Russian Legislator and Two Staff Members Charged With Conspiring to Have U.S. Citizen Act as an Illegal Agent of the Russian Government in the United States

According to the indictment, beginning in or around January 2012 through at least June 2017, Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Babakov, 59; Aleksandr Nikolayevich Vorobev, 52; and Mikhail Alekseyevich Plisyuk, 58; operated an international foreign influence and disinformation network to advance the interests of Russia. “The indictment alleges that a high-ranking Putin-aligned legislator and his closest staffers, all three of whom are sanctioned, engaged in a global campaign to influence and gain access to U.S. elected officials,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The Department will not hesitate to prosecute those who seek to covertly influence the American political process and evade U.S. sanctions.”