A Russian Internet agency and more than a dozen Russians interfered in the 2016 US election campaign in a multi-pronged effort to support Donald Trump and disparage rival Hillary Clinton, the US Special Counsel said in an indictment today.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote in a post on Facebook: “13 people interfered in the US elections?! 13 against an intelligence services budget of billions? Against intelligence and counterintelligence, against the latest developments and technologies? Absurd? Yes.”
The charges by the office of Robert Mueller described a conspiracy that started in 2014 to disrupt the US election by people who adopted false online personas to push divisive messages; traveled to the United States to collect intelligence; and staged political rallies while posing as Americans.
Russia’s Internet Research Agency “had a strategic goal to sow discord in the US political system, including the 2016 US presidential election,” the indictment states.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told reporters in announcing the charges that the investigation was not finished.
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The court document said: “Defendants posted derogatory information about a number of candidates, and by early to mid-2016, Defendants’ operations included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump … and disparaging Hillary Clinton.”
Some of those charged, posing as Americans, communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump campaign, the indictment said.
Last year, two former Trump campaign aides pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI – charges brought by Mueller’s office.
Deputy Attorney General Mr Rosenstein told a press conference “the indictment alleges that the Russian conspirators want to promote discord in the United States and undermine public confidence in democracy.
“We must not allow them to succeed.”
The indictment appeared likely to provide ammunition to Democrats and others arguing for a continued aggressive investigation of the election interference.
It names the Internet Research Agency, based in St Petersburg, Russia, 13 Russian nationals and two other companies.
The indictment describes a sophisticated, multi-year and well-funded operation, dubbed “Project Lakhta,” by Russian entities to influence the election, beginning as early as May 2014.
The indictment said that Russians unlawfully used stolen social security numbers and birth dates of Americans to open accounts on the PayPal digital payment platform and to post on social media using those fake identities.
It said the defendants and others began producing, purchasing and posting political advertisements of US social media.
Facebook and Twitter, the social media companies whose platforms were used, both declined to comment on the indictment.