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A Russian national became the first person indicted by the US conspiracy to interfere in the mid-term elections of 2018, according to the FBI and the Justice Department. In the indictment, Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova allegedly participated in a plot to "sow discord in the American political system and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions.
The government says the conspiracy is also part of a 2016 operation of influence that dates back at least to May 2014.
Khusyaynova, 44, from St. Petersburg, was the chief accountant of the "Lakhta Project", an initiative funded by the Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin and the two companies he controls, Concord Management and Consulting LLC , and Concord Catering, the Indictment says. Prigozhin is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and is often referred to as "Putin's leader".
Khusyaynova is accused of overseeing a budget of $ 35 million from 2014 to 2018 covering spending on activists, advertising on social networks and promoting news broadcasting on social networks. The Department of Justice says that the proposed operating budget for 2018 exceeded $ 10 million.
John Carlin, former head of the national security division of the Justice Department and author of "Dawn of the Code War," told CBS News that Russia is spending millions of dollars to undermine American democracy.
"We are under attack now and our elections are in danger," he said. "It is impossible for this to happen without the knowledge of Putin himself."
The indictment indicates that it was a large-scale operation supervised by a management group and noted that there were several departments, including a graphics and design department, a department dedicated to analysis and another to search engine optimization, as well as one and a finance department.
The people involved in the plot made considerable efforts to appear to be American political activists and hide the fact that they were Russian. According to the indictment, the conspiracy "ignited the passions" on topics such as immigration, gun control and the Second Amendment, the Confederate flag, race relations, the United States. LGBT issues, the women's march and the controversy surrounding the NFL's national anthem.
The plot has advised social media writers on how to write for the American public, suggesting for example that people of color who are LGBT are "less sophisticated" than those who are white. "Color LGBTs are less sophisticated than white, so complicated sentences and messages do not work," said the guide, according to the indictment. He then suggested that the infographics "work well for LGBT people and their Liberal allies", but less well with the Conservatives.
In one case, the conspirators were prompted to send an online news article dating from the month of August 2017: "McCain states that he is" crazy "to" flee illegal immigration "" as follows: "Brand McCain is an old man who has lost and who has been around for a long time. Insist on the fact that John McCain's pathological hatred of Donald Trump and all his initiatives goes beyond reasonable boundaries and limits."
Another article purported to qualify Speaker Paul Ryan as "absolute and incapable of decision".
President Trump, who spoke to the media on Thursday, said it had nothing to do with his campaign.
"It has nothing to do with my campaign," said the president. "All the hackers and everyone you see – nothing to do with my campaign.If they are hackers, many of them have probably loved Hillary Clinton better than me."
Earlier in the day, in a rare joint statement, the country's leading intelligence and law enforcement agencies issued a warning against what they describe as "ongoing campaigns of Russia, China and other foreign players, including Iran, to undermine confidence in democratic institutions and their influence, public opinion and government policies. "
"Elements of these campaigns," reads the statements, "can take different forms, including social media to amplify controversial issues, sponsor specific content in English-language media like RT and Sputnik, denounce misinformation sympathetic spokespersons for political candidates and spreading foreign propaganda. "
The statement, issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, indicated that there had been no evidence, up to present, of a compromise or disruption of the electoral infrastructure.
