Andriy Derkach, a pro-Russian Ukrainian, has promoted discredited allegations against the Democratic presidential nominee.
The Treasury Department has designated Andriy Derkach, a pro-Russian Ukrainian promoting discredited allegations against Joe Biden, for sanctions related to foreign interference in the U.S. election.
Derkach, who was previously identified as a malign actor by the intelligence community, met with President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani in Ukraine in December, as Giuliani mounted an effort to obtain derogatory information on Biden’s relationships in Ukraine. On Thursday, the administration went even further in tying Derkach to the Kremlin.
“Derkach, a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament, has been an active Russian agent for over a decade, maintaining close connections with the Russian Intelligence Services,” Treasury found. “Derkach has directly or indirectly engaged in, sponsored, concealed, or otherwise been complicit in foreign interference in an attempt to undermine the upcoming 2020 U.S. presidential election.”
Derkach has previously denied trying to interfere in the U.S. election, calling it “nonsense” in a statement to POLITICO earlier this summer. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the sanctions designation.
But Treasury’s announcement underscores growing evidence that Russia is mounting a similar campaign to its efforts in 2016 in an attempt to boost Trump’s candidacy and damage his rival. Trump administration intelligence officials have concluded that Russia is seeking to damage Biden and support Trump through actors like Derkach. In addition to Derkach, Treasury also sanctioned three Russian nationals accused of mounting a campaign to influence the U.S. elections, in part through identity theft.
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The Treasury Department has designated Andriy Derkach, a pro-Russian Ukrainian promoting discredited allegations against Joe Biden, for sanctions related to foreign interference in the U.S. election https://t.co/HjoGgiLX35
— POLITICO (@politico) September 10, 2020
Definitely no collusion https://t.co/15fNA03XhT
— Alex Finley (@alexzfinley) September 10, 2020
See below re Russian agent.
Plus THIS:
When Sen. Ron Johnson denies taking info from Derkach, note Johnson's staff worked FOR MONTHS with Derkach's collaborator, Telizhenko, who FBI warned is a conduit for Russian disinfo.
As @AshaRangappa_ and I wrote:https://t.co/c9cPzX5l8B https://t.co/VijXrDu7lq
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) September 10, 2020
Ukrainian Andrii Derkach is the person who released edited audio tapes of Biden and Poroshenko this summer in an effort to undermine Biden. What Treasury is saying – in declaring that Derkach "has been an active Russian agent for over a decade" – is he did that as a Russian spy.
— Kylie Atwood (@kylieatwood) September 10, 2020
UPDATE: @RudyGiuliani tells me he "didn’t do much investigation” before meeting DERKACH, who @USTreasury just sanctioned as a Russian agent.
RUDY: “I have no reason to believe he is a Russian agent. There is nothing I saw that said he was a Russian agent" https://t.co/5UNH3XdsFC
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) September 11, 2020
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