Radio stations in two markets will be dropping their affiliation with Russia-backed programming distributor Sputnik by the end of the week, The Desk has learned.

The stations affected are two in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and three others in Kansas City, which have offered programs produced and distributed by Sputnik through time-brokerage agreements for a few years.

Sputnik has not commented publicly on the matter, but one source familiar with the decision to wind down the network says it was directly influenced by the U.S. State Department’s imposition of new sanctions on Russia-backed broadcast outlets last month.

Then, officials with the State Department accused the Russian government of utilizing television broadcaster RT (formerly Russia Today) to facilitate online fundraisers that helped the Russian military procure weapons, body armor and other items for its ongoing conflict in Ukraine. RT and Sputnik are owned by the Russian government.

While Sputnik was not specifically named by the State Department, the sanctions nonetheless applied to the broadcaster’s parent company, which made it difficult to continue leasing time on Washington and Kansas City radio stations where its programming was heard, the source said.

Related: State Department imposes more sanctions tied to Russia’s RT

In Kansas City, Sputnik programming was heard on KCXL (1140 AM, 102.9 FM), which set aside three hours in the evening for the network. The rest of the day, KCXL airs religious shows, though the schedule also includes a handful of conspiracy theory-related programming, including the far-right program “Tru News.”

In a statement on the KCXL website, a spokesperson defended the station’s airing of Sputnik shows by saying the programs were part of the outlet’s overall mission to “inform our listeners on the issues that matter.”

“Most comments come from people who have never listened themselves,” the spokesperson said. “They don’t know that the programs we run during the week are produced in Washington, D.C. by American journalists who jumped at the chance to not be told what to report on by big media and big corporations.”

Those shows include “The Critical Hour,” which says it counters the narrative from mainstream news outlets by using “clear, cutting edge insight and analysis to examine national and international issues impacting the global village in which we live.” The show apparently stopped broadcasting on Saturday with a story that claimed the ongoing conflict in Ukraine was a “proxy war” against Russia that has “has disastrous effects on European economies.”

One of Sputnik’s more popular show was “Fault Lines,” which bills itself as an “explosive, informative and entertaining” conversation that attempts to present both sides of a turbulent issue.

The end of Sputnik on American radio stations has triggered the end of some shows, with on-air hosts saying their farewells over the past few days, according to broadcasts heard by The Desk. Others are going on an indefinite hiatus while they look for other program distributors who are willing to sell their shows to radio outlets, either as a network or on an individual basis.