US President Joe Biden for a year extended the Emergency Decree, which provides for the application of sanctions unilaterally against foreign individuals and organizations for interference in the course of elections. The statement covered by the White House leads TASS.
Based on the Executive Decree 13848, Washington several times introduced restrictions against Russian citizens and companies in connection with the intervention ascribed to the electoral process, despite the fact that Moscow repeatedly rejected the charges.
Previously, the British edition of The Guardian with reference to the documents that were at his disposal as a result of the leakage reported that the Higher Russian leadership allegedly sanctioned the secret spy operation, the purpose of which was the support of Donald Trump in the presidential elections in 2016.
US fears
In the statement of the White House, it is noted that in recent years the development of digital technologies has created significant vulnerabilities and increased the risk of a threat of foreign intervention.
The American leader stated that the spread of propaganda and disinformation continues to threaten national security and foreign policy policies, so Washington takes appropriate measures.
Biden stressed that for this reason leaves a state of emergency decree, which is valid from September 12, 2018. The document was signed by the US President Donald Trump and suggests a regular assessment of threats from the director of national intelligence on the risk of interference in elections.
Also, the State Department and the Ministry of Finance should provide the head of the state recommendations on the introduction of sanctions against interests. The order also involves the use of “additional measures” against states that undermine the economies of the United States or interfere with it.
Earlier in July, Biden stated that Russia already performs attempts to interfere with the interim election of 2022 in the United States. According to the American leader, the election disinformation is becoming an increasingly serious problem. Also Biden stated about “the threat of a real military conflict, which are fraught with kiberataks from Russia.”
Reaction in Russia
Member of the Federation Council Alexei Pushkov in his Telegram Channel commented on the extension of the state of emergency. He stressed that Washington is building policies on paranoid and unrefined assumptions.
Russia, in turn, also accuses Western countries in interference in elections, in particular, we are talking about the coming vote in the State Duma. The head of the State Duma Commission to investigate the facts of the intervention of foreign countries into the internal affairs of Russia Vasily Piskarev stated that the authority regularly records the attempts of Western structures to discredit the elected campaign in the country.
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova also told about the “events” of Western countries aimed at discrediting elections.