As part of its investigation into the alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 Presidential election the US Department of Justice charged 12 Russians
WASHINGTON, U. S. – As part of its investigation into the alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 Presidential election, the U. S. Department of Justice charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with hacking Democratic officials.
The indictment was lodged by a federal grand jury in Washington, D. C. and the defendants were identified as Viktor Borisovich Netyksho, Boris Alekseyevich Antonov, Dmitriy Sergeyevich Badin, Ivan Sergeyevich Yermakov, Aleksey Viktorovich Lukashev, Sergey Aleksandrovich Morgachev, Nikolay Yuryevich Kozachek, Pavel Vyacheslavovich Yershov, Artem Andreyevich Malyshev, Aleksandr Vladimirovich Osadchuk, Aleksey Aleksandrovich Potemkin and Anatoliy Sergeyevich Kovalev.
In a prepared statement, Mueller’s office said that a “federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment today against 12 Russian nationals for their alleged roles in computer hacking conspiracies aimed at interfering in the 2016 U. S. elections.”
The statement added, ”The indictment charges 11 of the defendants with conspiracy to commit computer crimes, eight counts of aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to launder money. Two defendants are charged with a separate conspiracy to commit computer crimes.”
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the indictment, which names 12 Russian intelligence officers and accuses them of engaging in a “sustained effort” to hack Democrats’ emails and computer networks.
Rosenstein said that the dozen accused began their cyber-attacks in March 2016 to hack the email accounts of volunteers and employees of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
He added that they used spear phishing emails and malicious software and that the hackers also stole data on half a million voters from a state election board website.
Further, the charge sheet states the conspirators searched a campaign committee computer specifically for terms including “Hillary” and “Trump.”
Rosenstein said that the defendants corresponded with several Americans during the alleged conspiracy – but categorically pointed out that there is no allegation that any U. S. citizen committed a crime.
Rosenstein noted that two of the defendants are also “charged with conspiring to infiltrate computers of organizations responsible for administering elections, including state boards of election, secretaries of state, and companies that supply software and other technology used to administer elections.”
He said that it was the hacking of a state election board that led to the theft of information about the 500,000 voters.
According to Rosenstein, the conspirators used fictitious online personas, including “DCLeaks” and “Guccifer 2.0”, to release thousands of stolen emails from June 2016.
The indictment also states that they also conspired to hack into the computers of state boards of elections, secretaries of state, and voter software.
Rosenstein noted, “We know that the goal of the conspirators was to have an impact on the election.”
He added that all 12 of the defendants were military officers acting in “their official capacities” in the GRU – which is the Russian Federation intelligence agency within the main intelligence directorate of the Russian military.
The indictment reportedly said, “The Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, also communicated with U. S. Personas about the release of stolen documents. On or about August 15,2016, the Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, wrote to a person who was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump, ‘thank u for writing back… do u find anyt[h]ing interesting in the docs I posted?’”
According to the indictment, “On or about August 17,2016, the Conspirators added, ‘please tell me if I can help u anyhow … it would be a great pleasure to me.’’ On or about September 9,2016, the Conspirators, again posing as Guccifer 2.0, referred to a stolen DCCC document posted online and asked the person, ‘what do u think of the info on the turnout model for the democrats entire presidential campaign.’ The person responded, ‘[p]retty standard.”
Reports pointed out that the exchange quoted in the indictment matches one posted online by longtime Trump friend Roger Stone.
The indictment said that in another case, “On or about August 15,2016, the conspirators posing as Guccifer 2.0 receive a request for stolen documents from a candidate for U. S. Congress. The Conspirators responded as Guccifer 2.0… and sent the candidate stolen docs related to the candidate’s opponent.”
Incidentally, the indictment was announced at almost exactly the moment that U. S. President Donald Trump met with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle in the U. K., as part of his working visit to the country.
Further, the indictment also comes just days ahead of Trump’s highly debated meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on Monday.
According to reports, Trump, who has repeatedly dismissed the investigation as a ‘witch hunt’, was briefed about the indictments earlier in the week, while he was in the U. K.
Commenting on the Russia collusion allegations dogging his presidency during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday, Trump said the allegations were “pure stupidity.”
While announcing the indictment, Rosenstein noted that “the president is fully aware of today’s actions by the department.”
Meanwhile, after the indictment was announced, the Russian Foreign Ministry said there was no evidence the 12 were linked to military intelligence or hacking.
Further, a White House spokeswoman said in a prepared statement, “Today’s charges include no allegations of knowing involvement by anyone on the campaign and no allegations that the alleged hacking affected the election result. This is consistent with what we have been saying all along.”
Later, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said in a statement, “The Russian government attacked our democracy in 2016 and the Democratic National Committee was a primary target of this attack. Those are the facts. Today’s indictment makes clear just how vast this operation was, adding details such as Russian intelligence officers’ intrusion into the website of a state election board and theft of information related to approximately 500,000 voters.
