United States comes up with new sanctions for Russia

• The Biden administration imposed sanctions against Russia on Friday.
• Antony Blinken said the sanctions were for Russia’s “malign influence activities”.
• Organization dubbed “STOP-Imperialism,” was also sanctioned.

On Friday, the Biden administration imposed penalties against Russia due to its activities involving electoral meddling and “malign influence” throughout the world.

In a statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said  the new tranche of sanctions “is separate and distinct from the broad range of measures the United States and its allies and partners continue to impose on Russia’s economy and financial system in response to its unlawful invasion of Ukraine.”

According to Blinken, who added that they “played various roles in Russia’s attempts to manipulate the United States and our allies and partners, including Ukraine,” Friday’s sanctions hit “two individuals and four entities that support the Kremlin’s global malign influence operations and election interference activities.”

Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, a Russian national who was also charged by the Department of Justice on Friday, is one of the people who received sanctions. He is accused of “orchestrating a years-long foreign malign influence campaign that used various U.S. political groups to sow discord, spread pro-Russian propaganda, and interfere in elections within the United States.”

Ionov is the head and founder of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, which the Treasury Department claims “has maintained ties with separatist and anti-establishment groups in the United States and abroad” and “has received funding from Russia’s National Charity Fund, a trust established by Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin which collects money from Russia’s state-owned companies and oligarchs.”

He “is also the president, founder, and 100% shareholder of Ionov Transkontinental, OOO (Ionov Transkontinental),which has a footprint in Iran, Venezuela, and Lebanon.”

An organization dubbed “STOP-Imperialism,” which the Treasury Department claims Ionov used to disseminate false information, was also sanctioned on Friday.

The Center for Support and Development of Public Initiative Creative Diplomacy (PICREADI), run by Natalya Valeryevna Burlinova, a citizen of Russia, was also sanctioned.

Burlinova and PICREADI are directed and funded by Russian intelligence services, despite their efforts to conceal this relationship, according to the Treasury Department, which also noted that “since at least 2017, Russia’s intelligence services have tracked the activities and career paths of past participants in PICREADI’s events.”

The State Department’s Rewards for Justice programme offered a reward of up to $10 million for information regarding the Internet Research Agency, its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, a crucial ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and “linked Russian entities and associates for their engagement in U.S. election interference” the day prior to the announcement of Friday’s sanctions.

Also Read

Britain is targeting Russian officials in a new round of sanctions

Russia's justice minister and deputy minister, plus two nephews of Alisher Usmanov,...