America imposes sanctions on Russia and Iran for interference in elections. election news
The US says allies of the Iranian and Russian governments worked to sow division during the 2024 elections.
The United States has announced a new round of sanctions targeting Russia and Iran, citing alleged attempts to interfere in its 2024 elections.
In a statement on Tuesday, the US Treasury Department said an affiliate of Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU) and a subsidiary of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had worked to stoke domestic tensions.
“The governments of Iran and Russia have targeted our election processes and institutions and sought to divide the American people through targeted disinformation campaigns,” Bradley Smith, acting undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in the statement. “
“The United States will remain vigilant against adversaries who would undermine our democracy.”
President-elect Donald Trump ultimately emerged victorious in the November presidential election. His right-wing party, the Republicans, also gained control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, which together make up the US Congress.
The Treasury Department statement alleged that the Moscow-based Center for Geopolitical Expertise (CGE) subsidized the creation of the misleading images and helped spread “unfounded allegations regarding the 2024 vice presidential candidate,” without providing further details.
Allegations of election interference by countries such as Russia have been a point of political conflict for years, although critics say their influence has been overstated.
Iranian and Russian officials have not yet responded to Tuesday’s allegations, but have previously denied similar accusations.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a news release Tuesday, “Today’s sanctions build on a number of previous actions by the U.S. government that have responded to Iran’s efforts to undermine trust in our democratic institutions and Russia’s global malign influence campaigns and illegal activities.” Cyber activities have been disrupted.”
The statement said CGE and its director, Valery Mikhailovich Korovin, were designated for sanctions along with the Cognitive Design Production Center (CPDC), which it says is an affiliate of the IRGC.
Such sanctions would freeze any US-based assets of groups and individuals, and they would prevent US-based entities from doing business with them.
