Interferes in the election process/ USA, sanctions against entities in Iran and Russia

2024-12-31 18:40:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Interferes in the election process/ USA, sanctions against entities in Iran and

The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on entities in Iran and Russia accused of trying to interfere in this year's US election.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced in a statement that the entities — an organization linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard and an organization linked to Russia's military intelligence agency — aimed to "stir socio-political tensions and influence the American electorate during the U.S. election." of 2024".

"The governments of Iran and Russia targeted our election processes and institutions and sought to divide the American people through deliberate disinformation campaigns," said Treasury's Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Bradley Smith.

"The United States will remain vigilant against enemies who seek to undermine our democracy," he said in a statement.

Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York and the Russian Embassy in Washington did not comment on these developments.

Republican candidate Donald Trump was elected president in November, defeating Democrat Kamala Harris, in an unprecedented comeback four years after losing the presidential election to a second term in the White House.

The organization 'Cognitive Design Production Center' planned operations to exert influence from at least 2023, according to the Treasury, while the Center for Geopolitical Expertise (CGE), based in Moscow, distributed disinformation about election candidates and financed and orchestrated the creation of photographs and videos manipulated through artificial intelligence 'deepfakes'.

The Treasury announced that the CGE center had also manipulated a video recording to promote "baseless allegations about a candidate for vice president in the 2024 race." Authorities did not provide details on which candidate was targeted.

According to the Treasury, the Moscow-based center, under the direction of the Russian intelligence agency GRU, used artificial intelligence to rapidly compile disinformation and distribute it on a network of websites that were designed to look like legitimate platforms. the media.

The Treasury accused the Russian intelligence agency GRU of financially supporting the CGE center and a network of facilitators in the United States to build and maintain a 'server', a place to store data on the Internet, and to maintain a network of consisting of at least 100 websites, which were used in its disinformation operations.

Sanctions were also imposed on the CGE director on Tuesday.

An annual threat assessment report released in October said the United States is seeing increased threats from Russia, Iran and China aimed at influencing elections, including through the use of artificial intelligence to spread false information. or disruptive./VOA