A US federal grand jury has indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies for allegedly interfering in the 2016 presidential election through a massive operation, including a major social media offensive, which began as early as 2014.
The indictment, presented by the Office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, speaks of a plot to wage “information warfare against the United States” and accuses the defendants of “violating US criminal laws in order to interfere with US elections and political processes”.
The defendants, including the St- Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency, have been charged with “conspiracy to defraud the United States” and accused of setting a “strategic goal to sow discord in the political system, including the 2016 presidential election”. Additionally, three defendants have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and five defendants with aggravated identity theft.
On the much-debated issue of collusion, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the Special Counsel probe, told reporters: “There is no allegation in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant in this illegal activity. There is no allegation in the indictment that the charged conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election.”
If President Donald Trump’s supporters tended to view Rosenstein’s comments as a measure of relief in the face of year-long accusations of nexus between his campaign and the Russians, Trump’s detractors see this indictment as only a beginning, with more uncovering to follow in the coming weeks and months.
Trump himself lost little time to renew his assertion on the collusion aspect. In a Twitter post, he said: “Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!”
The indictment, however, pointed to some “unwitting” associations with the Russians, noting that some of the accused Russians travelled to the US or “communicated with unwitting individuals associated with (Trump’s campaign) and with other political activists to seek to coordinate political activities”.
Detailing the Russian’s social media offensive, the indictment says the defendants established hundreds of accounts on networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, making it appear that the accounts were controlled by persons within the United States. .
According to the indictment, these accounts supported candidates Trump and Bernie Sanders, the chief rival of Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Simultaneously, the operation sought to hurt Clinton, but putting out “derogatory information” about her. likewise, on the Republican field, it “denigrated” Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who emerged as the main challengers of Trump.
The indictment alleges that the defendants used stolen or fictitious American identities, fraudulent bank accounts, and false identification documents. They posed as politically and socially active Americans, advocating for and against particular political candidates.
“This indictment serves as a reminder that people are not always who they appear to be on the Internet,” said Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, adding: “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.”
He said the Department of Justice will continue to work cooperatively with other law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and with the Congress, to “defend our nation against similar current and future schemes”.