By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday said it had charged Virginia-based Russian television contributor Dimitri Simes and his wife Anastasia Simes with two separate schemes to violate U.S. sanctions.
In one of two indictments, Simes and his wife are accused of laundering funds and violating U.S. sanctions for the benefit of Channel One Russia, a Russian broadcasting station that was sanctioned in May 2022.
In a second indictment, they are charged with violating sanctions to benefit Aleksandr Yevgenyevich Udodov, a Russian oligarch who was sanctioned in February 2023.
For many years, Simes was best known for his role as the former president and CEO of the Center for National Interest, a foreign policy think tank that has previously advocated for improving relations between the U.S. and Russia.
Simes stepped down from his role there in 2022 and began serving as a moderator of the Moscow-based show “Big Game” on Channel One Russia.
Though he and his wife maintain a home in Huntly, Virginia, prosecutors said they both remain at large and are believed to be in Russia.
(Reporting by Sarah Lynch; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Marguerita Choy)
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