U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a press conference on Friday night that Russia would try to manipulate the outcome of this fall’s presidential election. This could be achieved through the propaganda television Russia Today (RT), which would coordinate its activities with the Russian intelligence services.

“For years, RT and its employees have coordinated directly with the Kremlin to support Russian Government efforts to influence Moldova’s elections, including the October 2024 presidential election.  RT’s leadership has leveraged Russian state-funded and directed media platforms to attempt to foment unrest in Moldova, likely with the aim of causing protests to turn violent,” stated Blinken.

“We believe RT will almost certainly leverage its expanded covert capabilities to coordinate with Russian intelligence services to try to manipulate the outcome of Moldova’s upcoming election.”

After the conference, the U.S. imposed sanctions on a former female accountant of Ilan Shor and an organization that stages trips for Moldovan young people to Moscow, for Russia’s covert global influence operations, including interference in Moldova’s democracy and its upcoming elections.