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edit: beat by MagicSoccerSpray, pasted the text from the NYT article, which has more detail than what I originally posted from Politico.

 

Spoiler

The United States, Canada and Britain on Friday accused Russia’s global television network, RT, of acting as an arm of that country’s intelligence agencies, announcing new sanctions meant to cut off international financing for disinformation operations around the world.

The action came days after the Justice Department indicted two employees of the network for funneling at least $9.7 million to bankroll American podcasters on Tenet Media, a video-streaming site in Tennessee, in hopes of pushing the Kremlin’s propaganda and undermining the American democratic political process.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, appearing at the State Department, said that RT no longer acted simply as a state-owned news organization. Instead, it now actively carries out covert operations not only in the United States, but also in several other countries at the direction of intelligence officials reporting directly to the Kremlin.

“Today, we’re exposing how Russia deploys similar tactics around the world,” Mr. Blinken said. “Russian weaponization of disinformation to subvert and polarize free and open societies extends to every part of the world.”

“We urge every ally, every partner, to start by treating RT’s activities as they do other intelligence activities by Russia within their borders,” he added.

Those operations have included disinformation campaigns, like the one using Tenet Media, but also cyberespionage, fund-raising for Russia’s war in Ukraine and the laundering of funds to covertly purchase light matériel, including sniper rifles, drones and night-vision goggles from China and other countries.

The announcement on Friday, along with a series of recent investigations by the Justice Department and the F.B.I., signaled an intensifying effort by the Biden administration to thwart Russia’s influence operations before the presidential election in November.

U.S. intelligence officials have said that the Kremlin is seeking to bolster former President Donald J. Trump’s campaign, angered by the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine. The announcement on Friday was meant to spotlight RT’s global activities, U.S. officials said.

The officials have tracked similar efforts involving RT to interfere in other countries, such as Argentina, France and Moldova, which goes to the polls next month and has become a particular target of the Kremlin’s interference. RT covertly operates an English-language news outlet in Germany called Red., and another that covers Africa, called African Stream, Mr. Blinken said.
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The sanctions announced on Friday are an effort to undercut RT by making it difficult for the organization to conduct global business in dollars, which officials hope will curtail its ability to work outside Russia.

The campaign is not unlike the one the Trump administration began, with mixed results, against Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant that officials feared posed a threat to U.S. national security interests. The United States, under the Trump and Biden administrations, has sought to warn countries about relying on Huawei for critical infrastructure.

“We’re exposing what they do in country after country around the world,” said James P. Rubin, the coordinator of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which focuses on foreign propaganda and disinformation efforts.

RT, with broadcast and streaming channels in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and other languages, has long been an irritant to the United States. It has for years pushed a Kremlin view of the world, one increasingly shaped by hostility toward American political and diplomatic power under Republican and Democratic presidents.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, however, U.S. officials have grown increasingly concerned that RT’s activities extend beyond providing news. They have cited the network’s cooperation with Russia’s intelligence apparatus, including the Federal Security Service, the domestic successor of the Soviet K.G.B.

In the spring of 2023, the officials said, the Russian government created a cell within RT to carry out cyberespionage.

In July, the Justice Department, the F.B.I. and the Pentagon’s Cyber National Mission Force accused an editor at RT of working with an F.S.B. officer to oversee the creation of hundreds of fake accounts on X that spread the network’s content.

The U.S. agencies were assisted by the police and intelligence in Canada and the Netherlands, jointly issuing an advisory calling on social media companies to identify fictitious accounts on their platforms “to reduce Russian malign foreign influence activity.” (X, formerly known as Twitter, took down nearly 1,000 accounts after officials notified the platform.)

Among the steps the Biden administration took last week, the Treasury Department announced that it had extended sanctions that were imposed because of the war in Ukraine to include several officials at RT. They included Margarita S. Simonyan, the editor in chief, and two deputies.

Ms. Simonyan ridiculed the State Department’s accusations in a series of posts on Telegram, specifically the allegation that RT helped raise money to support Russian forces fighting in Ukraine. “We’re doing it openly, idiots,” she wrote.

She also embraced the core accusation from Mr. Blinken and Mr. Rubin that RT was influencing world opinion about the war. “I have not lived my life in vain,” she wrote.

Red. and African Stream did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The State Department accused one of the deputies, Anton S. Anisimov, of conducting “activities on behalf of the Russian Federal Security Service.” Officials said Mr. Anisimov administered an online crowdfunding platform in Russia that ostensibly supported the country’s troops but was covertly used to buy weapons around the world, including from China, which has denied that it provides lethal arms or military assistance to Russia.

Mr. Blinken imposed sanctions on Friday to RT as a whole. Any transactions conducted in dollars could now be subject to freezing or seizure by Treasury.

Canada and Britain also made simultaneous announcements warning about RT’s covert activities.

The goal of the sanctions and diplomacy is to alert countries where RT remains a popular source of global news — including in many parts of Africa, the Middle East and South America — to the potential for Russian influence campaigns against governments that fall out of the Kremlin’s favor.

“We will not stand by as RT and other actors carry out covert activities in support of Russia’s nefarious activities,” Mr. Blinken said. “And we’ll continue to respond forcefully to Moscow’s playbook of aggression and subversion, one that includes invading sovereign nations, fomenting coups, weaponizing corruption, carrying out assassinations, meddling in elections and unjustly detaining foreign nationals.”

Last year, the State Department’s Global Engagement Center disclosed a covert information operation to push Kremlin-friendly content in Central and South America by producing articles that appeared to originate with local media organizations, not the Russian government.

That campaign involved two companies, the Social Design Agency and Structura, that were cited in last week’s indictment. Both report to Sergei V. Kiriyenko, a former prime minister who is now a senior adviser to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

Steven Lee Myers covers misinformation and disinformation from San Francisco. Since joining The Times in 1989, he has reported from around the world, including Moscow, Baghdad, Beijing and Seoul. More about Steven Lee Myers

Michael Crowley covers the State Department and U.S. foreign policy for The Times. He has reported from nearly three dozen countries and often travels with the secretary of state. More about Michael Crowley
See more on: U.S. Politics, Treasury Securities

 

Edited by Chopper
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2 hours ago, PTINS said:

I would question what maintenance Russia has done in the last 20-40 years, and what exactly they are maintaining.

We know that Putin is not actually afraid of NATO starting things first - Kaliningrad is not well-defended, and the Russian borders (all the way up to Finland) seem to be lightly defended, to say the least. Hell, the Ukrainians are able to fly things up to Murmansk.

For a while, they were using a lot of S-300s/S-400s in a land-attack capability rather than reserving them for air defenses (I'm sure they are pulling out the stops now for anything that can be AD), so he was not worried about NATO air at all.

Yeah, he's a guy with nukes, but I'd be willing to bet that they have nothing on standby, outside of maybe some solid-rocket stuff (and that would probably be in their submarines or setup for air-launches from their bombers). Prior to 2022, their military budget was around $60 billion, and who knows how much of that was siphoned off by oligarchs.

And I wonder about their submarines - would they risk leaving nuke missiles in submarines, knowing that if the crew decided to sail to the West, they'd be handsomely rewarded?  

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14 hours ago, Chopper said:

Storm Shadow update: Biden and Prime Minister Starmer concluded their meeting about an hour ago and discussed Ukraine. No announcement was immediately forthcoming. Petraeus has thoughts, though and I sense they're going to go ahead with it, but we'll know when we know.

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Supplies of Storm Shadow are so limited that it really wouldn't matter. Supplying JASSM is the real key.

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1 hour ago, MissingInAction said:

What's the shelf life of rocket fuel? I could those dipshits filling rockets with natural gas.

I could see some general selling off a bunch of rocket parts and fuel, knowing that the average Russian bureaucrat doing an audit won’t know what’s he’s looking at and/or is taking a bribe to check off a bunch of boxes on a spreadsheet. We saw it with their tanks, with hoses, batteries, wiring, etc. being sold off ont eh black market.

8 minutes ago, Deej said:

Vodka

too valuable.

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On 9/13/2024 at 1:06 PM, Chopper said:

Continued whiplash from the Storm Shadow dialog. FT on why UKR has been requesting use of Storm Shadow (into Ruzzia) for a long while, but others say they won't provide the advantage Zelensky seeks. https://archive.ph/ZTGCk

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According to this clip (Margarita is the appointed head of propaganda on Russian television)  and the message Marges’s husband gives came directly from Putin.   Her husband went on Soloyov’s show to say that the special operation was going according to plan, and that Putin never said he was going to use nuclear weapons if the West gave long range missiles to Ukraine.     

That little bitch Putin isn’t going to do anything.    Marge’s husband said that even if Ukraine blows up something in Russia with long range NATO missiles, it’s just a blow to Russian ego and nothing to worry about, as this was always part of the plan. 

What strikes me as shocking is Soloyov  pushing back on what is obviously Putin‘s attempt to say that what he previously said several times is really not what he meant.   This looks to me like unusual discord between high-level propagandists arguing about what Putin said, and Soloyov insinuating that Putin is weak. 

I would love to hear from people on this thread with far more insight than I have as to whether this strikes them as much as it strikes me.  Is this nothing - or is this a sign of trouble in paradise?

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1 hour ago, Gatorubet said:

What strikes me as shocking is Soloyov  pushing back on what is obviously Putin‘s attempt to say that what he previously said several times is really not what he meant.  

Assuming that the husband/wife team are relaying the Thoughts of Putin, maybe Soloyov's job (also under orders from Putin) is to argue against it, then lose the debate.

Sort o' like a rehash of Hannity and Colmes of yore. Or good cop/bad cop, or professional wraslin. Pick your favorite drama.

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1 hour ago, RDCanecutter said:

Assuming that the husband/wife team are relaying the Thoughts of Putin, maybe Soloyov's job (also under orders from Putin) is to argue against it, then lose the debate.

Sort o' like a rehash of Hannity and Colmes of yore. Or good cop/bad cop, or professional wraslin. Pick your favorite drama.

That is not a bad take. And yet, all of the Russians watching on TV who have been told 100 times that Russia is about to launch nukes for slights 1000 times less serious than this, have to see it as Putin backing down and backing off to NATO. 

They say that the one inviolate rule as a Russian strong man is to protect the people (from everyone other than your government).  Russians know they were blowing up apartment buildings with missiles in Ukraine, and they have to assume that Ukrainians will be blowing up their apartments with theirs.  I think this will cause some major stress - but I don’t know anything..

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Just so it's on your radar, the latest shooting near a Trump was carried out by a Ukraine-war advocate who claimed to have daughter for Ukraine and seems to have organized volunteer efforts. He has been quoted in a few news articles on this topic as well. I'm sure Russia won't use any of this to advance their cause. 

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-suspect-shooting-assassination-attempt-west-palm-beach-1954191

 

 

Edited by KYHorn
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2 minutes ago, KYHorn said:

Just so it's on your radar, the latest shooting near a Trump was carried out by a Ukraine-war advocate who claimed to have daughter for Ukraine and seems to have organized volunteer efforts. He has been quoted in a few news articles on this topic as well. I'm sure Russia won't use any of this to advance their cause. 

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-suspect-shooting-assassination-attempt-west-palm-beach-1954191

 

 

He also voted for Trump. So bit of a mixed message here. I think the general observation is that he was generally, actually crazy. So good luck getting us to do anything about crazy people, Russia. 

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6 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

That is not a bad take. And yet, all of the Russians watching on TV who have been told 100 times that Russia is about to launch nukes for slights 1000 times less serious than this, have to see it as Putin backing down and backing off to NATO. 

They say that the one inviolate rule as a Russian strong man is to protect the people (from everyone other than your government).  Russians know they were blowing up apartment buildings with missiles in Ukraine, and they have to assume that Ukrainians will be blowing up their apartments with theirs.  I think this will cause some major stress - but I don’t know anything..

Russians are tolerating a lot. Putin sold them on a massive invasion as a means to protect them, while at the same time telling them that Ukrainians are just brothers from another mother even as they killed, and continue to kill, a lot of civilians. Nuking them, especially given that the fallout could drift into Russia, and especially since so many Russians have family in Ukraine, might be a step too far for a lot of Russians, especially if they are worried about the West retaliating.

 Putin’s got that old-time KGB paranoia as well, and he probably thinks about what would open the door for the lower ranks to take their shot at him.

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1 hour ago, KYHorn said:

Just so it's on your radar, the latest shooting near a Trump was carried out by a Ukraine-war advocate who claimed to have daughter for Ukraine and seems to have organized volunteer efforts. He has been quoted in a few news articles on this topic as well. I'm sure Russia won't use any of this to advance their cause. 

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-suspect-shooting-assassination-attempt-west-palm-beach-1954191

 

 

I don't know what is true, and what isn't, but the Ukrainians are already refuting that this guy had any real ties to the foreign legion.  

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I see where the Soviet media are now saying nice things about VP Harris. Earlier they had called her slow witted and dull, but now take a completely different tone.  She is “ well prepared”, “articulate” and “knowledgeable”.    

Does this mean that Putin now sees the possibility of a Harris win, and is trying to mitigate personal animosity by Harris if it might play into a role in future administration behavior in the event Trump loses?    

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5 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

I see where the Soviet media are now saying nice things about VP Harris. Earlier they had called her slow witted and dull, but now take a completely different tone.  She is “ well prepared”, “articulate” and “knowledgeable”.    

Does this mean that Putin now sees the possibility of a Harris win, and is trying to mitigate personal animosity by Harris if it might play into a role in future administration behavior in the event Trump loses?    

It means they continue to stir the pot.  Nothing more.

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I see where the Soviet media are now saying nice things about VP Harris. Earlier they had called her slow witted and dull, but now take a completely different tone.  She is “ well prepared”, “articulate” and “knowledgeable”.    
Does this mean that Putin now sees the possibility of a Harris win, and is trying to mitigate personal animosity by Harris if it might play into a role in future administration behavior in the event Trump loses?    

His flattery will not have the same effect on her that it did on that fucking guy.

This isn’t political opinion, it’s fact.
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MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered the country’s military to increase its number of troops by 180,000 to a total of 1.5 million, as Moscow’s military action in Ukraine drags on for more than 2 ½ years.

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-military-numbers-9c5554302486adfe7b3d69cb297f8a98

 

 

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