The US Department of Justice has released charges against Dimitri Simes, an American political scientist of Soviet origin, and his wife Anastasia Simes.
According to the department’s statement, Dimitry and Anastasia Simes participated in a scheme to violate US sanctions in the interests of the sanctioned Russian TV company Channel One (Cyrillic: Первый канал), as well as to launder funds received as a result of this scheme.
“Channel One, the state-owned Russian television company, has been sanctioned… for the fact that it is owned or controlled by the Government of the Russian Federation,” the US Department of Justice said in a statement.
The department clarified Dimitry Simes, Anastasia Simes provided services to Channel One in Russia, including acting as a presenter and producer of programs, receiving more than $1 million, a personal car and driver, rent for an apartment in Moscow, a team of 10 employees from Channel One after its inclusion in the OFAC sanctions list.
Dimitry and Anastasia Simes have a house in Virginia. Now they are in Russia, Dшmitry Simes has already commented on the accusations to the correspondent of Channel One, saying that he does not consider the salary from Channel One to be money laundering.
Dimitri Simes hosts the Big Game program on Channel One.
Dmitry Simes emigrated from the USSR to the USA in January 1973. From 1994 until December 31, 2022, he headed the Center for National Interests, a non-governmental political science organization in the United States.
In June 2023, Dmitry Simes moderated the plenary session of the XXVI St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin. There is news about this on the website of the President of Russia, in which Dmitry Simes is listed as a “political scientist, historian, presenter of Channel One.”
As alleged in the second indictment, Anastasia Simes also participated in a scheme to violate US sanctions in the interests of oligarch Alexander Udodov. Udodov was sanctioned by OFAC on February 23, 2023 for working or operating in the management consulting sector in the economy of the Russian Federation.
Anastasia Simes allegedly participated in a sanctions-busting scheme by buying art and antiques on Udovov’s behalf from galleries and auction houses in the United States and Europe and shipping the items to her residence in Huntley, Virginia, where they were stored for further shipment to Russia.
