RT has played a major role in eroding support for Ukraine around the world, and the network has fundraised to buy weapons for the Russian military, the US State Department claimed on Friday. The US has sanctioned RT’s parent company in response.
In a press briefing in Washington, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken leveled a slew of accusations against RT. Blinken claimed that the outlet operates a range of nominally independent news channels on social media in order to spread pro-Kremlin messaging, that it operates a secretive cyber operations unit linked to Russian intelligence, and that it covertly manages a crowdfunding platform to arm and supply Russian troops fighting in the Ukraine conflict.
“Thanks to new information, much of which originates from RT employees, we know that RT possesses cyber capabilities and engaged in covert information and influence operations and military procurement,” Blinken told reporters.
Blinken did not fully explain RT’s supposed “cyber capabilities,” but said that the network’s alleged cyber unit runs “covert influence operations” around the world, and supplies information to Russian media outlets, “mercenary groups,” and other “arms of the Russian government.”
The crowdfunding campaign is not directly linked to RT, the American diplomat admitted, before claiming that it is covertly run by an RT employee. According to Blinken, this campaign has raised money within Russia to supply Russian troops with sniper rifles, suppressors, body armor, drones, and other equipment.
Aside from these alleged activities, RT’s reporting is damaging to US interests, State Department official Jamie Rubin told reporters after Blinken spoke.
“One of the reasons – not the only reason – why so much of the world has not been as fully supportive of Ukraine as you would think they would be, given that Russia has invaded Ukraine and violated rule number 1 of the international system – is because of the broad scope and reach of RT, where propaganda, disinformation and lies is spread to millions if not billions around the world,” he declared.
Rubin runs the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC), essentially its propaganda and intelligence wing. The GEC has funded propaganda games aimed at children and forced Twitter to censor pro-Russian content, while Rubin admitted last year that he intends to use the GEC to shut down Russian media outlets around the world.
Blinken announced that RT’s parent company, TV-Novosti, as well as the company Rossiya Segodnya, its director, and one other entity and one individual, would be sanctioned in response to the allegations.
The sanctions come just over a week after two people alleged to work for RT were criminally charged by the US Justice Department for their alleged role in pushing video content that sowed “discord and division” in the US. The two Russians were also sanctioned by the US Treasury Department, along with RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan and three other senior RT employees.
Asked to comment on the State Department’s announcement by CNN earlier on Friday, RT’s press office sarcastically replied “We’ve been broadcasting straight out of the KGB headquarters all this time.”
“No, but seriously, we’re running out of popcorn to sit and watch what the US government will come up with next about us,” the press office added.