US bans Russian citizens and groups due to ‘malign influence’

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on two Russian individuals and four companies it accused of supporting the Kremlin’s global malign influence and election interference activities, including in the United States and Ukraine.

“The individuals and entities designated today played multiple roles in Russia’s efforts to manipulate and destabilize its allies and partners, including the United States and Ukraine,” the department said in a statement.

Individuals Alexander Viktorovich Ionov and Natalya Valerievna Berlinova and organizations such as the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR), Ionov Transcontinental, Stop-Imperialism and Public Initiatives and the Center for Support and Development of Creative Diplomacy (Creative Diplomacy) were identified. )

The Treasury Department alleges that Ionov was “colluded” by the FSB, saying he coordinated with the Russian intelligence agency since at least the summer of 2020 to identify “points of socio-political contention in the United States.”

“He and Russia’s intelligence services provided support, typically in the form of monetary donations, to organizations they believed could create socio-political disruption in the United States,” the US Treasury said.

The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the U.S. sanctions, which block access to the designers’ assets and interests under U.S. jurisdiction.

(Reporting by Rami Ayyub in Washington and Arshad Mohammad in St. Paul, Minnesota)