Treasury sanctions Ukrainian lawmaker who met with Giuliani to smear Biden
Andriy Derkach, a pro-Russian Ukrainian, has promoted discredited allegations against the Democratic presidential nominee.
By KYLE CHENEY and NATASHA BERTRAND
09/10/2020 11:55 AM EDT
The Treasury Department has designated Andriy Derkach, a pro-Russian Ukrainian promoting discredited allegations against Joe Biden, for sanctions related to foreign interference in the U.S. election.
Derkach, who was previously identified as a malign actor by the intelligence community, met with President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani in Ukraine in December, as Giuliani mounted an effort to obtain derogatory information on Biden's relationships in Ukraine. On Thursday, the administration went even further in tying Derkach to the Kremlin.
“Derkach, a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament, has been an active Russian agent for over a decade, maintaining close connections with the Russian Intelligence Services,” Treasury found. “Derkach has directly or indirectly engaged in, sponsored, concealed, or otherwise been complicit in foreign interference in an attempt to undermine the upcoming 2020 U.S. presidential election.”
Derkach has previously denied trying to interfere in the U.S. election, calling it “nonsense” in a statement to POLITICO earlier this summer. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the sanctions designation.
But Treasury’s announcement underscores growing evidence that Russia is mounting a similar campaign to its efforts in 2016 in an attempt to boost Trump’s candidacy and damage his rival. Trump administration intelligence officials have concluded that Russia is seeking to damage Biden and support Trump through actors like Derkach. In addition to Derkach, Treasury also sanctioned three Russian nationals accused of mounting a campaign to influence the U.S. elections, in part through identity theft.
In a separate action, the Justice Department charged one of those Russian nationals, Artem Lifshits, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud connected to the large-scale election interference operation. The charging document described Lifshits’ connection to a group known as the Lakhta Project, that has been seeking to influence politics in the United States and other countries since 2014, relying on illegal cryptocurrency transfers and stolen identities. The document also describes the group’s social media strategy aimed at fanning racial and political strife.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called the sanctions decision an effort to “counter these Russian disinformation campaigns and uphold the integrity of our election system.”
“Andriy Derkach and other Russian agents employ manipulation and deceit to attempt to influence elections in the United States and elsewhere around the world,” Mnuchin said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a separate statement hailing the new sanction decision and asserting that Derkach "sought to influence the views of American voters through a Russian-directed covert influence campaign centered on manipulating the American political process." The goal, he said, was "to advance Russia’s malign interests in Ukraine" and was "designed to culminate prior to Election Day."
more:
http://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/10/treasury-designates-anti-biden-ukrainian-lawmaker-for-sanctions-for-election-interference-411750
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