WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Tuesday announced new sanctions against Russians accused of producing a bogus video spreading sexual assault allegations against Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.
Walz, the governor of Minnesota, was accused in October by a purported former student of inappropriate touching and kissing while Walz was a school teacher — but the allegation, which used the real name of a former student at the school, fell apart when the actual alum came forward and said it was an AI fake.
The Treasury Department said it’s sanctioning the Moscow-based Center for Geopolitical Expertise and its director Valery Mikhaylovich Korovin over the video, which remains viewable on X — meaning the targets will have any assets frozen that are within grasp of US officials.
The entity also allegedly created a network of phony news websites to distribute doctored content.
“CGE and its personnel used generative AI tools to quickly create disinformation that would be distributed across a massive network of websites designed to imitate legitimate news outlets to create false corroboration between the stories, as well as to obfuscate their Russian origin,” the department said.
The Biden administration also announced sanctions Tuesday against an Iranian group, the Cognitive Design Production Center, for allegedly plotting “influence operations designed to incite socio-political tensions among the U.S. electorate in the lead up to the 2024 U.S. elections.”
Russian judge Olesya Mendeleeva additionally faces new US sanctions for ordering the detention of Moscow city councilor Alexei Gorinov.
