The Russia Investigations: Mueller Indicts The 'Internet Research Agency'

This week in the Russia investigations: A major new indictment from the special counsel's office that charges thirteen individuals and three companies and shakes up the political rhetoric as new facts are revealed in the sprawling imbroglio.

Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller prefers to let his work do the talking for him. On Friday, he delivered a stemwinder.Thirteen Russians and three Russian entities were indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with the attack on the 2016 election. The indictment lays out a number of detailed allegations against the Internet Research Agency located in St. Petersburg and against individuals who owned, controlled, funded or worked for the organization.

Much of what Mueller's office charges — that influence-mongers used Facebook and Twitter to turn up the volume and pit American against American — was already public. But the 37-page indictment also includes a number of fascinating new insights.Then-FBI Director James Comey told Congress that Russia launched cyberattacks against a wave of targets in the United States as early as 2015. But the indictment on Friday traced the origins of the Russian interference operation even earlier — to May of 2014.

Why is that important? The revelation confirms the geopolitical context in which Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to place his chips on a major new influence campaign against the West. In 2014, he was angry at what he perceived as American meddling in Ukraine, in his own front yard. A scheme from that year in which Russia leaked a wiretapped phone conversation with an American diplomat has proven to be its own little preview of 2016.

Placing the origins of the Russian effort that far back in time also raises new questions about what President Obama's administration knew about what was happening. Were they aware? Did Obama and his aides look the other way from Russia's actions in order to protect other aspects of the relationship such as the international deal to restrict Iran's nuclear program?

Source :- npr