Four Americans and three Russians were formally charged by a grand jury in Tampa, Florida, with allegedly carrying out in the United States a campaign of “evil influence” on behalf of Russia, which included interfering in local elections, the prosecutor’s office said.
The indictment alleges that the Russian defendants “recruited, financed and directed American political groups to act as illegal unregistered agents of the Russian government, sow discord and disseminate pro-Russian propaganda”.
The main defendant is Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, a Moscow resident who was the founder and chairman of the Russian Anti-Globalization Movement (AGMR), a Moscow-based organization funded by the Russian government.
Ionov allegedly used the AGMR to carry out the US campaign, which was led and supervised by Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officials, including defendants Aleksey Borisovich Sukhodolov and Yegor Sergeyevich Popov. None of them are in the United States.
“The accused intelligence officers, in particular, participated in the funding and covert direction of candidates for local office in the United States,” said the Attorney General for the Middle District of Florida. As part of the campaign, Ionov allegedly recruited members of the African Socialist People’s Party and the Uhuru Movement (collectively, APSP) in Florida; Black Hammer, Georgia; and a California organization named in the indictment as Political Group 3 to act as Russia’s agents in the United States.
The American defendants are Omali Yeshitela, 81 years old, president and founder of APSP, Penny Joanne Hess and Jesse Nevel, members of the same group, and Augustus C. Romain Jr., alias Gazi Kodzo, who was leader of APSP and founder of Black Hammer in Georgia. All are listed as residents of St. Petersburg (Florida) and St. Louis (Missouri) on the charge and, according to the Tampa Bay Times newspaper, until Tuesday (18), they had not been arrested.
“On the advice of my attorney, I am unable to make a statement or comment on the current charge. However, I am looking forward to my day in court,” Yeshitela, who denied the allegations when the case began, said in a statement.
“Specifically, Ionov provided financial support to these groups; ordered them to publish pro-Russian propaganda; coordinated and financed direct actions by these groups within the United States intended to further Russian interests; and coordinated coverage of this activity in the media. Russians,” the prosecution’s press release said.
Furthermore, Ionov, Sukhodolov, and Popov allegedly conspired to directly and substantially influence the US election by clandestinely funding and directing the political campaign of a particular candidate for local office in St. Petersburg, Florida in 2019.
Ionov and Popov reportedly intended this election interference plot to extend beyond the 2019 local election cycle in Saint Petersburg.
“Russia’s foreign intelligence service has allegedly used as a weapon our First Amendment rights – freedoms Russia denies its own citizens – to divide Americans and interfere in American elections,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen, of the Department of Justice’s Division of Homeland Security.
“The department will not hesitate to expose and prosecute those who sow discord and corrupt US elections in the service of hostile foreign interests, regardless of whether the culprits are US citizens or foreign nationals abroad,” he said in a statement.
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr., of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said that “the Russian government’s efforts to covertly influence US elections will not be tolerated.”
The Justice Department also mentions in its statement that a separate criminal complaint has been filed, in the District of Columbia, accusing Russian citizen Natalia Burlinova of conspiring with an FSB officer to act as an illegal agent for Russia in the US.
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