New website has earmarks of Russian operation

to foment racial division, harden feelings over immigration, gun control and police brutality, and undermine social cohesion.

The website’s operators once worked out of the same office building in St. Petersburg, Russia, where the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency had its headquarters, said Lee Foster, manager of information operations analysis for FireEye iSIGHT Intelligence.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team indicted 13 Russians, the Internet Research Agency and two other Russian entities Feb. 16, charging them with operating a “troll factory” to sow discord in the United States and influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

The indictment says the Russians posted divisive and politically charged content on U.S. social media, including false stories, and posed as U.S. activists as part of a broad campaign “to interfere with the elections and political processes.” Twelve of the indicted Russians worked for the Internet Research Agency.

“We’re not saying it (USA Really) is the Internet Research Agency, but there are a number of indicators that suggest it is,” Foster said.

The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Russia launched similar campaigns to disrupt the 2016 presidential campaign and sway it in Trump’s favor. Mueller is investigating whether the Trump campaign was involved with those efforts. Trump has repeatedly and sharply denied such allegations.

The new website’s banner declares in English: “America will wake up on June 14th!” It carries a drawing of the White House and a fluttering U.S. flag as a backdrop.

Foster said the site has more than 100 articles and is posting an average of nine articles a day.

Russians involved in the website work for the Federal News Agency, which is known by its Russian acronym FAN and closely follows the Kremlin line on international issues.

The new site may be part of a pending broader campaign, Foster said.

“There are a bunch of other domains as well that play on USA Really that we are monitoring that haven’t launched,” he said.

But so far, he said, Russians haven’t been pushing the website and its stories using robotic networks, or botnets, to promote them on social media, and they may be holding back.

USA Really has created a Facebook page and a Twitter account. On Friday afternoon, after a Tribune News Service reporter queried Facebook about the USA Really page, the company said it disabled it. The Twitter account remained active, with 385 followers.