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Sept. 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. Treasury designated Thursday a pro-Russian Ukrainian who promoted false allegations against Joe Biden among four people for sanctions linked to attempted election interference.

Ukrainian lawmaker and Russian agent Andrii Derkach was among four Russian-linked individuals included in the list of new sanctions for trying to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

Derkach met with President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani in Ukraine in December as Giuliani attempted to get dirt on former Vice President Biden's ties in Ukraine, Politico reported.

Derkach told Politico that Democratic lawmakers were concerned about his effort to influence Republican investigations ahead of the 2020 election after he sent materials related to Biden to Congress.

"Andrii Derkach and other Russian agents employ manipulation and deceit to attempt to influence elections in the United States and elsewhere around the world," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. "The United States will continue to use all the tools at its disposal to counter these Russian disinformation campaigns and uphold the integrity of our elections system."

The Treasury also designated Russian nationals, Artem Lifshits, Anton Andreyev, and Darya Aslanova, linked the Internet Research Agency.

The department has previously sanctioned the IRA and its Russian financier Yevgeniy Prigozhin for supporting the IRA's attempt to interfere in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections.

The IRA, often referred to as a "troll factory," also made efforts in 2016 to favor then-candidate Trump.

More recently, Facebook removed a small network of 13 Facebook accounts and two pages linked to individuals associated with the IRA's past activity, a report shows.

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Treasury sanctions Ukrainian lawmaker, 3 others over election interference - UPI News