US investigating Americans who worked with Russian state television

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice has begun a broad criminal investigation into Americans who have worked with Russia’s state television networks, signalling an aggressive effort to combat the Kremlin’s influence operations leading up to the presidential election in November, according to US officials briefed on the inquiry.

In August, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents searched the homes of two prominent figures with connections to Russian state media: Mr Scott Ritter, a former UN weapons inspector and critic of US foreign policy, and Mr Dimitri K. Simes, an adviser to former president Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign in 2016. Prosecutors have not announced charges against either of the men.

More searches are expected soon, some of the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss investigations. Criminal charges are also possible, they said.

The investigation comes in the wake of the Biden administration’s official intelligence findings that Russia’s state news organisations, including the global news channel RT, are working with its intelligence agencies to sway elections, including November’s contest between Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris.

The investigation so far has focused on potential violations of the economic sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine and a law that requires the disclosure of lobbying efforts on behalf of foreign governments.

The government’s investigation is politically fraught, reprising the furiously partisan debate over Russia’s influence in the 2016 presidential campaign.

By targeting Americans working with news organisations, even if they are state-run, the inquiry could also bump up against the First Amendment’s protection of rights to free speech.

The extent of the crackdown remains unclear, and the Justice Department and other officials across Washington declined to discuss it when asked.

Mr Ritter, who has worked as a contributing writer for RT, said in a telephone interview that the warrant to search his home had made reference to an investigation that involved the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the federal law that requires Americans to disclose lobbying and political activities on behalf of foreign governments.

Mr Simes, a Soviet-born American citizen, is being investigated for, among other crimes, violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the legal foundation for imposing economic sanctions, some of the officials said. NYTIMES