Eleven Russian government-operated media outlets and their leaders are being sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for pushing false narratives and conspiracy theories to justify Russia's attack on Ukraine.
The Treasury Department said Thursday the outlets are promoting "disinformation," including portraying Ukraine and Ukrainian government officials as the aggressors in the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
The sanctioned people and organizations will have their U.S. assets frozen. The action is the strongest that the federal government has taken against Russian government-operated media since the invasion began.
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control is sanctioning the Strategic Culture Foundation, Odna Rodyna, Rhythm of Eurasia, Journal Kamerton, InfoRos, SouthFront, United World International, New Eastern Outlook, Oriental Review, and Geopolitica.
The Treasury is also sanctioning these outlets' high-level employees, as well as those at NewsFront, a Crimea-based propaganda outlet with links to the Federal Security Service (FSB), a Russian intelligence agency.
Last April, the Treasury had designated four of the outlets — the Strategic Culture Foundation, InfoRos, NewsFront, and SouthFront — as sites run by Russian intelligence services.
The Strategic Culture Foundation, which is run by Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), and SouthFront, which run by the FSB, were previously designated for interfering in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
NewsFront was previously designated for spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine, and InfoRos – run by Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate or GRU – was designated for spreading conspiracy theories.
The Treasury's actions follow restrictions that American social media companies Meta, Google, and Twitter placed on the accounts of Russian government-funded RT and Sputnik news outlets in Europe and Ukraine earlier this week.
The Treasury did not, however, take action against RT or Sputnik Thursday.
RT America will cease production and lay off most of its staff, according to a memo from the production company behind the network, CNN reports.
Misha Solodovnikov, the general manager of T&R Productions, told staff in the memo that it will be "ceasing production" at all locations "as a result of unforeseen business interruption events."
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