The United States imposed sanctions against Russians who created fake websites of government organizations and influential media to spread Russian propaganda
Kyiv • UNN
The United States imposed sanctions on two Russian individuals and entities for conducting a malicious disinformation campaign targeting Latin America, posing as legitimate media outlets and using fake social media accounts to spread anti-Ukrainian propaganda.
The United States has imposed restrictions on Russians who have been spreading anti-Ukrainian propaganda in Latin America. We are talking about Ilya Gambashidze, founder of the Moscow-based Social Design Agency, and Nikolai Tupikin, CEO of Group Structura LLC. This is stated in a press release published on the website of the US Treasury Department, UNN reports.
We are committed to exposing Russia's massive campaigns of deception designed to mislead voters and undermine confidence in democratic institutions in the United States and around the world. The United States, along with our allies and partners, remain steadfast in defending our democratic principles and the credibility of our elections
Details
The press release also noted that on February 20, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added two individuals and two organizations to the sanctions list that had cooperated with the government of the Russian Federation (RF) to conduct a "malicious influence" information campaign abroad.
We are talking about Ilya Gambashidze ( Gambashidze ), the founder of the Moscow-based company Social Design Agency ( SDA ), and Nikolai Tupikin ( Tupikin ), the CEO and current owner of the Russian company Group Structura LLC ( Structura ).
The SDA companies and Structura were identified as key participants in the information campaign, responsible for providing the Russian government with a number of services, including the creation of websites designed to imitate government organizations and legitimate media in Europe.
By the fall of 2022, Tupikin and Gambashidze implemented a campaign that impersonated news websites, staged videos, and fake social media accounts. Specifically, Tupikin and Gambashidze through SDA and Structura implemented an extensive network of over 60 websites on behalf of the government that posed as legitimate news organizations and used deceptive social media accounts to expand the content of the fake websites. It appears that the fake websites were created to closely mimic the look and feel of legitimate news websites. The fake websites included embedded images and working links to legitimate sites and even used the cookie acceptance page of the simulated site.
In this way, Moscow, using a number of tools, including information propaganda campaigns and illegal cyber activities, has sought to undermine the interests of the United States and its allies and partners, including in Latin America, the Middle East and Europe.
Russian influencers are increasingly adapting their methods to conceal their involvement, developing a vast ecosystem of Russian proxy sites, individuals, and organizations that give the false appearance of independent news sources. Today's designations follow previous OFAC actions that have highlighted and disrupted Russia's global campaigns of malicious influence, which have included U.S. election meddling, attempts to undermine democracy in Moldova, destabilization activities in Ukraine and Russian intelligence-controlled media among others.
OFAC today designated SDA and Structura pursuant to EO 14024 for being owned or controlled by, or acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the government of the Russian Federation.
OFAC designated Gambashidze and Tupikin as EO 14024 for being or having been a director, officer, senior executive officer, or member of the board of directors of SDA and Structura , , respectively, persons whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to EO 14024.
The full list of sanctioned persons associated with the Russian Federation is available here.
