The US has filed money-laundering charges against two employees of Russian state media network RT over a scheme to hire an American company to produce content to influence the 2024 presidential election.
Justice Department officials said the employees used shell companies and fake personas to pay $US10 million ($A15 million) to an unnamed Tennessee company to produce online videos aimed at amplifying political divisions in the United States.
The US Treasury and State departments also announced actions targeting RT, including the network's top editor, Margarita Simonovna Simonyan.
US officials said Russia's goal was to exacerbate US political divisions and weaken public support for American aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia.
"We will be relentlessly aggressive in countering and disrupting attempts by Russia and Iran, as well as China or any other foreign malign actor, (to) interfere in our elections and undermine our democracy," US Attorney-General Merrick Garland said on Wednesday.
The FBI separately sought court permission to seize 32 internet domains it said were part of Russia's foreign influence effort.
RT responded with ridicule, telling Reuters: "Three things are certain in life: death, taxes and RT's interference in the US elections."
RT ceased operating in the United States after major television distributors dropped it following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Russia's foreign ministry said the US moves were part of a plan to purge dissenting voices from the global media landscape and to stoke fears among US voters about Russia as a mythical external enemy.
"There will be a response," spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
Moscow has repeatedly said it has not meddled in the upcoming US election.
The indictment charged RT employees Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva with conspiracy to violate US money laundering and foreign agent laws.
Both are based in Russia and remain at large.
Authorities said RT employees worked with two foreign nationals in the United States, who set up a company that recruited prominent conservative commentators to post regular videos on topics like immigration and US politics.
Though the company is not named in the indictment, details provided in court filings match Tenet Media, a Nashville-based company that has posted nearly 2000 videos to YouTube in less than a year.
The indictment's description of a "network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues" matches Tenet's own promotional wording on its website.
The company paid $US8.7 million to the production companies of three of the online stars it recruited, according to the indictment.
The company's founders also received more than $US760,000.
The commentators, who were not named, did not know they were paid by RT, the Justice Department said.
In one instance, the indictment said, Afanasyeva asked the company to produce a video that would blame Ukraine and the United States for a mass shooting at a Moscow music venue, the Justice Department said, even though Islamic State had claimed responsibility.
A company founder responded that one of the commentators was "happy to cover it", according to the indictment.
Benny Johnson, one of the commenters who has worked with Tenet, said in a statement he was disturbed by the indictment and said it "makes clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme".
Tim Pool, another commenter, also said he and the other influencers "were deceived and are victims".
He said no one else had editorial control of his broadcasts.
The Justice Department has not charged Tenet executives with wrongdoing.
However, it alleges the company failed to disclose it was funded by RT and its executives never registered with the Justice Department that they were acting as agents of a foreign government.
The Justice Department has previously warned that Russia remains a threat in the election and appears to be favouring Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris.
US intelligence assessments found Moscow tried to help Trump in 2016, when he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton, and in 2020 when he lost to Democrat Joe Biden, allegations Russia denies.
