WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions Wednesday against two people and their Russia-based companies it accused of supporting a Kremlin-directed disinformation campaign involving the impersonation of legitimate news websites.
美国财政部周三(3月20日)对两名个人及其总部在俄罗斯的公司实施制裁，美国指控他们支持克里姆林宫指挥的虚假信息行动，涉及假冒合法的新闻网站。
The sanctions targeted Moscow-based company Social Design Agency and its founder, Ilya Andreevich Gambashidze, as well as the Russian-based Company Group Structura and its owner, Nikolai Aleksandrovich Tupikin, according to a statement from the Treasury Department.
根据财政部的声明，被制裁的是总部在莫斯科的公司社会设计局(Social Design Agency)及其创始人伊利亚·安德烈维奇·甘巴希德兹(Ilya Andreevich Gambashidze)以及基于俄罗斯的公司架构集团(Group Structura)及其所有人尼古拉·亚历山德维奇·图皮金(Nikolai Aleksandrovich Tupikin)。
On behalf of the Russian government, they handled a network of more than 60 websites that mimicked media organizations and used fake social media accounts to amplify their content, the statement said.
声明说，他们代表俄罗斯政府经办一个由60多家网站组成的网络，模仿媒体机构并利用虚假的社交媒体账号来放大他们的内容。
"The fake websites appeared to have been built to carefully mimic the appearance of legitimate news websites," the Treasury Department said.
财政部说：“这些假网站看上去被打造成精心模仿合法新闻网站的外观。”
"The fake websites included embedded images and working links to legitimate sites."
“假网站包括嵌入图像和指向合法网站的有效链接。”
The sanctions come amid heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow over Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its third year.
在美国宣布这项制裁之际，华盛顿与莫斯科的关系因为俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰而陷入紧张。侵乌战争目前已经进入第三年。
The United States has repeatedly accused Moscow of orchestrating what it calls global "malign influence campaigns" aimed at sowing instability in democratic countries.
美国一再指责莫斯科策划华盛顿所说的“恶意影响力行动”，目的是在民主国家挑拨离间，破坏稳定。
Last October, a U.S. intelligence report said Russia was using its spy network, state-run media and social media to undermine public trust in elections around the world.
去年10月，一份美国的情报报告说，俄罗斯利用其间谍网络、国营媒体和社交媒体来破坏世界各地选举的公信度。
The United States shared the report with some 100 countries.
美国与大约100个国家分享了这份报告。
"We are committed to exposing Russia's extensive campaigns of government-directed deception, which are intended to mislead voters and undermine trust in democratic institutions in the United States and around the world," Brian E. Nelson, under-secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, was quoted as saying in Wednesday's statement.
财政部周三的声明援引财政部负责反恐与金融情报的副部长布莱恩·E·尼尔森(Brian E. Nelson)的话说：“我们致力于揭露俄罗斯由政府指挥的大范围欺骗行动，这些行动的意图是误导选民并破坏对美国和世界各地民主制度的信任。”
U.S.-based disinformation researchers say hundreds of sites mimicking news outlets — powered by artificial intelligence — have cropped up in recent months, fueling an explosion of false narratives, about subjects ranging from war to politicians.
基于美国的虚假信息研究人员说，数以百计的模仿新闻机构的网站——由人工智能驱动——在最近几个月浮现，助长了虚假叙事的爆炸式增长，内容涉及各种议题，包括战争和政治人物。
That includes several Russian-linked websites mimicking news outlets and pushing Kremlin propaganda ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November, according to researchers at Clemson University and the watchdog organization NewsGuard.
据克莱姆森大学(Clemson University)和监督组织新闻卫士(NewsGuard )的研究人员说，这包括几家与俄罗斯有关联的网站，这些网站模仿新闻机构并在11月美国总统选举之前推动克里姆林宫的宣传。
