DOJ charges Russian lawmaker, two aides in disinformation conspiracy

The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged a Russian lawmaker and two of his aides Thursday in an alleged propaganda conspiracy to advance Russian interests in the U.S.

Deputy chairman of Russia’s Duma Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Babakov, Babakov’s chief-of-staff Aleksandr Nikolayevich Vorobev and Babakov aide Mikhail Alekseyevich Plisyuk are facing multiple charges for allegedly trying to have a U.S. citizen act as an illegal agent of Moscow.

“Through these operations aimed at influencing the course of international affairs, the defendants worked to weaken U.S. partnerships with European allies, undermine Western sanctions and promote Russia’s illicit actions designed to destroy the sovereignty of Ukraine,” the department said in a press release.

“The defendants schemed to affect U.S. policy towards Russia through staged events, paid propaganda and the recruitment of at least one American citizen … to do their bidding in an unofficial capacity and without notice to the Attorney General, as required by law.”

The three men allegedly tried to come to the U.S. under false pretenses of a “vacation,” submitting deceitful visa applications in February 2017, according to the DOJ. 

They were sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control later that year and their visas were rejected in 2018.

“In March 2017, the defendants sought to arrange a meeting for Babakov with a member of the U.S. Congress in pursuit of the objective of ‘strengthen[ing] the ties of cooperation between’ Russia and the United States. To secure that meeting, the defendants, through [an American citizen], transmitted a letter drafted by [the U.S. citizen] and signed by Babakov to a particular Congressmember,” the department claimed.

At least one U.S. lawmaker was also contacted by Babakov and others seeking to have them participate in a conference in Crimea “to benefit the purported ‘Prime Minister of Crimea,’ Sergey Aksyonov,” which was a conference affiliated with the Duma lawmaker, the DOJ alleged.

All three men face charges of one count of conspiring to commit visa fraud, one count of conspiring to have a U.S. citizen act as a Russian agent in the U.S. without proper authorization and one count of conspiring to violate and evade U.S. sanctions.

“Today’s indictment demonstrates that Russia’s illegitimate actions against Ukraine extend beyond the battlefield, as political influencers under Russia’s control allegedly plotted to steer geopolitical change in Russia’s favor through surreptitious and illegal means in the United States and elsewhere in the West,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. 

“Such malign foreign interference will be exposed, and we will pursue justice against its perpetrators.”