The United States has imposed new sanctions against two individuals and two entities linked to a Russian disinformation campaign that included a series of fake news websites, the Treasury Department announced Wednesday.
Those sanctioned include the Moscow-based Social Design Agency (SDA) and its founder Ilya Andreevich Gambashidze, along with the Russia-based Company Group Structura LLC and its owner and CEO Nikolai Aleksandrovich Tupikin, the Treasury said in a statement.
The two companies are believed to have played a key role in providing services to the Russian government’s disinformation efforts, including “creating websites designed to impersonate government organizations and legitimate media outlets in Europe.”
Tupikin and Gambashidze are accused of creating more than 60 websites posing as legitimate news organizations and “deceptive” social media accounts to promote their fake websites. The Treasury said these sites included images and working links to legitimate websites.
The latest sanctions will freeze companies’ assets, and U.S. financial institutions or individuals may be subject to the sanctions or enforcement if they continue to engage in transactions or activities with them.
“Today’s action reflects our ongoing efforts to counter the Kremlin’s malign influence operations,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement Wednesday. “We will continue to expose Russia’s ongoing efforts to deceive the public through fraudulent state-directed campaigns. The United States remains committed to deterring and disrupting the Kremlin’s repeated attempts to undermine democracy.”
Brian E. Nelson, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said the department is “committed to exposing the extensive deception campaigns directed by the Russian government.”
This is the latest in a series of sanctions imposed by the US government against Russian-backed actors accused of aiding Moscow’s disinformation efforts.
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