The US authorities imposed sanctions on two Russian intelligence officers involved in the Kremlin’s attempts to conduct global influence operations, including efforts to interfere in a local US election.
“Russia’s intelligence services, including the FSB, support Kremlin-directed influence operations against the United States and its allies and partners, and often recruit individuals — known as “co-optees” — leveraging these individuals to sow discord within their own and other countries,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.
Federal Security Service (FSB) officers, Yegor Popov and Aleksei Sukhodolov “played a significant role in the Kremlin’s attempts to conduct global malign influence operations, including efforts to influence a local election in the United States,” according to the authorities.
Popov is accused of being the “primary handler” of Aleksandr Ionov, a Russian national who was indicted in April on election interference charges. Ionov was the founder and president of the Russia-based Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR), funded by the Russian government. Ionov allegedly utilized AGMR to carry out global influence operations.
The authorities say that Ionov recruited political groups in Florida, Georgia and California and directed them to spread pro-Russia narratives. One focus of Ionov’s alleged influence operation was to create the appearance of American popular support for Russia’s annexation of territories in Ukraine.
Alexei Sukhodolov, who supervised Popov, also worked with Ionov to conduct foreign malign influence operations around the world, including in the US, Ukraine, Spain, the UK and Ireland.
Last Friday, the European Union issued its 11th package of sanctions against Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions list was expanded with 71 individuals and 33 entities, including several Russian tech companies with links to Russian intelligence services, including Positive Technologies, NTC Vulcan, Echelon, Iteranet, and Poisk-IT.
The eleventh EU sanctions package also introduces new measures to prevent sanctions circumvention, extends the ban on the transit of export-controlled goods through Russia, and adds 87 new entities to the list of those directly supporting Russia's military and industrial complex, including entities registered in China, Uzbekistan, the United Arab Emirates, Syria and Armenia.
