A Russian national has been charged by the Department of Justice with orchestrating a malign influence campaign aimed to sow secessionist discord within the United States at the direction of the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB.
Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, a resident of Moscow, recruited and directed political groups in Florida, Georgia, and California to disseminate pro-Russia propaganda and other information designed to cause dissension in the U.S. and further Russia’s interests, according to a 24-page indictment unsealed Friday. Ionov’s misinformation and political influence campaign began in late 2014 and was funded and coordinated with the FSB, which is the successor to the Soviet Union’s KGB, the DOJ said in a statement Friday.
“Ionov allegedly orchestrated a brazen influence campaign, turning U.S. political groups and U.S. citizens into instruments of the Russian government,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said in a press release. “The Department of Justice will not allow Russia to unlawfully sow division and spread misinformation inside the United States.”
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Among the groups implicated in the alleged conspiracy is the Florida-based Uhuru House, an organization run by the African People’s Socialist Party.
While the DOJ’s indictment did not identify any of the groups in the indictment, FBI officials told WTSP that its raid of the Uhuru House on Friday morning was connected to the scheme.
The DOJ said Ionov helped finance and organized a four-city protest tour in January 2016 in support of a “Petition on Crime of Genocide against African People in the United States.”
Later in 2017 and 2019, Ionov regularly consulted with two local St. Petersburg, Florida, political candidates while simultaneously providing regular campaign updates to his FSB handlers.
“Secret foreign government efforts to influence American elections and political groups threaten our democracy by spreading misinformation, distrust and mayhem,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. “The department is committed to ensuring U.S. laws protecting transparency in the electoral process and the political system are not undermined through foreign malign influence.”
In February 2018, Ionov allegedly helped an unidentified California group organize a demonstration at the California Capitol in support of the state’s secession from the United States.
Ionov’s FSB handler initially expressed disappointment that the demonstration did not sow enough discord, but in March 2018, Ionov relayed news articles about the California secession movement to his handler, writing that he had ultimately delivered on the “turmoil” the FSB had requested from him.
And as recently as March 2022, the DOJ said Ionov paid for members of an unidentified Atlanta-based political group to travel to San Francisco to protest at a major social media company’s headquarters over its decision to place content restrictions on posts in support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Ionov faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison if convicted of conspiring to have U.S. citizens act as illegal agents of the Russian government, the DOJ said.
