.\u00a014024 for being owned or controlled by, directly or indirectly, Ionov, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O.\u00a014024.<\/p>\n

STOP-Imperialism was designated pursuant to E.O.\u00a014024 for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Ionov, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O.\u00a014024.<\/p>\n

KREMLIN GONGO AND ITS LEADER, AGENTS OF RUSSIA’S INTELLIGENCE SERVICES<\/strong><\/b><\/h3>\n

In addition to co-optees and various digital channels and platforms, the Kremlin also uses state-sponsored and state-controlled proxy organizations, commonly referred to as \u201cgovernment organized non-governmental organizations\u201d (GONGOs) to achieve its goals both inside and outside Russia. In the international realm, these Kremlin proxy organizations are a key part of the Kremlin\u2019s \u201ckleptocracy\u201d network, as they lure in foreign actors and fund local partners and manipulate open societies to promote the Kremlin\u2019s views, stir divisions, and distract international communities from pressing issues.<\/p>\n

Natalya Valeryevna Burlinova<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0(Burlinova) is the founder and president of the\u00a0Center for Support and Development of Public Initiative Creative Diplomacy<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0(PICREADI, also known as \u201cCreative Diplomacy\u201d). Burlinova has described PICREADI as being independent in thought and mission, but it is reliant on state funding. Despite trying to hide its relationship with the Russian government and its intelligence services, Russia\u2019s intelligence services direct and fund Burlinova and PICREADI.<\/p>\n

Since 2017, PICREADI has held an annual public policy event called \u201cMeeting Russia\u201d in Moscow, which PICREADI claims is to bring together \u201caspiring leaders\u201d in academia, analytical centers, media, private sector, and governmental institutions to facilitate dialogue among a new generation of leaders and draw attention to critical points in Russia\u2019s relations with the United States and the European Union. However, since at least 2017, Russia\u2019s intelligence services have tracked the activities and career paths of past participants in PICREADI\u2019s events.<\/p>\n

Burlinova was designated pursuant to E.O.\u00a014024 for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the Government of the Russian Federation.<\/p>\n

PICREADI was designated pursuant to E.O.\u00a014024 for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the Government of the Russian Federation, as well as for being owned or controlled by, directly or indirectly, Burlinova, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O.\u00a014024.<\/p>\n

SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS<\/strong><\/b><\/h3>\n

As a result of today\u2019s action, all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC\u2019s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons. In addition, financial institutions and other persons that engage in certain transactions or activities with the sanctioned entities and individuals may expose themselves to sanctions or be subject to an enforcement action. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any blocked person, or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.<\/p>\n

Click here for more information on the individuals and entities designated today.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

July 29, 2022.\u00a0WASHINGTON \u2014 Today, the...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s-a","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50907"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50908,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50907\/revisions\/50908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}