On September 10, 2020, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated four individuals linked to Russia for attempting to interfere with US elections. Andrii Derkach, a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament with close connections to Russian Intelligence Services, was designated pursuant to Executive Order 13848 for his efforts to undermine the upcoming 2020 US presidential election. Between May and July 2020, Derkach allegedly released edited audio tapes and other false and unsubstantiated narratives against US and international political figures with the intent to discredit US government officials and influence the US voting populace.
The other three individuals were designated pursuant to Executive Order 13694, as amended by EO 13757, and EO 13848, for acting on behalf of the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian troll factory designated in 2018 for attempting to influence the US mid-term elections. The three IRA employees supported IRA’s cryptocurrency accounts – cryptocurrency that the group uses to fund harmful operations around the world.
As a result of the designations, all US property for these individuals is blocked, and transactions and dealings with US persons are generally prohibited. In addition, any entity in the US that is owned fifty percent or more by a sanctioned individual is also blocked.