BBC reports that U.S. prosecutors have indicted Russian thug Alexander Ionov with using U.S. citizens to act as illegal agents to promote division and confusion by interfering in our elections. His scheme was recruiting political groups to advance Russian interests behind his "Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia" (AGMR) organization:
"The indictment says Mr. Ionov worked under the direction of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and controlled certain unnamed political groups in Florida, Georgia and California.
One of the Russian goals, it alleges, was to 'promote California's secession from the United States'.
California? Really? Maybe he got it confused with Texas. The report continues:
He could face a maximum of five years in jail if found guilty. [snip]
The US indictment says that from at least December 2014 until March 2022, Mr Ionov and at least three Russian officials 'engaged in a years-long foreign malign influence campaign targeting the United States'.
Mr Ionov is also alleged to be an associate of Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is under US sanctions for Kremlin interference in the 2016 presidential election won by Donald Trump.
The Treasury Department says Mr Ionov 'sought to collaborate with Prigozhin's Foundation for Battling Injustice (FBR) about the feasibility of directly supporting a specific candidate in a 2022 US gubernatorial election'.
It adds that in mid-2021 he 'worked to disseminate and promulgate disinformation that would influence the US election process.'" (our emphasis)
Since Ionov lives in Moscow, he'll have to be tried in absentia, but he's already been sanctioned by the Treasury Department, along with two other organizations and individuals.
(photo: Ionov via AGMR)
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