Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday that new U.S. sanctions against the state-funded RT news network were part of an “information campaign” ahead of the November presidential race, adding it was working on a response.
Washington indicted on Wednesday two RT employees and sanctioned its top editors, accusing them of trying to influence the upcoming presidential election in the United States.
The 10 individuals and two entities sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department include RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan and her deputy Elizaveta Brodskaia.
“It’s an obvious operation, an information campaign… that was long prepared and that is needed ahead of the last stage of the electoral cycle,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told state news agency RIA Novosti.
She said a response to the new sanctions was “being prepared,” adding that it would make “everyone shudder.”
Washington also indicted on Wednesday two Russia-based RT employees, accusing them of funneling $10 million to a Tennessee-based company that used social media influence to “create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging.”
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