US slaps sanctions on ‘Russian agent’

THE United States Treasury slapped sanctions yesterday on Ukrainian politician Andrii Derkach, an alleged Russian intelligence operative who has stoked conspiracy theories advanced by the White House that purport to implicate Democrat Joe Biden in corruption.

Derkach, who met with President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani several times over the past year as he searched for dirt on Biden, “has been an active Russian agent for over a decade”, the Treasury said in a statement.