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Four Americans affiliated with a Black empowerment and political organisation have been charged along with three Russians with conspiring to covertly sow discord in US society, spread Russian propaganda and interfere illegally in US elections, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday.
The US citizens and two Russians were added to an existing case in Tampa, Florida, federal court involving Aleksandr Ionov, described by prosecutors as the founder of a Moscow-based organisation funded by the Russian government to carry out a clandestine influence campaign in the US.
The four Americans are all part of the African People's Socialist Party and Uhuru Movement, which has locations in St Petersburg, Florida, and St Louis. Among those charged is Omali Yeshitela, chairman of the US-based organisation which was raided by the FBI last summer when Ionov was originally charged.
Russia's foreign intelligence service allegedly weaponised our First Amendment rights freedoms Russia denies to its own citizens to divide Americans and interfere in elections in the United States, said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department's National Security Division.
The department will not hesitate to expose and prosecute those who sow discord and corrupt U.S. elections in service of hostile foreign interests, regardless of whether the culprits are U.S. citizens or foreign individuals abroad, Olsen said in a news release.
Yeshitela and three other US citizens Penny Joanne Hess, Jesse Nevel and Augustus C Romain Jr are charged with conspiracy to defraud the US. Hess, Yeshitela and Nevel are also charged with impersonating agents of a foreign government. Ionov and the other two Russians, who remain in their country, face the fraud conspiracy charge.
Court records did not list attorneys for any of the seven defendants, and it wasn't immediately clear if they have been arrested. An email seeking comment was sent to the African People's Socialist Party, which has previously denied working covertly for Russia or that any members committed a crime.
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Prosecutors said Ionov operated an entity called the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia that was used to carry out its US influence efforts, overseen by the Russian intelligence service known as the FSB. They recruited US-based organisations to help sway elections, make it appear there was strong support in the US for Russia's invasion of Ukraine and backed efforts such as a 2015 United Nations petition to decry the genocide of African people in the US, according to the indictment.
Among other things, the indictment charges that an unnamed candidate for local office in St Petersburg received clandestine funding and political strategy from the group. Ionov and another Russian said at one point that their Florida effort would extend to the 2020 presidential campaign, which they called the main topic of the year.
Yeshitela, the indictment adds, travelled from Tampa to Moscow in 2015 to meet with Ionov and other Russians to communicate on future cooperation, according to an Ionov email. What followed was covert Russian funding and support for various activities in the US until summer 2022, including demonstrations at the California and Georgia state capitols and at an unnamed social media company in San Francisco.
Much of the alleged cooperation involved support for Russian's invasion of Ukraine. In March 2022, Yeshitela held a news conference in which he said the African People's Socialist Party calls for unity with Russia in its defensive war in Ukraine against the world colonial powers. He also called for the independence of the Russian-occupied Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
In addition, the Justice Department announced a separate indictment in Washington charging Russian national Natalia Burlinova with conspiring with Russian intelligence to recruit US academics and researchers to attend programmes that advanced Russian interests. Burlinova concealed that her efforts were funded by the Russian government, prosecutors said.
It was not immediately clear Tuesday if Burlinova has an attorney to speak on her behalf.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
