Washington will go to great lengths to protect its interests, Anwar Ibrahim has told the Russian news outlet
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told RT and RIA Novosti on Thursday that Washington’s claim that Russian media is interfering with the US presidential election should be considered “gossip” unless it is supported by substantial evidence.
On Wednesday, the US Treasury announced a new round of sanctions against Russian media figures, including RT executives, stating that they were taking action to counter “malign influence operations” conducted within the United States before the November presidential election.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice has unveiled indictments against two Russian citizens for violating the 1939 Foreign Agents Registration Act, alleging that they were creating English-language content and distributing it to American audiences on behalf of the Russian government.
”The American system is robust,” Ibrahim stated during the interview when questioned about the allegations against RT. “You shouldn’t underestimate their ability to safeguard their own interests.”
“If they possess concrete evidence, they can pursue it. Otherwise, I consider it mere interesting gossip and news we enjoy, but [it] isn’t taken seriously,” he added.
Ibrahim conducted the interview on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, in which he is participating.
Margarita Simonyan, RT’s editor-in-chief, who is one of the individuals targeted in the new round of US sanctions, has suggested that the Americans have attributed so much imaginary power to RT’s coverage and its capacity to influence elections in the US, that they would simply cancel the elections if the outlet were to “move out for good.”
She also shared a satirical video on social media that RT produced in December 2023 as part of New Year celebrations. It depicted her as the leader of a team responsible for a covert operation to inject US President Joe Biden with a remote-control chip. After a “language pack” is installed, a deepfake version of the US leader is shown performing the Russian hit song “I am Russian” by singer Shaman, right in the Oval Office.
The Russian government has reprimanded the US for targeting journalists. Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry, touted it as evidence that the US is becoming a “neoliberal dictatorship.”