US targets yacht and planes of Russian for election meddling

Prigozhin, who was already on the sanctions list for his alleged involvement in influencing the 2016 U.S. elections, uses a series of front companies to manage the yacht and planes that he and his family use to vacation around the world, Treasury said.

The U.S. accuses him of attempting to "subvert American democratic processes," though there is no evidence that the efforts of the Internet Research Agency or other foreign actors managed to prevented anyone from voting, changed votes or disrupted the counting, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

"Let this serve as a warning: any actors who continue to engage with these individuals, companies, aircraft or vessel may also be subject to future sanctions," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.  "We have been clear: We will not tolerate foreign interference in our elections."

The U.S. is also taking measures to protect the 2020 elections against adversaries that may be seeking to influence that vote as well, Treasury said, singling out Russia, Iran and China.

In the run up to the November 2018 elections, the Internet Recent Agency, based in St. Petersburg, Russia, used fake social media accounts to flood America with disinformation aimed to discredit candidates it deemed hostile to Russia. In 2016, the same organization sought to help Donald Trump by disparaging Hillary Clinton, according to the special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the campaign.

Treasury identified the six employees of the IRA facing sanctions as Dzheykhun Nasimi Ogly Aslanov; Mikhail Leonidovich Burchik; Vadim Vladimirovich Podkopaev; Vladimir Dmitriyevich Venkov; Igor Vladimirovich Nesterov; and Denis Igorevich Kuzmin.

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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Prigozhin's first name.