On Friday, the US Justice Department opened a criminal complaint and charged 44-year-old Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova for her allegedly meddling in the US political system, including this year’s midterm elections.
Ms Khusyaynova was the chief accountant for “Project Lakhta”, funded by Russian oligarch Evgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin who allegedly has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Hackers from Project Lakhta used social media and several other avenues to conduct a full-fledged “information warfare against the United States.”
They have been accused of embedding ideas of distrust amongst US political candidates, using information warfare to effectively interfere in the election voting process.
Two companies run by Mr Prigozhin’s – Concord Management and Consulting LLC and Concord Catering – also allegedly funded the project.
In February, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office indicted Concord Management and Concord Catering for an alleged criminal and espionage conspiracy to tamper with the 2016 US presidential elections.
The two companies were among three entities and 13 Russians who were accused of meddling votes to favour of US President Donald Trump and oust his opponent, Hilary Clinton.
In July, Mueller’s office also indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers who were accused of hacking Democratic computer networks as part of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.
This comes after US intelligence officials said they feared “ongoing campaigns” by Russia, China, Iran and other states to influence US voters.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Homeland Security Department, the Justice Department and the FBI expressed concerns over countries aiming to “seek to influence voter perceptions and decision-making” in future US elections.
In January 2017 a joint report produced by the CIA, FBI and other security agencies concluded that Russian action ahead of the 2016 election was designed to help Trump and harm Hillary Clinton.
The ODNI states that Russian leadership favoured Mr Trump over his democratic rival, Hilary Clinton, after Mr Putin ordered an “influence campaign” to oust Mrs Clinton and “undermine public faith in the US democratic process”.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly denounced the official investigation, led by special prosecutor Robert Mueller, as a “witch hunt”.