The Daily Caller reports that last Friday U.S. federal agents raided the Uhuru Movement’s headquarters, a 50-year-old socialist organization located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The center is accused of interfering in U.S. elections.
FBI Special Agent David Walker, reporting to WFLA, said, “The facts and circumstances surrounding this indictment are some of the most [egregious] and blatant violations we’ve seen by the Russian government in order to destabilize and undermine trust in American democracy.”
During a press conference, U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg accused Aleksandr Ionov, a Russian national and president of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, of “spreading pro-Russian propaganda across the United States in conjunction with the Russian Federal Security Service,” according to WFLA.
According to a press release from the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division alleges that “Ionov … orchestrated a brazen influence campaign, turning U.S. political groups and U.S. citizens into instruments of the Russian government.”
Olsen added, “The Department of Justice will not allow Russia to unlawfully sow division and spread misinformation inside the United States.”
The indictments issued by the Justice Department mention a “political group based in St. Petersburg, Florida” that “promoted its views using multiple media outlets, including websites it operated, social media, and a radio station.”
WFLA added that Ionov could face a maximum penalty of five years in prison if convicted.
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