A Russian foreign ministry spokesperson ripped the U.S. Justice Department’s decision Friday to indict 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for attempting to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
“13 people intervened in the elections in the US?! 13 against billion-dollar budgets of special services? Against intelligence and counterintelligence, against the latest developments and technologies? Absurd? Yes. But this is a modern American political reality,” Maria Zakharova, director of the foreign affairs’ department of information and press, wrote in a Facebook post following the Friday afternoon announcement in Washington.
Special counsel Robert Mueller said the indictments were against people employed by the Internet Research Agency, which he described as a Saint Petersburg-based entity that posed as a front for the Russian government to meddle in the U.S. election on social media.
“The indictment charges all of the defendants with conspiracy to defraud the United States, three defendants with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and five defendants with aggravated identity theft,” Mueller’s office said in a statement.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said while the Russian front groups created posts, ads, and organized events that were mostly against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, they also opposed President Trump’s campaign at times and pushed for Bernie Sanders at times.
The announcement comes in the midst of Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between President Trump’s campaign and the Russian government.
