WASHINGTON: The United States plans to formally accuse Russia of a campaign to influence the 2024 presidential election by leveraging online platforms to disseminate disinformation to American voters, CNN reported on Wednesday.
Russian state media network RT will be a focus of the announcement, CNN reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The timing of the announcement is significant, as it comes just hours before Attorney General Merrick Garland is scheduled to address a meeting of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force. The Justice Department has declined to comment on the specifics of the announcement prior to Garland’s speech.
Meanwhile, Russian officials have dismissed the accusations as unfounded. Maria Butina, a State Duma deputy, labeled the allegations “pure rubbish” and asserted that Moscow does not have a preference for either Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris in the upcoming election.
“The only winner of the US election is the US private military industrial complex,” Butina told Reuters.
The Russian embassy in Washington has yet to respond to requests for comment. Moscow has consistently denied allegations of election interference and meddling in US politics.
RT, the Russian state media outlet, reacted with mockery. “Three things are certain in life: death, taxes and RT’s interference in the US elections,” RT commented in response to the reports.
The Justice Department has previously stated that Russia remains a significant threat to the integrity of the presidential election. US officials have suggested that Russia has maintained its preference for Trump, reflecting a pattern observed in previous elections.
In 2016, US intelligence assessments found that Moscow sought to assist Trump’s campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton, and similar interference was noted in the 2020 election when Trump was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden. Moscow has denied these allegations.
Lisa Monaco, the Deputy Attorney General, noted last month that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies have adopted more sophisticated tactics, targeting specific voter groups and focusing on battleground states. The Justice Department revealed in July that it had disrupted a covert Russian social media campaign linked to RT, which was found to be spreading pro-Kremlin messages.
In recent developments, the FBI conducted searches in August at the homes of two Americans with connections to Russian state media: former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter and Dimitri Simes, an adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Earlier, US authorities have accused Iran of attempting to interfere in the 2024 election through cyber operations targeting both the Trump and Harris campaigns. The Trump campaign has alleged that Iran was behind the leak of internal campaign documents to US media outlets.
US intelligence agencies have assessed that China is not actively seeking to intervene in the presidential race to favor any particular candidate. However, recent reports revealed a Chinese-linked social media operation that impersonates US voters, disparages US politicians and promotes divisive content ahead of the election.
