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Russia tries to exploit divisions sparked by Kirk's murder, researchers say

The Russian state media network RT was one of the first outlets to broadcast graphic footage of the assassination last week.

In the week after the conservative activist was shot at Utah Valley University, state media in Russia, China and Iran mentioned Kirk 6,200 times from Sept. 10 (the day of the shooting) to Sept. 17, according to a report from the fact-checking site NewsGuard. The Russia state news agency TASS published a column by a pro-Russian former member of Ukraine’s Parliament, Artem Dmitruk, who wrote — without evidence — that “I declare with full responsibility: Zelensky’s hand is both ideological and practical in the assassination attempt on Donald Trump and the murder of Charlie Kirk.” The Office of the Director of National Intelligence warned earlier this year that Russia would continue to use both clandestine and public methods, including its RT network, to “amplify and stoke domestic divisions” in the United States.

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