Ministry of Justice accuses Russian woman of interference in mid-term elections

The Justice Ministry on Friday indicted a Russian woman for her alleged role in a plot to obstruct the 2018 US election, marking the first criminal case prosecutors have brought against a foreign national to be ingested in the upcoming elections.

Elena Khusyaynova, 44, has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States. Prosecutors said she was managing the finances of "Project Lakhta," an operation of foreign influence meant to "sow discord in the American political system" by pushing arguments and misinformation online on a crowd. conflicting political issues, including immigration, the Confederate flag, gun control and protests from the national anthem of the National Football League.

The charges against Khusyaynova took place just as the office of the national intelligence director warned that he was concerned about the "ongoing campaigns" of Russia, China, and Iran for his In the upcoming mid-term elections and the 2020 race – a worrying warning a few weeks before voters go to the polls.

In a statement, the ODII said that officials "have no evidence of a compromise or disruption of infrastructure that would allow adversaries to prevent voting, changing the count of votes or disrupting our ability to count votes in the mid-term elections ". "We are concerned about the ongoing campaigns of Russia, China and other foreign actors, including Iran, aimed at undermining trust in democratic institutions and influencing public opinion and government policies. These activities may also seek to influence voter perceptions and decision-making in the US 2018 and 2020 elections. "

This announcement, which was joined by the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, was announced on the eve of a trip that National Security Advisor John Bolton is conducting in Moscow, where he should raise the issue with his counterparts.

Court documents revealed that the Khusyaynova operation was funded by the Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin and two companies he controls: Concord Management and Consulting and Concord Catering. A criminal complaint has been filed against the woman accused of having managed the Lakhta project's finances, including detailed expenses for activities in the United States, such as paying activists, advertising on the networks social, registration of domain names, the purchase of proxy servers, and so on. promoting news on social networks.

Between 2016 and 2018, the operating budget proposed by the Lakhta project exceeded $ 35 million, although only a portion of this money went to the United States, prosecutors said.

The investigation into Russia's interference in the US elections was largely the responsibility of special advocate Robert S. Mueller III, although his investigation is focused on the 2016 election and the Trump campaign.

Mueller, whose work is ongoing, has accused a dozen Russian officers of hacking the computers of the Democrats, as well as 13 people and three companies that, according to his prosecutors, allegedly organized a propaganda operation in line to keep out Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump voters in 2016. It remains to be seen how and if Mueller can connect President Trump or his campaign to these efforts.

The Department of Justice has separately assessed how it should respond to foreign influence operations targeting the US elections and released a lengthy report on the subject this summer. US authorities have repeatedly warned against foreign attempts to influence the mid-term negotiations of 2018.

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have set up foreign-influenced working groups to detect such operations and share information about threats within the government, with technology companies, and with government officials. local and local elections. Senior officials said that although foreign actors continue to engage in activities targeting social media and electoral systems, they have not seen the level of activity observed in 2016.

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein announced in July a new policy to alert the public to foreign operations targeting American democracy, such as the one Russia launched in 2016. Trump also signed a decree last month authorizing additional sanctions against countries or persons interfering with each other. in the United States, although some lawmakers say the measure does not go far enough.

The issue is of particular concern to federal prosecutors. The Justice Department's policies state that election-related crime investigations must be conducted in a manner that minimizes the impact the investigation may have on elections. Prosecutors are generally urged to avoid taking overt action in cases that take place shortly before an election. In its recent report, however, the Department of Justice noted that "advertising and the attribution of foreign influence operations can be an important means of countering the threat and rendering such operations less effective".

Former FBI director James B. Comey was criticized for publicly speaking on the eve of the election of Hillary Clinton's resumption of the office's investigation, while keeping secret the Secretary-General's office. separate investigation into the possible links between the Kremlin and Trump campaigns.