Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and closely associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has voiced concerns regarding recent United States sanctions directed at five European officials. Dmitriev alleges that these sanctions form part of a larger, coordinated campaign designed to stifle Russian perspectives by establishing what he refers to as an "anti-Russian censorship network."
In a message posted on the social media platform X, Dmitriev identified a pattern impacting the sanctioned individuals, stating that all five European figures sanctioned by the US were heavily focused on efforts to combat Russian disinformation. He characterized this initiative as a shared objective among the officials, attributing their actions to globalist and "deep state" European Union bureaucrats who, according to him, oppose traditional values and Russia alike.
The five officials recently barred from entering the United States include notable figures such as Thierry Breton, a former European Union Commissioner. Breton has notably engaged in disputes with US-based entrepreneurs over content regulation, specifically regarding claims of "extraterritorial censorship" on digital platforms. These sanctions mark a pronounced escalation in tensions throughout transatlantic relations concerning the governance of content on American technology platforms.
US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has expressed support for these sanctions, framing them as a necessary stance against foreign efforts to suppress American voices. This perspective aligns with previous warnings issued by the Donald Trump administration, which cautioned that European service providers might face retaliatory consequences for implementing policies perceived as discriminatory to US companies.
The current measures and the discourse surrounding them reflect ongoing disputes over content moderation between Washington and Brussels, highlighting divergent approaches to managing digital information flows, particularly concerning narratives related to Russia.