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[rooster59]

Russian charged with conspiring to interfere in U.S. congressional elections

By Nathan Layne

 

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Friday charged a Russian national with playing a key financial role in a Kremlin-backed plan to conduct "information warfare" against the United States, including ongoing attempts to influence next month's congressional elections.

 

Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, 44, became the first person charged with a crime for attempting to interfere in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, according to a government official with knowledge of the investigation.

 

Khusyaynova was the chief accountant for Project Lakhta, an operation started in 2014 and financed by a Russian oligarch close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and two companies he controls, according to a criminal complaint.

 

The oligarch, Evgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin, and his two companies were indicted in February in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's separate investigation of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to boost eventual winner Donald Trump over his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

 

The case against Khusyaynova was unsealed on the same day that U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies issued a warning about attempts by Russia, China, Iran and other foreign entities to interfere with Nov. 6 congressional elections, in which Trump's Republicans are trying to maintain majority power in Congress, and national elections in 2020.

 

The complaint detailed new examples of Russians using fake personas on social media to stoke divisions over race, gun rights, voter fraud and other contentious issues. Some messages targeted next month's elections, indicating the operation has not been deterred by Mueller's indictments earlier this year.

 

"This one shows that the threat from Russia is not over," said Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. Attorney in Michigan.

"This is a true propaganda war."

 

Using social media and other avenues, the Russians are waging "information warfare against the United States," to sow distrust in the political system, according to the complaint, which charged Khusyaynova with conspiracy to defraud the United States.

 

The complaint included Facebook and Twitter posts that were both critical of Republicans and supportive of President Donald Trump. One post in March, for example, suggested Trump deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for his negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un aimed at denuclearisation.

 

Trump, who at a news conference in Helsinki in July with Putin cast doubt on his own intelligence agencies' findings that Russia had meddled with the 2016 election, dismissed the latest charge against Russia as unrelated to him.

 

"It had nothing to do with my campaign," Trump told reporters in Scottsdale, Arizona. "If they are hackers, a lot of them probably like Hillary Clinton better than me."

 

NOT MUELLER'S CASE

 

The Khusyaynova case is being prosecuted by assistant U.S. attorneys in the Eastern District of Virginia. It is not being handled by Mueller because it touches on the 2018 elections, which is not part of his remit, the government official said.

 

Khusyaynova oversaw the financial operations for the project, which had a proposed budget of $35 million for January 2016 to June 2018 and used those funds to wage similar campaigns in the European Union and Ukraine, in addition to the United States.

 

"It is a global campaign for a regime that views democracy as an existential threat," said John Carlin, former U.S. Assistant Attorney General for National Security.

 

Khusyaynova, who is a resident of St. Petersburg, Russia, and is not in U.S. custody, billed Prigozhin and his companies to pay for advertisements on Facebook, bloggers, and for "development accounts" on Twitter, the complaint says.

 

Prigozhin has been dubbed "Putin's cook" by Russian media because his catering business has organised banquets for the Russian leader and other senior political figures. He has been hit with sanctions by the U.S. government.

 

The criminal complaint said there was no evidence that Khusyaynova or others in the conspiracy succeeded in impacting the outcome of any U.S. election.

 

In their joint statement on Friday the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Justice Department, FBI and Department of Homeland Security also said they did not have any evidence that anyone went far enough to prevent voting or change vote counts. Some state and local governments, which run polling sites, have reported attempts to access their networks, but officials were able to "prevent access or quickly mitigate these attempts," the statement said.

 

Mueller's office has not announced any new indictments since July when it charged 12 Russian intelligence officers who were accused of hacking Democratic computer networks as part of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

 

Mueller has been widely expected to remain quiet in the run-up to the November elections to avoid actions that might sway votes.

 

But the decision to unseal the Khusyaynova case now appears to reflect changes to Justice Department guidelines last month instructing U.S. attorneys to lean towards disclosing foreign influence operations as a means of deterrence, Carlin said.

 

The Khusyaynova case shows "in detail that when we talk about Russian interference it is not something in history it is now," Carlin said. "Making it public is an important way to neutralize them."

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-10-20

[Guest]

If only the western people would be interested enough to learn Russian language to initiate similar type of trolling and meddling with Russian people, we would be able to kick Putin's regime out of his position in no time. 

 

Naturally there are only few people who really cares what actually happens in Russia. The reason Russia is relevant today is her eagerness to cause distress around the western world.

 

What to do? Cut their exports by sanctions? Stop using Russian oil and gas in Europe? Cut Russia's access to the Internet? 

 

Russia is doing the last bit by themselves. But that is only for their own people, not for their trolls. Perhaps it would be best to cut of their trolls as well. 

[neeray]

"Trump, who at a news conference in Helsinki in July with Putin cast doubt on his own intelligence agencies' findings that Russia had meddled with the 2016 election, dismissed the latest charge against Russia as unrelated to him."

 

"But NO COLLUSION"

[bendejo]

Big News! 

Y'know what's going to happen now?

NOTHING!

 

 

[Chomper Higgot]

17 minutes ago, bendejo said:

Big News! 

Y'know what's going to happen now?

NOTHING!

 

 

Well not until after the mid-terms

[bristolboy]

2 hours ago, oilinki said:

If only the western people would be interested enough to learn Russian language to initiate similar type of trolling and meddling with Russian people, we would be able to kick Putin's regime out of his position in no time. 

 

Naturally there are only few people who really cares what actually happens in Russia. The reason Russia is relevant today is her eagerness to cause distress around the western world.

 

What to do? Cut their exports by sanctions? Stop using Russian oil and gas in Europe? Cut Russia's access to the Internet? 

 

Russia is doing the last bit by themselves. But that is only for their own people, not for their trolls. Perhaps it would be best to cut of their trolls as well. 

The earliest that could likely happen would be Jan 20, 2021.

[Credo]

And this may be a clue to why Putin has put all this work into US elections:

 

Putin Hails Sunset of U.S. Global Domination Due To Mounting ‘Mistakes’

 

As for the U.S., he said that “empires often think they can make some little mistakes ... because they’re so powerful. But when the number of these mistakes keeps growing, it reaches a level they cannot sustain.”

He added: “A country can get the sense from impunity that you can do anything. This is the result of the monopoly from a unipolar world ... . Luckily this monopoly is disappearing. It’s almost done.”

 

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/putin-fall-of-us-hegemony-mistakes_us_5bc91ac9e4b0a8f17eeaabce

[Chomper Higgot]

5 minutes ago, Credo said:

And this may be a clue to why Putin has put all this work into US elections:

 

Putin Hails Sunset of U.S. Global Domination Due To Mounting ‘Mistakes’

 

As for the U.S., he said that “empires often think they can make some little mistakes ... because they’re so powerful. But when the number of these mistakes keeps growing, it reaches a level they cannot sustain.”

He added: “A country can get the sense from impunity that you can do anything. This is the result of the monopoly from a unipolar world ... . Luckily this monopoly is disappearing. It’s almost done.”

 

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/putin-fall-of-us-hegemony-mistakes_us_5bc91ac9e4b0a8f17eeaabce

I think Putin is participating in what psychologists refer to as ‘Projection’.

[Lupatria]

I bet during the investigation she told the Feds: "Donald who? I never heard of him."

[lannarebirth]

 

Quote

The case against Khusyaynova was unsealed on the same day that U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies issued a warning about attempts by Russia, China, Iran and other foreign entities to interfere with Nov. 6 congressional elections, in which Trump's Republicans are trying to maintain majority power in Congress, and national elections in 2020.

 

Meanwhile Google is developing a search engine for the Chinese that censors information and reports to state officials "suspicious" individuals.

 

Nobody's hands are clean and almost everyone bears some measure of complicity with these kinds of actions.

[55Jay]

6 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The complaint detailed new examples of Russians using fake personas on social media to stoke divisions over race, gun rights, voter fraud and other contentious issues.

And to think, none of this would be happening if Hillary had simply won the Erection. 

 

But here we are.  Our very own Murican oligarchs and "We are People Too" media and propaganda corporations, clearly do not like foreigners mucking around in the wholly-owned, domestic effort to, "stoke divisions over race, gun rights, voter fraud, and other contentious issues."  

 

The Honorable Comrade Putin is hereby reminded, "That's Our Patch!  Piss Off!"

 

[connda]

"Wolf!!! Wolf!!! Wolf!!!"  ????  Doubt this is read in school anymore.

[Tug]

Well they got the book keeper it would be funny if Donald along with his boss Putin were funding it lol

[bendejo]

18 hours ago, bristolboy said:

The earliest that could likely happen would be Jan 20, 2021.

 

This brings to mind an issue the US press has not taken on, obviously too busy with stuff like "did you see what he Tweeted today?"  DT's health.

For anyone who puts so much effort in keeping their health records hidden, to the point of having goons raid the office of his former doctor and attempting to bribe his official doctor with a gov't position, well, how is that NOT suspicious?  "I had an examination, and all tests came back positive."  He had no idea what that implied.

 

Has anyone noticed that there is always an ambulance parked adjacent to the White House?  I never noticed this with any other president.

(vehicle on the left is an ambulance)

 

Anyway, my point is his presidency could be ended much sooner than expected.  There hasn't been a WH funeral since JFK.

 

Impeachment is a nothing burger, a lot of headlines and hoo-ha (which makes him as happy as a pig in slop) and even if the results are damning he will remain in office, and America will be great again.