DISINFO: US maintains sanctions on Russia even though accusations of interference proved to be unfounded,
SUMMARY
The accusations of Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 presidential elections in the United States turned out to be unfounded, but Washington still maintains the sanctions imposed in light of them. The 'house of cards' of accusations brought against Russia for its alleged intervention in the elections has crumbled, with new people appearing who declare the opposite of what was stated in 2016. However, US policy does not change and sanctions are not lifted, while politicians distort the information in their favour, speaking of the need to impose new sanctions.
RESPONSE
The claim that “Russian interference turned to be unfounded” is false. The mention of “people changing what they said in 2016” seems to be a reference to the discredited Steele Dossier -a secret memorandum written by private intelligence operative Christopher Steele on the alleged collusion between members of the Donald Trump team and Russian officials. It was first made public by BuzzFeed in January 2017, whose main source, Russian analyst Igor Danchenko, has been challenged and considered unreliable after being charged with lying to the FBI.
However, this only refers to the Steele Dossier, while Russian interference in the US election in 2016 has been proven beyond any doubt by successive official and journalistic investigations. The probe led by US special counsel Robert Mueller presented plentiful evidence of it, including testimonies and physical proof, as well as of cooperation in the process from members of Donald Trump's team and other US citizens. The latter led to the criminal indictment of 34 people, 26 of them Russian citizens or entities including the infamous Internet Research Agency.
The 5-volume report of the US Senate Intelligence Committee widened the scope of the investigation and provided additional evidence of Russia’s meddling in the electoral process in 2016. Many other findings by The New York Times and The Washington Post, for which they received the Pulitzer Prize in 2018, were later backed by the evidence presented in court, further investigations or confessions of those involved.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Russiagate was a fraud orchestrated by the West, that the Mueller report is another proof of how Russia is always falsely accused, or that US Democrats were accusing Russia of interference as a preventive measure for their defeat.