Officials charge Russian's running 5-year propaganda network in US

The Department of Justice has announced its charged three individuals for acting as an illegal agents of the Russian government within the United States.

Russian business man Aleksandr Mikhaylovich and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The news was announced via a press release found on the Department of Justice website and states that a Russian legislator Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Babakov and two staff members, Aleksandr Nikolayevich Vorobev and Mikhail Alekseyevich Plisyuk, have been charged for running a multi-year propaganda network designed to "influence and gain access to U.S. elected officials" and "advance Russia's malevolent political designs against Ukraine and other countries, including the United States", said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York.

The Russian legislator and his three closest staffers began their propaganda campaign in January 2012 and conducted it through to at least June 2017. The court documents state that the three individuals orchestrated "staged events, paid propaganda, and the recruitment of at least one American citizen to do their bidding in unofficial capacities." Furthermore, the indictment states that the network was used to "promote Russia's illicit actions designed to destroy the sovereignty of Ukraine", and is an example of how far Russia's political influence can stretch, according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.

"Today's indictment demonstrates that Russia's illegitimate actions against Ukraine extend beyond the battlefield, as political influencers under Russia's control allegedly plotted to steer geopolitical change in Russia's favor through surreptitious and illegal means in the United States and elsewhere in the West. Such malign foreign interference will be exposed, and we will pursue justice against its perpetrators," said Damian Williams.

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