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Russia Today accused of being a ‘de facto arm of Russia’s intelligence’ operations

Antony Blinken said we should expect the Kremlin-backed state broadcaster was conducting covert foreign intelligence operations

Russia Today functions “like a de facto arm of Russia’s intelligence apparatus”, the US has said.
Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, said countries should expect that RT, a Kremlin-backed state broadcaster, was conducting covert foreign intelligence operations while spreading Russian propaganda in the West.
He said RT now possessed cyber capabilities and conducted covert information and influence operations overseas.
“Today, we’re announcing that these Kremlin-backed media outlets are not only playing this covert influence role to undermine democracy in the United States, but also to meddle in the sovereign affairs of countries around the world,” Mr Blinken said.
Following a US government investigation that collected testimony from former employees of the broadcaster, he warned Russian media companies were “functioning like a de facto arm of Russia’s intelligence apparatus”.
“Each government, of course, is going to decide how it responds to this threat, but we urge every ally, every partner, to start by treating RTs activities as they do other intelligence activities by Russia within their border,” he added.
RT had its licence revoked in the UK by Ofcom following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 after an investigation found it had unfairly represented the conflict to viewers in the UK. In the US, RT has mocked the Biden administration’s funding of Ukraine’s war effort 9.
Last week, the US filed money-laundering charges against two employees of RT and imposed sanctions on Margarita Simonyan, its editor in chief, over what officials said was a scheme to hire an American company to produce online content to influence the 2024 U.S. election.
The State Department has now imposed sanctions on three Russian entities and two individuals linked to RT, over a “malign influence campaign” in Moldova.
Both the US and UK have expressed concern over Russian influence operations during the elections held in both countries this year.
Staff on both Democratic and Republican campaigns have had their emails hacked during this election cycle. Last month, it was revealed that hackers linked to Russian intelligence are targeting the Kremlin’s critics around the globe with phishing emails.

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