Evidence of Russia's intervention in US President

Suspicions of the intervention of people close to the Kremlin in the American electoral process are confirmed. This is the main conclusion that American commentators draw in the wake of the publication of the indictment, which describes a large-scale propaganda campaign, conducted in the Internet space at a person close to the Kremlin.

The accusatory document, published on February 16, is the first formal accusations made against Russian citizens and Russian companies as a result of a more investigation of Russian intervention in the American presidential election in 2016. The third paragraph of the indictment briefly formulates the essence of crimes incriminated to 13 Russian citizens and 3 organizations. "The accused consciously and intentionally became conspiracy ... in order to intervene in the political and election process of the United States, including the 2016 presidential election."

The building on Savushkin Street in St. Petersburg, where the "Internet research agency" was located

The presentation of examples of such an intervention took about 35 pages. In the center of operations is the "Internet research agency" financed by Evgeny Prigozhin. According to the investigation, since 2014 it begins to create fictitious accounts on social networks using the names of fictional and real people living in the United States. These "people" impersonate American activists and begin to actively multiply information regarding the most delicate issues of American political life: racial problems, weapons, inequality - all that is reducing American society. They created hundreds of accounts and Internet groups, followed by hundreds of thousands of Americans. The goal, according to the indictment, "make a split into the American political system."

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"Prigozhin financed these operations"

The Agency initially spreads the fabricated, discrediting information, but with the approach of the presidential election and the unexpected approval of Donald Trump as a presidential candidate from the Republican Party, Russian operatives move to the camp of Trump. They try to organize rallies of supporters of Donald Trump, improving themselves for members of the right -conserving groups, and even pay for the services of individual American activists who take on the organization of rallies under the slogans "march for Trump", "Affair with Hillary!" Marches are held in New York and Florida. "Agency", for example, according to the investigation, transfers money to one of the participants, who entered the rally in the mask of Hillary Clinton and prison form. Clinton invitations to a rally under the slogan are sent to supporters and opponents of Clinton: "Support Clinton, save American Muslims!"

Russian operatives spend tens of thousands of dollars on political advertising on the Internet. The operations, according to the charges, were large -scale. In the peak of activity, the monthly budget of the "Internet research agency" was 1 million 250 thousand dollars.

The indictment does not say anything about the direct contacts of the accused with the members of the campaign headquarters Donald Trump

The documents do not say anything about the direct contacts of the accused with the members of the campaign headquarters Donald Trump, and the identification of such potential contacts is one of the objectives of the investigation headed by the special prosecutor Muller, but, for example, they are charged with the creation of a fictitious account of the Republican Party Department on Tennesses. On behalf of this non -existent party support group, they reached a certain member of the Republican campaign headquarters in this state.

All this activity was carried out remotely from Russia. Electronic traces were hidden using the use of servers located in other countries. Payment for the services of misleading American citizens, involuntary accomplices, was carried out by transferring money from accounts in Russian and foreign banks, open either on behalf of fictitious customers, or with the help of stolen personal information.

A fairly wide range of activities of the employees of the “Internet Research Agency” made it possible to charge them of various serious crimes in the context of American legislation. Clause one is a conspiracy to deceive the United States, which means that the accused misleads and prevented the activities of a number of federal departments - from the Federal Election Commission to the State Department. The second point is a conspiracy to commit financial fraud, which includes obtaining illegal loans, the use of stolen documents, and the transfer of funds received by criminal means. The third point is the theft of identity.

The first reaction of the American press is an accusatory document signed by special prosecutor Robert Muller, who was an investigation into the American presidential election, confirms long-standing suspicions that the organization funded by the Kremlin was actively operating in the American Internet space, but there was no new information about the theft and release of electronic correspondence of prominent prominent correspondence The functionaries of the Democratic Party on the eve of the elections and there are no indications of the connection between Trump's headquarters and Russian citizens. This was specifically noted in his statement by the Deputy Prosecutor General of Rod Rosenstein. According to him, none of American citizens knew that they were in contact with people in Russia. President Trump in a Twitter message announced that "Trump’s election headquarters did not commit anything illegal - no conspiracy."

Russia Started Their Anti-Sus Campaign in 2014, Long Before I Announced that I Would Run for President. The Results of the Election Were Not Impacted. The Trump Campaign Vid Nothing Wrong - No Colllusion!

- Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) February 16, 2018

Accusations made against 13 Russian citizens and 3 organizations are very serious, says an American lawyer, an employee of the Independence Institute in Colorado Dave Coppel : says in an interview with Radio Liberty:

These are crimes for which the punishment of the 20-30 years of prison and confiscation of part of the property follows

- These are crimes, for which sometimes the punishment in the 20-30 years of prison and confiscation of part of the property are followed. The most serious accusations of theft of personality and banking fraud with aggravating circumstances look. It is interesting that in criminal legislation these articles are not very lengthy, but they cover a wide range of activities and entail very serious punishments. For example, the opening of the bank account under a fictitious name can be punished for 30 years in prison: as a rule, the courts tend to punish to the maximum if these acts were part of a wide conspiracy, which we have in this case. Moreover, conscious intervention in the American elections is an aggravating circumstance that if these people fell into the hands of American justice, it guarantees them strict punishments.

- Not only that, judging by the indictment, these people, as they say, violated many other laws, for example, a deception when receiving visas to visit the United States or actions as unregistered foreign agents, can a list of accusations expand?

- Yes, that is so. In addition, it may be found that the accused will have to commit several cases of criminal acts. Each case can be taken into account separately. There is no details collected during the investigation in the indictment.

-This is a purely symbolic document, given that the accused is apparently in Russia?

The refusal of extradition for sure ... will make the introduction of new sanctions more likely

- It is unlikely that Putin extradits them. He will not want the information that these people possess about the possible involvement in the intervention in the American elections of people from the leadership of Russia to go to the surface. The refusal of extradition will surely aggravate the confrontation between the two governments and make the introduction of new sanctions more likely.

- These accusations are inevitably considered in the political context of American commentators, President Trump has already responded to them. Do you think they can politically help one or another side: the president or his opponents?

Fictive page on Facebook dedicated to the election

- Although they do not contain data that American citizens, including Trump supporters, consciously cooperated with the Russians, they refute Donald Trump's statement that Müller, by and large, is a hoax. These data prove that Russia made attempts to intervene in the electoral process in the United States. On the other hand, if you have 100 thousand friends on Facebook, it may look impressive, but Facebook has a lot of people with a much larger number of friends on a social network. From my point of view, these accusations show that the Russian influence on the elections was too insignificant to influence their outcome.