Russian operative charged with using US groups to spread propaganda
- The indictment of Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov reflects what US officials say are ongoing Russian government efforts to meddle in the American political process
- Authorities say Ionov, from 2014 until March, recruited political groups in three US states and directed them to spread pro-Russia talking points
A Russian operative under the supervision of one of the Kremlin’s main intelligence services has been charged with recruiting political groups in the United States to advance pro-Russia propaganda, including during the invasion of Ukraine, the Justice Department said on Friday.
The indictment of Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov reflects what US officials say are ongoing Russian government efforts to meddle in the American political process, to shape public opinion and to sow discord and dissent on hot-button social issues.
In this case, the authorities say, Ionov from 2014 through last March recruited political groups in Florida, Georgia and California and directed them to spread pro-Russia talking points. He also paid for group members to attend government-funded conferences in Russia, as well as a protest in the US against social media efforts to suppress online support for Moscow’s Ukraine invasion, the indictment says.
“As court documents show, Ionov allegedly orchestrated a brazen influence campaign, turning US political groups and US citizens into instruments of the Russian government,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the head of the Justice Department’s national security division, said in a statement.
Ionov worked under the supervision of the Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB – which conducts domestic intelligence and counter-intelligence activities – and reported his activities back to the agency, prosecutors say. He is the founder and president of the Anti-Globalisation Movement of Russia, a Moscow-based group that prosecutors say is funded by the Russian government and that advocates for a fully sovereign Russia.
The indictment, in federal court in Tampa, charges him with conspiring to have US citizens act as illegal agents of the Russian government. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
Ionov is not currently in custody and appears unlikely to stand trial in the US, but the indictment is nonetheless intended to warn Americans about the reach of foreign influence operations and to send a signal to Russia that the US government is aware of its actions.