The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions Thursday on a pro-Russian Ukrainian lawmaker the agency said had been serving as “an active Russian agent for over a decade.”
The lawmaker, Andrii Derkach, is the son of a former KGB officer and also happens to be a key source of disinformation for top allies of Donald Trump who have been actively working to smear Joe Biden with baseless claims of corruption. Chief among those allies are Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.
In sanctioning Derkach, the Treasury Department did not name Biden but accused Derkach of releasing “edited audiotapes” and “unsubstantiated allegations against U.S. and international political figures,” according to The New York Times. The Times writes that the sanctions announcement “appears to describe recordings Mr. Derkach released of Mr. Biden talking to Petro O. Poroshenko, the former president of Ukraine, that Mr. Derkach claimed revealed corruption.” Continue reading.