US levels new sanctions over Russian disinformation campaign

The United States has imposed new sanctions against two individuals and two entities connected to a Russian disinformation campaign that included a bevy of fake news websites, the Treasury Department announced Wednesday.

Those sanctioned include Moscow-based Social Design Agency (SDA) and its founder Ilya Andreevich Gambashidze, along with 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 be have played a key role in providing services to the Russian government’s disinformation efforts, including the “creation of websites designed to impersonate government organizations and legitimate media outlets in Europe.”

Tupikin and Gambashidze are accused of establishing more than 60 websites impersonating legitimate news organizations and “misleading” social media accounts to promote their impersonated websites. The Treasury said these websites included images and working links to legitimate sites.

The latest sanctions will freeze the companies’ assets, and American financial institutions or people could be subject to the sanctions or enforcement should they continue to engage in transactions or activities with them.

“Today’s action reflects our continued efforts to counter the Kremlin’s malign influence operations,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement Wednesday. “We will continue to expose Russia’s ongoing efforts to mislead audiences through state-directed deception campaigns. The United States remains committed to deterring and disrupting the Kremlin’s repeated attempts to undermine democracy.”

Brian E. Nelson, the under secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said the department is “committed to exposing Russia’s extensive campaigns of government-directed deception.”

This is the latest in a series of sanctions levied by the U.S. government against Russia-backed actors accused of assisting with Moscow’s disinformation efforts.