Biden administration expected to unveil new evidence of RT’s key role in Russian intelligence operations globally

The Biden administration is expected on Friday to announce a major effort to blunt the global influence of RT and expose what it says is the Russian state media network’s key role in the Kremlin’s global intelligence and influence operations, according to a senior administration official and three other sources familiar with the matter.

The State Department will reveal declassified US intelligence findings that suggest RT is fully integrated into Russia’s intelligence operations around the world and begin a diplomatic campaign to provide countries with information about the risks associated with RT activities, the official said.

A key finding from the new US intelligence is that, for more than a year, the Russian government has quietly embedded an intelligence-gathering unit within RT that is focused on influence operations globally, one of the sources familiar said. That activity has been part of US officials described as a big expansion of RT’s role as an arm and mouthpiece of the Kremlin abroad. The activity goes beyond propaganda and covert influence operations to even include military procurement, the source said.

The goal of the US is to make sure that countries know that RT and Russian intelligence agencies are working together in efforts to sow division and harm democratic processes, while simultaneously making it much more difficult for RT to operate globally, the official said.

Asked for comment by CNN, RT responded with a mocking email that read in part: “We’ve been broadcasting straight out of the KGB headquarters all this time.”

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This focus on the global activity of RT and its subsidiaries on behalf of Russian intelligence comes just over a week after the Biden administration announced a major set of measures to tackle similar Russian government-backed efforts inside the US targeting the 2024 US presidential election. The Department of Justice (DOJ) unveiled criminal charges against two Russian nationals, sanctioned on 10 individuals and entities in the efforts, and seized 32 internet domains.

US diplomats are looking to the coming days and weeks – including the UN General Assembly gathering – to try and build a coalition of countries to take on this challenge.

Formerly known as Russia Today, RT runs television and online platforms around the world that advance the Kremlin’s agenda. The US Department of Justice forced RT America to register as a foreign agent in 2017 after US intelligence officials concluded that the media outlet contributed to Russian efforts to meddle in the 2016 election.

The US believes RT propaganda and disinformation has been key to generating pro-Russia reactions to the Ukraine war globally, the senior administration official said.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, RT was banned in the European Union, and in the US the channel is not publicly broadcast. But in Latin American and Sub-Saharan Africa RT broadcasts have been expanding.

The US led effort to target Huawei – a Chinese telecoms equipment maker – which began during the Trump administration and continued under President Joe Biden is viewed as a model for how US officials are currently looking at targeting RT globally. The US was able to push many countries not to use the Chinese company’s equipment after a global effort to making the case that the company was an instrument of the Chinese government.