On Tuesday, Kinzinger told CNN that there were special "KGB, FSB farms" that used to spread the stories of RT, to which he referred as "fake news," via social media.
"The KGB ghost is still wandering across the US Congress and is boggling the congressmen's impressionable minds," Simonyan was quoted as saying by the channel's press service.
This is not the first time Kinzinger has made the statements on alleged Russian threat in the information sphere. In May 2016, he was a co-author of an initiative to establish a special agency aimed at tackling the so-called propaganda of Russia and China.
READ MORE: Simonyan Criticizes US 'Kremlin Report' as 'Incompetent, Clumsy, Stupid'
On November 13, RT America registered as a foreign agent in the United States under the FARA upon the request of the US Justice Department. In mid-November, Sputnik Radio's partner Reston Translator, a company that rebroadcasts radio programs, was also forced to register as a foreign agent by the Department of Justice. In December, the Multicultural Radio Broadcasting Inc. (MRBI) company, broadcasting Sputnik radio programs on AM frequencies, also received a notice from the US Justice Department about the possibility of registering as a foreign agent and was requested to provide additional information for taking a decision.
READ MORE: Vladimir Putin Praises ‘Fearless’ Work of Sputnik, RT
Responding to this pressure exerted on the Russian media, Moscow worked out a set of measures in response. In particular, Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 25 signed a law allowing the Russian Justice Ministry to recognize media outlets as "foreign agents." The Ministry of Justice in December placed nine media outlets, including the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, on its list of foreign agents.
