A Russian national has been charged with recruiting political groups in the US to spread propaganda for a Kremlin intelligence agency, the Department of Justice said on Friday.
Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov is accused of hiring operatives of political groups in Florida, Georgia and California to “sow discord, spread pro-Russian propaganda, and interfere” in US elections from 2014 to March 2022, according to an unsealed indictment.
Working at the direction of the FSB, Ionov provided financial support under the guise of the Anti-Globalisation Movement of Russia (AGMR) that he founded to fund trips to conferences in Russia, prosecutors said.
None of the three political organisations were named.
Prosecutors said that Ionov directed a group based in St Petersburg, Florida, to start a petition on the Change.org site: “Petition on Crime of Genocide against African People in the United States”.
The petition is still on the site as of Friday, and has attracted more than 110,000 signatures.
The DOJ said in a statement that the groups targeted by Ionov were likely aware that he was working for the Russian government to spread discord, but were unconcerned.
Prosecutors published communications alleging the Florida-based target group was aware that Ionov was “an instrument of (the) Russian government,” which, they said, did not “disturb us.”
In further emails between the group’s leaders, they acknowledged it was “more than likely” that the Russian government was using AGMR “to utilise forces inside of the US” to create dissension.
Among Ionov’s other attempts to create dissent was by orchestrating a protest demonstration at the California Capitol building in Sacramento in 2018.
Ionov was also accused of planning to support an unnamed gubernatorial candidate in 2022.
The alleged influence campaign continued right up until March 2022, when Ionov allegedly paid a group to travel from Atlanta to San Francisco to protest at the headquarters of a social media company that had placed content restrictions on posts supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ionov has been charged in federal court in Florida with conspiring to have US citizens act as illegal agents of the Russian government. He is not currently in custody.
FBI Special Agent in Charge David Walker in Tampa called the Russian efforts “some of the most egregious and blatant violations we’ve seen.”
“The Russian intelligence threat is continuous and unrelenting,” Mr Walker said at a news conference in St Petersburg, Florida. Today’s actions should serve as a deterrent.”
Ionov has also been sanction by the Treasury Department after accusing him of providing money to organisations to create and spread political disturbance.
The charges are part of a broader crackdown on foreign interference by the Department of Justice.
