“An indictment was unsealed today in Tampa, Florida, charging a Russian national, working on behalf of the Russian government and in conjunction with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), with allegedly orchestrating a years-long foreign malign influence campaign that used various U.S. political groups to sow discord, spread pro-Russian propaganda, and interfere in elections within the United States. As alleged in the indictment, from at least December 2014 until March 2022, Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, a resident of Moscow, together with at least three Russian officials, engaged in a years-long foreign malign influence campaign targeting the United States. Ionov is the founder and president of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR), an organization headquartered in Moscow and funded by the Russian government. Ionov utilized AGMR to carry out Russia’s influence campaign,” says a DOJ press release.
The press release is maddeningly short on specifics – using “Political Group 1” and “Political Group 2” so it’s difficult to parse, but it seems the shit Ionov was involved with included a California secession movement, a “Pan African Socialist organization,” and had organized a demonstration outside the California offices of a Big Tech company – probably Twitter or YouTube, take your pick – to protest a ban on pro-Russian content after the invasion of Ukraine.