American prosecutors have charged Alexander Viktorovich Ionov, a resident of Moscow, with conspiring to use certain Americans as illegal agents of the Russian government. The Justice Dept. also alleged that the Russian national tried to interfere in the US election process.
Claiming to be a “human rights activist,” the Russian even appeared in a YouTube Livestream of a Florida political group and claimed that the attack on Ukraine was not an invasion. He claimed that he was a human rights activist and accused the West of spreading false propaganda about a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Federal authorities said he was working for the government and was orchestration a long campaign to influence American political groups to spread Russian propaganda and interfere with the election process in the country.
Ionov Charged With Conspiring To Recruit Americans To Act As Russian Agents
The Justice Dept. has charged Ionov with conspiring to recruit Americans as Russ government agents.
The FBI has alleged that Ionov’s acts constituted one of the most shocking and unconcealed acts of the government to destabilize and weaken democracy in America.
In 2017 and 2019, the Russian backed the campaign of two candidates in St. Petersburg in Florida. One of the American political groups backed by him is based in this city. He wrote to an intelligence officer in 2019 that he had been consulted every week on the campaign. Ianov has in another letter referred to the candidate as someone whom they supervise.
The Russian also paid for a multi-city tour by the group from St. Petersburg in support of what they termed as genocide against African people in the US. The group had also submitted the petition to the UN at the direction of Ianov.
Ianov dismissed the indictment and said that he had never met such dishonesty and nonsense. He said that there were no precise names of any colluding officials, no evidence of funding, and no logical arguments.
