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WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States on Friday accused a Russian woman of helping to oversee the finances of a broad, secret effort to influence American public opinion through social media in the United States. the first federal case alleging foreign interference in the 2018 mid-term elections.
The criminal complaint against Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova alleges that the Russians are using some of the same techniques to influence US policy as those used before the 2016 presidential election, methods revealed by an investigation by the special advocate Robert Mueller on the possible coordination between Russia and Donald. The Trump campaign.
Prosecutors at the Justice Ministry say Khusyaynova from St. Petersburg helped manage the finances of a powerful but secretive Russian media network aimed at sowing mistrust of US political candidates and creating divisions over urgent social issues such as immigration and gun control.
The Justice Ministry opened the criminal complaint the same day that US intelligence agencies claimed, in a rare public statement, that Russia, China, Iran, and other countries are in danger. were continually striving to influence American politics and voters in the upcoming elections and beyond. National Security Advisor John Bolton travels to Russia on Saturday.
The United States is concerned about overseas campaigns "to undermine confidence in democratic institutions and to influence public opinion and government policies," said the statement issued by national security officials . The statement, which gave no details of such efforts, said: "These activities could also seek to influence voter perceptions and decision-making in the 2018 and 2020 US elections."
National security agencies have indicated that they have no evidence that electoral systems have been disrupted or compromised, which could change the vote count or affect the ability to count votes mid-way through two weeks from now. and a half.
"Some state and local governments have reported attempts to access their networks, which often include online registration databases, using tactics available to cyber-actors, whether or not they are governmental, "they said.
But until now, they said, state officials and local authorities have been able to prevent access or quickly mitigate these attempts.
Prosecutors say Khusyaynova was working for the same social media trolls farm indicted earlier this year by Mueller, and social media efforts referred to Friday largely reflect the special advocate's criminal case against three. Russian companies, including Internet Research Agency, and 13 Russians. – including a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The conduct put forward Friday violates criminal laws prohibiting foreign nationals from influencing US elections or engaging in political activities without first registering with the Attorney General, prosecutors said. The new lawsuit was not initiated by Mueller, but by the National Security Division of the Department of Justice and Attorneys for the Eastern District of Virginia. The coordination complaint with the Trump campaign contains no allegations.
Asked about the new accusation against the Russians, Trump replied that she had "nothing to do with me".
The court documents are removing court documents regarding a Russian attempt to use thousands of fake social network profiles and email accounts that appeared to be coming from people in the United States to influence US policy. Prosecutors said that the goal was not necessarily to espouse a political ideology, but rather to "create and amplify conflicting social and political content," including on the events of the day. news such as murderous shootings in South Carolina and Las Vegas, prosecutors said.
A fake character, registered with "Bertha Malone", has published more than 400 Facebook posts containing inflammatory content. One post allegedly falsely established links between President Barack Obama and the Muslim Brotherhood. Another fake Facebook account, on behalf of "Rachell Edison," has published more than 700 messages on gun control and the second amendment.
The Russian conspiracy organizers said the articles should reflect different points of view and they gave specific instructions to only share the articles of certain news sites in order to match specific political views, prosecutors said. .
"If you are writing in a liberal group … you should not use Breitbart titles," warned one of the group members, announced court documents. "On the contrary, if you are writing articles in a conservative group, do not use Washington Post or BuzzFeed headlines."
After a press article targeting Republican Senator John McCain appeared online with the headline "McCain says: thinking that a wall will stop illegal immigration is" crazy "", they told members of the group to call him "old geezer who lost it and who belonged a long time ago in a home for the elderly". They were also told to say that McCain had "pathological hatred towards Donald Trump and all his initiatives."
McCain, a longtime foe of Putin, died in August from a brain cancer.
After the publication of another article on Mueller, members of the Troll Farm were asked to share it and to say that Mueller was a "puppet of the establishment" who had connections with the Democratic Party and who "said things that should either revoke him or dissolve the entire board of inquiry".
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said recently that Russia has no intention of interfering in the mid-term elections.
Friday's separate statement on foreign influence in US elections was released a few weeks before the November 6 elections by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
Given the scale of alleged Russian interference, which includes the hacking of Democratic mail accounts before the 2016 presidential election, it was noteworthy that the intelligence community has identified two more nations, China, and Iran, in the same statement.
Vice President Mike Pence recently criticized China in a speech, claiming that Russia's efforts to influence America were minimal compared to the secret and overt activities of Chinese people seeking to interfere in mid-March. and counteract the harsh trade policies of Trump against Beijing. But senior administration officials have provided little evidence that China's activities are comparable to Russia's massive secretive measures set out in previous Mueller indictments.
Officials widely cited China's public measures, such as tariffs on politically important states and pressure on US companies to denounce the Trump government.
Other countries are using social media to amplify divisive issues in American society and sponsor content in English-language media, such as the Russian RT and Sputnik media, said the security agencies' release. They also distribute propaganda and misinformation against political candidates, the departments said.
Intelligence agencies have not publicly disclosed evidence of Iran working to interfere in the US elections. In March, however, the Trump administration announced criminal prosecution and sanctions against Iranians accused of hacking confidential information from hundreds of universities, private companies and US government agencies.
Lawmakers said the new criminal complaint proved that Russia's interference did not stop in 2016.
"Russian disinformation efforts are continuous and sophisticated, and they aim to divide us and weaken our society and our political system," said California's Adam Schiff, the most senior Democrat of the House Intelligence Committee.
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Associated press editors Michael Balsamo and Colleen Long contributed to this report.
