Russian charged with using US groups to spread propaganda

Russian spy is charged with stoking racial division in US by funding Florida-based black socialist movement that organized petition claiming America is committing ‘GENOCIDE against African people’

• Russian national Alexander Ionov is accused of attempting sow unrest in the United States by infiltrating various political groups
• The main focus of Ionov, 32’s, efforts was the Florida-based African People’s Socialist Party
• Following the announcement of the charges against Ionov, the group’s headquarters was raided by the FBI
• One of their leaders said in a press conference: ‘We are on the side of Russia’
• Ionov lives in Moscow and is not in custody
• In a lengthy Facebook post, Ionov denied the allegations adding: ‘I have been and will be a friend of many Americans’ 

A Russian spy has been charged with bankrolling three American activist groups to spread pro-Putin propaganda and try to meddle in US elections.   

Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, 32, was indicted by the US Justice Department Friday, although he remains in Moscow, and took to Facebook to moan about the charges.

His alleged behavior reflects what U.S. officials say are ongoing Russian government efforts to meddle in the American political process, to shape public opinion and to sow discord and dissent on hot-button social issues.

Ionov is believed to spy for Russia’s feared FSB security services, the successor to its infamous KGB. His main target was an African rights’ group based in St Petersburg, Florida, with whom he held a YouTube seminar to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

He is also accused of funding a group who support California’s secession from the United States, and a third group who targeted California-based social media firms for censoring Russia in the wake of Putin’s invasion.  

He is a resident of Moscow. Prior to the announcement of the charges against him, Ionov wrote on Facebook: ‘I don’t care about sanctions. I love my country, my people and my president!’

The suspect later confirmed he was charged saying: ‘The United States Attorney General filed a criminal case against me.’  

FBI Special Agent in Charge David Walker in Tampa called the latest Russian efforts to destabilize American society ‘some of the most egregious and blatant violations we´ve seen.’

Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov pictured at an event in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

Ionov pictured during a Zoom meeting with Akile Anai, who describes herself as director of agitation and propaganda for the African People´s Socialist Party

Prior to the announcement of the charges against him, Ionov wrote on Facebook: ‘I don’t care about sanctions. I love my country, my people and my president!’

‘The Russian intelligence threat is continuous and unrelenting,’ Walker said. ‘Today´s actions should serve as a deterrent.’

On the day that Ionov’s indictment was announced, the FBI raided the headquarters of the African People’s Socialist Party in St. Petersburg, Florida. 

The group was not named in the indictment but documents describe one of them as a St. Petersburg, Florida group whose leaders were aware that Ionov and his group were agents of a foreign government.

Prosecutors say Ionov in 2015 directed the group to write a petition alleging that the U.S. had committed genocide against African people in America, and to send it to the United Nations, the White House and to Change.org.

The document, titled ‘Petition to the United Nations on Crime of Genocide against African People in the United States,’ notes America´s history of slavery and denial of civil rights for Black people. 

It argues the U.S. government still fails ‘to protect our health and well-being as expected under full citizenship’ and inflicts ‘state or state-supported violence and terror on us.’

The petition, which is still available online, is labeled as being from the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement, a Black international socialist organization. 

At the time of writing, the petition has over 110,000 signatures. 

A Change.org petition that Ionov was behind remains online and has achieved over 110,000 signatures

Akile Anai pictured at a press conference following the raid on her group’s headquarters. She described her organization as being in support of Russia

Ionov wrote in the caption for this photo: ‘A bad peace is better than a good war!’ He posted it as the Russian invasion of Ukraine began

The lengthy petition reads in part: ‘The U.S. government is responsible for mass murders, mass and discriminatory imprisonment, and oppressive conditions in nearly every aspect of life, including state-sanctioned violence and murders, education, family life, reproduction, employment, healthcare and freedom of political assembly for African people in the U.S.’ 

Representatives from the group said the FBI raided their center in St. Petersburg on Friday.

Akile Anai, who describes herself as director of agitation and propaganda for the African People´s Socialist Party, said agents searched her car and took her cellphone and laptop computer on Friday in addition to raiding the Uhuru House.

The Uhuru Movement is part of the African People’s Socialist Party. Their movement seeks to united ‘African people as one people for liberation, social justice, self-reliance and economic development.’ 

Anai said her organization had never received money from Ionov or any other members of the Russian intelligence service.

U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg announcing the indictment against Ionov in St. Petersburg on July 29

Ionov described himself on Facebook as ‘leading the anti-globalist movement in Russia’

Members of the Uhuru movement first met Ionov in Russia when they were invited to an anti-globalization conference, and Anai said she also had been in contact with Ionov via email and also a webinar after Russia invaded Ukraine since ‘we were getting one side of the story on Russian and Ukraine.’

In one meeting, documents say that Ionov said during meetings that anyone supported Ukraine following the Russian invasion was a white supremacist.  

Officials alleged Friday that Ionov sought to inject himself into local politics in by supporting group members for office. 

In 2017, the group put forth candidates for mayor and city council, and again in 2019 for a city council race. The candidates lost. Any money the campaigns received outside the U.S. was returned, Anai said.

‘Their premise is these were Russian campaigns. It´s a really insulting statement,’ Anai said. ‘It was the Black community that ran the campaigns in our own interests. It’s an insulting notion that Black people can´t do anything for ourselves.’ 

Documents say that Ionov said during a meeting with a US political group that anyone supported Ukraine following the Russian invasion was a white supremacist

While another leader of the group, Eritha ‘Akile’ Cainion, spoke at a fiery press conference after the raid. 

Cainion said: ‘We can have relationships with whoever we want this revolution possible. We are in support of Russia. ‘ 

She also said: ‘Russia is not in your community causing you to starve. Russia is not in your community pushing you out. Russia is not the St. Pete police department that killed TyRon Lewis in 1996.’

The former political candidate added: ‘It was not Russia, it was the U.S. government that did that.’

In 1996, 18-year-old TyRon Lewis was shot dead by the St. Petersburg Police Department.  

The group’s leaders are not mentioned in the indictment but the complaint makes multiple references to ‘unindicted co-conspirators.’ 

Despite being a Russian citizen, Ionov posts regularly about US politics on his Facebook page

In recent months, Ionov has posted multiple times in criticism of Joe Biden’s presidency

Ionov wrote in a lengthy statement on Facebook on Friday: ‘There are no specific references in the documents to persons in the Russian government for whom I allegedly worked. I was particularly struck by the fact that I allegedly work for the special services. 

He went on: ‘At the same time, the names and officials are not called. I consider these accusations destructive.’

Ionov that he is ‘leading the anti-globalist movement in Russia’ and that he is an ‘ideological person’ who works ‘with various leftist organizations.’ 

He added: ‘The political situation in the USA has changed a lot, you need external enemies, but I am not an enemy, I have many friends both in the USA and in other countries with whom I have long-standing political and personal relations!’

Ionov wrote in a lengthy statement on Facebook on Friday: ‘There are no specific references in the documents to persons in the Russian government for whom I allegedly worked

Ionov also said: ‘I am not an enemy, I have many friends both in the USA and in other countries with whom I have long-standing political and personal relations!’

He stressed that he is not an enemy of the USA, the real enemies are ‘ those who infringe on women’s reproductive rights, create unbearable conditions for migrants, and also oppress people on racial grounds!’ 

Ionov concluded by saying: ‘I have been and will be a friend of many Americans, if you see me as your enemy, then this is your right, but it is not on the side of justice!’ 

Authorities say, Ionov from 2014 until March 2022 recruited political groups in Florida, Georgia and California and directed them to spread pro-Russia talking points. 

In February 2022, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Ionov sent an email to the other co-conspirators that read: ‘The war with Ukraine has began.’

He wrote: ‘Russia has exhausted all possible tools to prevent conflict.’ Ionov continued: ‘We must remember that the war began 8 years ago, when the US and the EU brought new leadership to power in Kiev.’

He also paid for group members to attend government-funded conferences in Russia named the ‘Dialogue of Nations,’ as well as a protest in the U.S. against social media efforts to suppress online support for Moscow’s Ukraine invasion, the indictment says.

Following the conference, internal emails from the African People´s Socialist Party discussed the likelihood that Ionov was a Russian government operative. 

One email said that it was ‘more than likely’ that the suspect’s group was attempting to exploit divisions in the United States. 

‘As court documents show, Ionov allegedly orchestrated a brazen influence campaign, turning U.S. political groups and U.S. citizens into instruments of the Russian government,’ Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the head of the Justice Department´s national security division, said in a statement.

Ionov worked under the supervision of the Russia´s Federal Security Service, or FSB – which conducts domestic intelligence and counterintelligence activities – and reported his activities back to the agency, prosecutors say. 

He I am not an enemy, I have many friends both in the USA and in other countries with whom I have long-standing political and personal relations! group that prosecutors say is funded by the Russian government and that advocates for a fully sovereign Russia.

Ionov is also accused of being a point of contact for other political activities in Spain, the United Kingdom and Ireland 

Ionov’s group advocates for ‘the full sovereignty of nation-states including sovereignty of Russia as an independent player on the political, economic and cultural world stage.’ 

The indictment, in federal court in Tampa, charges him with conspiring to have U.S. citizens act as illegal agents of the Russian government. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

Separately on Friday, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Ionov, accusing him of efforts to ‘manipulate and destabilize the United States and its allies and partners.’ 

Prosecutors say Ionov also exercised control of a separate organization in California that promoted secession by the state from the rest of the U.S, and helped fund a 2018 demonstration at the state capitol building. 

According to the indictment, he sent news coverage about the California secession movement to one of his FSB contacts and said that the officer had asked for ‘turmoil’ and ‘there you go.’

More recently, prosecutors say, Ionov paid for the travel of members of an unnamed Georgia group to fly from Atlanta to San Francisco to join a protest outside a social media company in California that had placed content restrictions on posts supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

He’s also accused of being a point of contact for other political activities in Spain, the United Kingdom and Ireland.  

The case is part of a much broader Justice Department crackdown on foreign influence operations aimed at shaping public opinion in the U.S. 

In 2018, for instance, the Justice Department charged 13 Russian nationals with participating in a huge but hidden social media campaign designed to sow discord during the 2016 presidential election won by Republican Donald Trump.

Russian government officials, and state-run media, often highlight anti-government protests in the U.S. and other Western countries, prominently commenting on political and social discord, racial riots, labor demonstrations, and mass shootings. 

The officials contrast the happenings in the U.S. with what they claim is the lack of such unrest in Russia.

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