US Charges 4 Americans, 3 Russians in 'Malign' Influence Campaign

Facts

• The US Dept. of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday filed new charges against four Americans and three Russians for allegedly working on behalf of Russia's Federal Security Service, the FSB, to "conduct a multi-year foreign malign influence campaign in the United States."¹
• The superseding indictment from a federal grand jury in Tampa, Florida, adds further charges against Moscow resident Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov — previously indicted in July — and names FSB officers Aleksey Borisovich Sukhodolov and Yegor Sergeyevich Popov for the first time. Allegedly conspiring with the FSB officers, Ionov is accused of recruiting Florida residents "to participate in the influence campaign and act as agents of Russia in the United States."¹
• The US citizens charged were Omali Yeshitela, founder of the African People's Socialist Party (APSP) and its subsidiary the Uhuru Movement, alongside two of the group's members, Penny Joanne Hess and Jesse Nevel. Also named was Augustus Romain, founder of the APSP spinoff in Georgia called Black Hammer. The four were charged with acting as unregistered Russian agents and face up to five years in prison.²
• According to the DOJ, "the Russian defendants recruited, funded and directed US political groups to act as unregistered illegal agents of the Russian government and sow discord and spread pro-Russian propaganda." It also alleged that the Russian defendants "supervised" a candidate in the 2019 election cycle for the city of St Petersburg in Florida, with a view of extending the plot to the presidential elections.³
• In a separate case, the DOJ also charged Russian citizen Natalia Burlinova of acting illegally as a foreign agent in the US. She allegedly "conspired with an FSB officer to recruit US citizens from academic and research institutions to travel to Russia to participate in a public diplomacy program called Meeting Russia."⁴

Sources: ¹MSN, ²I24news, ³Department of Justice, and ⁴Al Jazeera.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Newsweek. Russia has previously been found to be involved in attempts to sow discord and interfere in US elections. The Dept. of Justice is right to take swift action and bring the alleged perpetrators of this latest attempt to undermine American democracy to justice.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by American Spectator. Past claims of alleged Russian interference in US elections have been massively overblown to suit a political agenda. It's likely that the same is true of these latest allegations.

Predictions