Channel One Russia talk show host Simes and his wife face 20 years in prison in the US (video)

On August 16, FBI agents conducted searches at the home of Dmitry Simes. On August 22, sources for The New York Times reported that an investigation had begun in the United States against Americans who had collaborated with Russian television channels.

Among them was Simes, who has hosted the political talk show “Bolshaya Igra” on Channel One Russia since 2018. He was charged with a number of charges in the US, each of which carries a 20-year prison sentence. How writes BB.LV, citing the US Department of Justice, accused the couple of violating sanctions.

The indictment alleges that Dmitry and Anastasia Simes participated in a scheme to violate U.S. sanctions on behalf of the sanctioned Russian television channel Channel One and launder funds from the scheme. tells “Kompromat” publication.

From at least June 2022 to the present, the Simes couple and other unspecified individuals provided services to Channel One in exchange for which they received “more than $1 million, a personal car and driver, a payment for an apartment in Moscow, and a team of 10 employees.” If convicted, the Simes couple faces up to 20 years in prison on each count.

The host of the political talk show “Bolshaya Igra” on Channel One and the moderator of the plenary session of the SPIEF with the participation of Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Simes, called the charges brought against him and his wife by the US authorities “outrageous”. The political scientist stated this in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper. “A combination of half-truths and outright fabrications,” he said, commenting on the charges brought against him and his wife Anastasia by the US Department of Justice for violating sanctions and money laundering.

In his opinion, “there was not only nothing illegal, but also nothing unethical” in the fact that he, receiving his salary from Channel One to an account in a Russian bank, partially transferred it to an American bank, since he did this in order to “pay American taxes.” And if the Ministry of Justice accuses him of using “certain hidden schemes,” then it was impossible to transfer money directly due to sanctions imposed on Russian banks – therefore, “we had to transfer the amounts through a third bank,” writes “Fontanka”.

Simes also disagreed with the claim that his work with Channel One was in itself a violation of the sanctions regime: the sanctions, according to lawyers cited by the political scientist, apply only to financial support for the Russian TV channel, not to journalists. In Simes's view, his cooperation with Channel One falls under the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and the press.

Anastasia Simes is charged in a separate indictment with buying art and antiques from galleries and auction houses in the United States and Europe on behalf of sanctioned Russian oligarch Alexander Udodov, along with other unspecified individuals. She stored the items at her home in Virginia, from where she shipped them to Russia. In return, Udodov reimbursed her for all expenses. If convicted, Simes faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each count. Both cases are being investigated by the FBI’s Washington, D.C., field office.

Dimitri Simes, an American-born co-host of a foreign affairs program on Russia's state-run Channel One, has appeared repeatedly in Robert Mueller's report for his ties to Donald Trump campaign officials and Russian government officials, but has never been charged.

For decades, Simes has been well known in Washington’s diplomatic world and is considered an expert on Russian affairs. For many years, he was president and CEO of the Center for the National Interest, a public policy think tank founded by former President Richard Nixon, which he left in 2022.

On Channel One, Simes positioned himself as a foreign policy realist advocating for cooperation between Washington and Moscow, but over time he became completely pro-Russian.

Source link