Treasury Department Hits Ukranian and Russian Individuals With Sanctions

The Treasury Department has sanctions individuals from Russia and Ukraine for election interference.

According to The Hill:

One of the individuals added to the list was Andrii Derkach, a Ukrainian member of parliament, who was cited by William Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, last month for spreading disinformation to “undermine” former Vice President Joe Biden.

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“Pro-Russia Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach is spreading claims about corruption — including through publicizing leaked phone calls — to undermine former Vice President Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party,” Evanina wrote in an assessment released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence last month, which warned Russia, China and Iran were actively interfering in the 2020 elections.

The Treasury Department noted that Derkach was added to the list for efforts to spread disinformation around officials involved in the U.S. 2020 elections in order to advance Russian interests in Ukraine and “almost certainly” targeted U.S. voters with this information through releasing edited tapes, interviews and statements that were published in some Western media.

Three Russian individuals based in St. Petersburg — Anton Andreyev, Darya Aslanova and Artem Lifshits — were also designated by the Treasury Department on Thursday for their work supporting the cryptocurrency accounts of the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian troll farm that was previously sanctioned for interfering in the 2016 and 2018 U.S. elections.

These individuals are banned from accessing U.S. assets and U.S. citizens are barred from doing business with them, with few exceptions.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement in regards to the sanctions: “this action sends a clear signal: the United States will not hesitate to use all tools of national power to respond to foreign actors that seek to interfere in or otherwise influence our elections by any means.”