Mordolff/Getty Images
- The US government is offering up to $10 million for information on Rybar, a Russian media outlet.
- It said the outlet bolstered "Russia's military capabilities" and advanced "pro-Russian narratives."
- It comes as part of a wider US crackdown on alleged Russian election interference.
The US government is offering up to $10 million for information on the Russian media outlet Rybar and its employees.
The US said that Rybar, which has more than 1.3 million Telegram subscribers, has attempted "to bolster Russia's military capabilities and advance pro-Russian and anti-Western narratives," according to a statement on the Department of State's Rewards for Justice (RFJ) website.
The RFJ program's site identified nine key individuals the government was seeking intel on, including Mikhail Zvinchuk, who runs the blog.
"Anyone with information on Rybar LLC, these individuals, their malign activities, or associated persons or entities should contact Rewards for Justice," it said.
These individuals work to spread disinformation that sows social divisions and racial discord aimed at interfering with U.S. elections. They do this work for Rybar, a contractor for Russian government-owned industrial conglomerate Rostec. Help us stop them. Send us your tips. pic.twitter.com/jLdDvdnkrD
— Rewards for Justice (@RFJ_USA) October 16, 2024
The government said that Rybar, which focuses on the Russia-Ukraine war, had also been operating propaganda channels like "#HOLDTHELINE" and "#STANDWITHTEXAS" to further Russian political interests in the US.
It said Rybar also created the "TEXASvsUSA" channel on X "to exploit the issue of undocumented immigrants crossing the Texas border," seeking to encourage social division and incite hate and violence.
Zvinchuk has denied that Rybar was involved in election interference.
Rybar is now funded by Rostec, a Russian state defense company that has been sanctioned by the US since June 2022, the RFJ statement said.
But it previously received funding from the late Yevgeny Prigozhin — the former leader of the mercenary Wagner Group and once a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, it added.
Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash last year, admitted in 2022 to interfering in Western elections.
"We have interfered, we are interfering, and we will continue to interfere. Carefully, accurately, surgically, and in our own way, as we know how to do," he said.
The Institute for the Study of War previously said that the Kremlin had "coopted the Rybar channel as part of efforts to strengthen the Kremlin's control over the Russian information space."
Rybar had also tried to increase its influence in the "international information space," the ISW said, noting that it had likely been "supporting Iranian-backed Iraqi efforts to gain greater control over the Iraqi information space."
The new reward offer comes as part of a wider US crackdown on alleged Russian election interference.
In September, the US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on Russian state broadcaster RT in response to alleged "malign influence operations."