US sanctions 4 Russians for interference in Presidential elections

The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned four Kremlin-linked individuals for their efforts to interfere in the country's Presidential elections

The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Thursday (local time) sanctioned four Kremlin-linked individuals for their efforts to interfere in the country's Presidential elections.

According to a press statement issued by the Department of State, "Treasury designated Andrii Derkach pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13848, for his efforts to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Derkach maintains close ties to Russian intelligence and sought to influence the views of American voters through a Russian-directed covert influence campaign centered on manipulating the American political process to advance Russia's malign interests in Ukraine. This operation was designed to culminate prior to Election Day."

It further read that the Treasury has sanctioned three Russian citizens for their link to the troll farm Internet Research Agency (also known as Lakhta Internet Research), owned and operated by Kremlin-linked oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin.

"Treasury also designated three Russian nationals linked to the troll farm Internet Research Agency (also known as Lakhta Internet Research), owned and operated by Kremlin-linked oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin. Artem Lifshits, Anton Andreyev, and Darya Aslanova supported the Internet Research Agency's cryptocurrency accounts, facilitating the Internet Research Agency's malign influence campaigns targeting the American people," the statement said.

This action sends a clear signal that the US stop at nothing "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," the Department added.