The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury, acting jointly with the US Department of Justice, has sanctioned four entities and two individuals pursuant to Executive Order 14024 for acting on behalf of the government of the Russian Federation. Specifically, the United States has targeted individuals and organizations that serve as co-optees of the Russian intelligence services, supporting the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in US elections and undermine American democratic processes and institutions.
The designated individuals are:
- Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, president of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, an organization that maintains connections with separatists and anti-establishment groups both within the United States and abroad. Ionov works with the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (“FSB”), providing donations and other support to organizations the FSB believes will foment socio-political disturbances within the United States. In addition to his designation by OFAC, Ionov has been charged by the US Department of Justice with working on behalf of the Russian government to spread pro-Russian propaganda and interfere in US elections, and conspiring to have US citizens act as illegal agents of the Russian government.
- Natalya Valeryevna Burlinova, founder and president of the Center for Support and Development of Public Initiative Creative Diplomacy (“Creative Diplomacy”), which purports to be independent but is in fact funded and directed by the government of the Russian Federation.
The designated entities include a company founded and wholly owned by Ionov, an English and Russian-language website used by Ionov and the Anti-Globalization Movement to disseminate disinformation at the behest of the Kremlin, the Anti-Globalization Movement itself, and Burlinova’s Creative Diplomacy.
As a result of these designations, all property and interests in property of these designees within the United States or within the possession or control of a US person are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions involving the designated persons.
| US Dept of the Treasury press release | DOJ press release | Indictment (Ionov)