US indicts 13 Russians and three Russian firms over election interference

The US justice department has charged 13 Russian individuals and three Russian companies with interfering in the 2016 presidential election, as investigators revealed a massive multi-year campaign to subvert the American electoral process.

The office of special counsel Robert Mueller, who was appointed last May by the department of justice to lead the investigation into Russian interference in the election, issued a 37-page indictment yesterday. It claims Russian individuals used fake Twitter and Facebook accounts, organised political rallies and paid Americans to engage in political activities as they waged a campaign of “information warfare”.

One fake account, @TEN_GOP, attracted more than 100,000 followers; other operatives bought advertising space and paid Americans to organise political rallies.

Prosecutors named the Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency as the hub of the campaign.

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The aim of the organisations was to delegitimise Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential contenders such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and to support candidates Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.

At a press conference in Washington, deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein said the Russian efforts included contact with “unwitting” Trump campaign officials.

“There is no allegation in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant,” he said.

Mr Trump was briefed by Mr Rosenstein and FBI director Christopher Wray in the White House before the announcement. The president insisted the indictments proved there had been no collusion between his campaign and Russia. “Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President,” he tweeted. “The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong – no collusion!”

The special counsel was primarily appointed to examine Russian interference in the 2016 election, and yesterday’s indictment represents the most substantive outcome to date.

But Mr Mueller is also believed to be investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, as well as possible obstruction of justice by Mr Trump. The special counsel has interviewed several current and former Trump allies and has indicted at least three former campaign officials.