We won’t tolerate interference in our elections regardless of where it comes from. Such a statement made Ned Price, the Spokesperson of the US Department of State.

QUESTION: Okay. And then moving on, unless anyone has more on that, I just want to ask you about this, quote/unquote, “admission” by Mr. Prigozhin in Russia that they have interfered, they will continue to interfere, in U.S. elections and what you make of it, if anything.

NED PRICE: Well, I suppose his own statements didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. His bold confession, if anything, appears to be just a manifestation of the impunity that crooks and cronies enjoy under President Putin and the Kremlin.

As you know, we have sanctioned this individual, Yevgeny Prigozhin, since 2018 for his interference in the – with our election processes and institutions. In March of 2018, the Department of the Treasury designated the Internet Research Agency and Prigozhin himself. This designation targeted malicious cyber actors, including those involved in interfering with the election process and institutions.

On September 20, 2019, Treasury, under the auspices of OFAC, also took action against Russian actors that attempted to influence the 2018 midterm elections; including previously designated person Yevgeny Prigozhin as well as the employees of the Internet Research Agency which Prigozhin himself finances.

In July of this year, we put forward a so-called Reward for Justice, or RFJ, seeking information on interference in U.S. elections by the Internet Research Agency, by Prigozhin, and related Russian entities, offering up to USD 10 million for information on foreign interference in U.S. elections.

We all know, especially today but every day, the free and fair elections are a cornerstone of American society, of American democracy. We won’t tolerate interference in our elections regardless of where it comes from. We’ve demonstrated that – not only with our words, but with our deeds. In addition to the sanctions against Prigozhin, against the IRA, this administration has announced sanctions against Russia. We did so in April of 2021 in response not only to Russia’s malicious cyberattack, in the context of Solar Winds and in the context of what it had done to Mr. Navalny with the chemical weapons attack – what it was doing to Mr. Navalny’s supporters, but also in response to its interference in our elections. We’ve done the same against Iran. We are prepared to do the same against any other state or entity that would seek to interfere in our democratic processes.