MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office has revealed that a federal grand jury has indicted several Russians for allegedly interfering in the 2016 presidential election.
The federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned the indictment Friday against thirteen Russian nationals and three Russian entities.
The indictment charges all of the defendants with conspiracy to defraud the U.S., three defendants with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and five defendants with aggravated identity theft.
The defendants are accused of knowingly and intentionally conspiring with each other to defraud the U.S. for the purpose of interfering with the nation's political and electoral processes.
The indictment claims that the operations to interfere with the U.S. political system, including the presidential election, began as early as 2014.
The Russians allegedly created false U.S. personas to operate social media pages and groups that addressed divisive political issues.
'Over time, these social media accounts became Defendants' means to reach significant numbers of Americans for purposes of interfering with the U.S. political system, including the presidential election of 2016,' the indictment reads.
The indictment claims the Russian organization Internet Research Agency LLC had a strategic goal to sow discord in the U.S. political system.
By early to mid-2016, the operations allegedly included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald Trump and disparaging Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
The Russians are accused of buying political ads on social media, staging political rallies, and soliciting real U.S. persons to promote or disparage candidates.
'Some Defendants, posing as U.S. persons and without revealing their Russian association, communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump campaign,' the indictment reads.
Trump has previously questioned the intelligence community's assessment that Russia attempted to interfere in the election and described Mueller's investigation as a 'witch hunt.'
The indictment does not allege collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign but is still likely to cause headaches for the president.
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