US sanctions Russian and Iranian entities for 2024 election interference attempts

Citing “deepfakes” and “targeted disinformation campaigns,” the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced on Tuesday sanctions against affiliates of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), alleging they “aimed to stoke socio-political tensions and influence the U.S. electorate during the 2024 U.S. election.”

Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz may have been the target of one such effort, according to a previous Washington Post report.

“Today’s actions build on sanctions previously imposed on the IRGC, the GRU, and their numerous subordinate and proxy organizations, pursuant to several authorities targeting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and malicious cyber-enabled activities,” the U.S. State Dept. wrote in a press release.

“The Governments of Iran and Russia have targeted our election processes and institutions and sought to divide the American people through targeted disinformation campaigns,” said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith. “The United States will remain vigilant against adversaries who would undermine our democracy.”

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Treasury adds that the Moscow-based Center for Geopolitical Expertise (CGE) “directs and subsidizes the creation and publication of deepfakes and circulated disinformation about candidates in the U.S. 2024 general election. CGE personnel work directly with a GRU unit that oversees sabotage, political interference operations, and cyberwarfare targeting the West.”

“At the direction of, and with financial support from, the GRU, CGE and its personnel used generative AI tools to quickly create disinformation that would be distributed across a massive network of websites designed to imitate legitimate news outlets to create false corroboration between the stories, as well as to obfuscate their Russian origin,” the Treasury Dept. said. “In addition to using generative AI to construct and disseminate disinformation targeting the U.S. electorate in the lead up to the U.S. 2024 general election, CGE also manipulated a video it used to produce baseless accusations concerning a 2024 vice presidential candidate in an effort to sow discord amongst the U.S. electorate.”

Treasury did not specify who that candidate was, but reporting from The Washington Post suggested in previous reporting that it may have been Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz.

In October, The Washington Post reported that a “former deputy Palm Beach County sheriff who fled to Moscow and became one of the Kremlin’s most prolific propagandists is working directly with Russian military intelligence to pump out deepfakes and circulate misinformation that targets Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign, according to Russian documents obtained by a European intelligence service and reviewed by The Washington Post.”

The Post’s Catherine Belton reported that the “documents show that John Mark Dougan, who also served in the U.S. Marines and has long claimed to be working independently of the Russian government, was provided funding by an officer from the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service.”

“Disinformation researchers say Dougan’s network was probably behind a recent viral fake video smearing Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz, which U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday was created by Russia. It received nearly 5 million views on X in less than 24 hours, Microsoft said.”

The Washington Post’s Belton, pointing to the Treasury Dept. press release said it confirmed the Post’s reporting from October.

“Though none of the entities sanctioned by the Treasure [sic] Department Tuesday are affiliated with China,” NBC News adds, “the department said in a separate letter Monday that its computers had been hacked in a state-sponsored Chinese operation in ‘a major incident.’ China denied that allegation.”

In September, Trump suggested he would remove sanctions on Russia, Iran, and China, The New Republic reported.