US citizens and Russian nationals accused of interfering with elections and being ‘illegal agents’
Conrad Hoyt
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A federal grand jury has accused four citizens of the United States and three Russian intelligence officers of working for the Russian government and Russian Federal Security Service to interfere in U.S. elections, sow discord, and spread pro-Russian propaganda.
Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess, Jesse Nevel, and Augustus Romain, Jr., all residents of St. Petersburg, Florida, were charged Tuesday with conspiring to have U.S. citizens act as illegal agents of the Russian government within the U.S. without providing prior notification to the attorney general, as required by law, according to the Department of Justice.
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Aleksandr Ionov, Aleksey Sukhodolov, and Yegor Popov, the three Russian nationals, face the same charges, which, for all seven defendants, carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Yeshitela, Hess, and Nevel are also charged with acting as agents of Russia within the U.S. without necessary notification. If convicted, they each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
“Russia’s foreign intelligence service allegedly weaponized our First Amendment rights – freedoms Russia denies its own citizens – to divide Americans and interfere in elections in the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The department will not hesitate to expose and prosecute those who sow discord and corrupt U.S. elections in service of hostile foreign interests, regardless of whether the culprits are U.S. citizens or foreign individuals abroad.”
According to the Justice Department, Ionov was the founder and president of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, an organization headquartered in Moscow and funded by the Russian government. He allegedly used the organization to “carry out Russia’s malign influence campaign” and was supervised by Moscow-based FSB officers, including Sukhodolov and Popov.
The Russian intelligence officers secretly funded and directed candidates for local office within the U.S., the DOJ said.
“Today’s announcement paints a harrowing picture of Russian government actions and the lengths to which the FSB will go to interfere with our elections, sow discord in our nation and ultimately recruit U.S citizens to their efforts,” said Acting Assistant Director Kurt Ronnow of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.
“All Americans should be deeply concerned by the tactics employed by the FSB and remain vigilant to any attempt to undermine our democracy. The FBI remains committed to confronting this egregious behavior and ultimately disrupting our adversaries and those who act on their behalf,” Ronnow added.
According to an initial indictment seen by the federal grand jury that handed down the charges in Tampa, Florida, Ionov, Sukhodolov, and Popov conspired to influence democratic elections in the United States by secretly funding and directing the political campaign of a candidate for local office in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2019. The indictment alleged that Popov “expressly referred to this effort on behalf of the FSB as ‘our election campaign,'” and Ionov referred to the candidate as the “candidate whom we supervise.”
In even more shocking revelations, Ionov and Popov purportedly intended for their scheme to extend beyond the 2019 local election cycle in St. Petersburg, saying the “USA Presidential election” was the FSB’s “main topic of the year.”
The DOJ’s press release said from November 2014 until July 2022, Ionov allegedly had been targeting the U.S. in a “foreign malign influence campaign,” in which he recruited members of U.S. political groups, including the African People’s Socialist Party in Florida and Black Hammer in Georgia, to “act as agents of Russia” in the U.S.
According to the DOJ, Yeshitela was the chairman and founder of the APSP; Hess was the leader of a component of the APSP; Nevel was a member of a component of the APSP; and Romain Jr. was a founder of Black Hammer.
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“Efforts by the Russian government to secretly influence U.S. elections will not be tolerated,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “As today’s announcement demonstrates, the Criminal Division is committed to eradicating foreign malign influence from the U.S. political system and helping ensure the integrity of our elections.”
The announcement of charges Tuesday comes amid troubling concerns for the U.S. over its national security, as leaked intelligence files concerning foreign policy strategies exposed the fragile framework of the U.S.’s classified material safeguards.