13 Russians are charged with meddling in US election

THIRTEEN Russians have been charged with interfering in the 2016 US presidential election to the benefit of Donald Trump.

They used fake Twitter and Facebook accounts, US prosecutors said, as they revealed the extent of Russia’s efforts aimed at destabilising American democracy.

Three Russian companies were also indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington for being part of a campaign run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of president Vladimir Putin. Two of the firms are said to have held Russian government contracts.

Hundreds of people were said to have been involved in the operation, working in shifts and with a budget of millions of dollars. They allegedly used bogus social media postings on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

US deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein said yesterday’s federal grand jury indictment exposed a campaign of ‘information warfare’.

He described how the Russians sought to sow discord in the US both before and after the election.

Posing as Americans – in some cases using stolen identities of US citizens – the alleged conspirators sought to interfere ‘with the political and electoral processes, including the presidential election of 2016’.

The 37-page indictment filed by the special counsel Robert Mueller named 13 individuals – believed to still be in Russia – and three companies for alleged interference from 2014 onwards. The conspiracy allegedly concentrated on the so-called ‘purple states’ which swing between Republican and Democratic control.

Charges on the indictment include conspiracy, wire fraud, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.