RT running covert military supply operation for Russian forces, US says

The State Department on Friday accused RT of having transformed from a state-backed propaganda outlet into a sophisticated arm of Russian intelligence, secretly operating a vast military procurement network to supply Russian forces in Ukraine.

RT, formerly Russia Today, has been pulling this off by using a large online crowdfunding platform, promoted through social media, to buy military equipment and then channel it to Russian units in Ukraine, according to the State Department. The administration said the operations were administered by RT deputy editor-in-chief and head of international broadcasting for Sputnik Anton Anisimov and had avoided detection by importing small orders of weaponry and supplies.

That shopping list, according to State, includes sniper rifles and suppressors, personal weapon sights, body armor and tactical clothing, night vision equipment, drones, radio equipment and diesel generators.

New evidence from the State Department also linked some of the equipment — particularly recon drones — directly to China-based entities. The department also alleges that RT is facilitating production in coordination with the Russian Ministry of Defense.

“I’ve instructed U.S. diplomats around the world to share the evidence that we’ve gathered on RT’s expanded capabilities and the ways it’s being used to target individual countries and the information ecosystem that we share,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a Friday briefing.

To camouflage and obscure its evolved mission, State said, RT has even developed previously unknown cyber capabilities while deploying a network of fake news websites, social media accounts and online personas on a global scale. Since spring 2023, the department said, RT has harbored a cyber unit with direct ties to Russian intelligence that it uses to funnel information to spies, mercenaries and Kremlin proxies worldwide. The network has also expanded influence operations globally, with a particular focus on Europe, Africa and the Americas, including an ongoing effort to destabilize the government of Argentina.

Some covert influence fronts secretly run by RT include online platform “African Stream,” which boasts 460,000 YouTube subscribers, and “Red,” a Berlin-based English language platform with over 80,000 followers on X, the State Department said. A Paris-based journalist was also hired to run influence projects targeting French speakers, according to the State Department.

But one of the most notable influence campaigns the department said was run by RT involves Moldova’s October election, with State accusing RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan of being in direct coordination with the Kremlin to sway the results toward a pro-Russian candidate.

When reached for comment, RT shared a Russian-language post on Telegram on Friday from Simonyan with a brash admission. “American intelligence services have found out that we are helping the front,” a translated version of Simonyan’s post reads. “We are doing it openly, idiots.”

The news comes weeks after the Justice Department unsealed an indictment against senior employees of RT accusing them of using shell companies and fake identities to pay millions of dollars to a Tennessee-based media outlet to create pro-Russia content.

Simonyan had already been a target of Treasury sanctions earlier in September, and went on Russian state TV over the weekend to brag that RT runs covert operations in the United States.