The three Russians worked to undermine the U.S. and "promote Russia’s illicit actions designed to destroy the sovereignty of Ukraine," an indictment alleged.
Highlights
- Three Russians accused of running a yearslong scheme to influence U.S.
- officials.
- The scheme included “staged events, paid propaganda, and the recruitment of at least one American citizen to do their bidding,” indictment alleges.
- Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Babakov, a former Russian senator and deputy chairman of the State Duma, is charged with conspiring to act as Russian agents in the United States without notifying the attorney general and conspiring to commit visa fraud.
- The Treasury Department sanctioned the three men in June 2017; their visa applications were denied in January 2018; the DOJ says the scheme spanned from January 2012 through at least June 2017.