WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released a statement on Monday following a U.S. State Department announcement of sanctions against seven individuals and four entities that are part of a Russia-linked foreign influence network associated with Andrii Derkach. Derkach was previously sanctioned for his attempt to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Those sanctioned include Andriy Telizhenko, who worked closely with President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani:

“Today’s sanctions against Andrii Derkach’s associates and specifically Andriy Telizhenko further confirm that the disinformation campaign to harm Joe Biden came directly from the Kremlin. It’s disturbing that our own intelligence agencies downplayed this theory all along and that some of my colleagues in Congress actually helped a foreign country undermine our own democracy,” said Murphy.

Murphy wrote an op-ed in CNN telling the American people the facts about Russian interference in the election. In September, following the designation of Derkach, Murphy sent a letter pressing for the declassification of the 2020 and 2019 National Intelligence Estimates regarding Russian efforts to interfere in our elections. Over the summer Murphy pressed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on whether he thought Derkach was a reliable source of information.

###