Tag: Russian interference in U.S. elections

‘She was like a novelty’: How alleged Russian agent Maria Butina gained access to elite conservative circles

The following article by Rosalind S. Helderman, Tom Hamburger, Shane Harris and Carol D. Leonnig was posted on the Washington Post website July 17, 2018:

Maria Butina, 29, founded a Russian group called the Right to Bear Arms. On July 16 she was charged with conspiracy to act as an agent of Russia. (Patrick Martin/The Washington Post)

For nearly five years, the young Russian political-science student was an unusual fixture at the most important events of the U.S. conservative movement.

Maria Butina, who was indicted this week on charges of being a covert Russian agent, struck up friendships with the influential leaders of the National Rifle Association and the Conservative Political Action Conference, touting her interest in U.S. affairs and efforts to promote gun rights in Vladi­mir Putin’s restrictive Russia. She sidled up to GOP presidential candidates, seeking first an encounter with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and then, after his rising candidacy stumbled, with Donald Trump.

But by August 2016, when she moved to the United States on a student visa, the FBI was watching, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

View the complete post on the Washington Post website here.

Russia Sees Midterm Elections as Chance to Sow Fresh Discord, Intelligence Chiefs Warn

The following article by Matthew Rosenberg, Charlie Savage and Michael Wines was posted on the New York Times website February 13, 2018:

Leaders of American intelligence agencies testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. Credit Lawrence Jackson for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Russia is already meddling in the midterm elections this year, the top American intelligence officials said on Tuesday, warning that Moscow is using a digital strategy to worsen the country’s political and social divisions.

Russia is using fake accounts on social media — many of them bots — to spread disinformation, the officials said. European elections are being targeted, too, and the attacks were not likely to end this year, they warned.

“We expect Russia to continue using propaganda, social media, false-flag personas, sympathetic spokespeople and other means of influence to try to exacerbate social and political fissures in the United States,” Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, told the Senate Intelligence Committee at its annual hearing on worldwide threats. Continue reading “Russia Sees Midterm Elections as Chance to Sow Fresh Discord, Intelligence Chiefs Warn”