Explainer: American Socialists Accused of Russian Propaganda in ‘Free Speech Trial of the Century’

Current accusations:

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) claims the malign foreign influence efforts at issue in the case were orchestrated by three Russian nationals — two FSB officers identified as Aleksei Borisovich and Yegor Popov, and Aleksandr Ionov, a Moscow-based activist whose anti-globalization efforts were allegedly bankrolled by the FSB. Ionov founded and ran the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR), which, according to prosecutors, worked with a handful of US grassroots organizations to spread Russian influence and interfere with US elections.

To this end, Ionov invited Yeshitela to Moscow in 2015 to discuss “future cooperation,” according to the indictment. The trip was fully paid for by AGMR, according to US prosecutors, who also noted that in planning logistics, Yeshitela had requested meetings with “an official representative of the Russian government” and members of the diplomatic corps of Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, and Syria. Though the indictment did not detail the outcome of the Moscow trip, it outlined several campaigns AGMR subsequently supported APSP with, including a UN “petition on Genocide of African people in US,” which Ionov allegedly offered media support for.

According to the DOJ, AGMR used APSP and other groups to “create the appearance of American popular support for Russia’s annexation of territories in Ukraine” and to cast Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine as a war on “Naziism.” The latter is a common Kremlin talking point; in March 2022, days after Russia launched its invasion, Putin told members of the Russian Security Council:

I will never abandon my conviction that Russians and Ukrainians are one nation, even though some people in Ukraine have been intimidated, many have been duped by nationalist Nazi propaganda, and some have consciously decided to become followers of Bandera and other Nazi accomplices, who fought on Hitler’s side during the Great Patriotic War.

Among other alleged incidents, the AMGR also pushed APSP to make statements in support of APSP Russian Olympic team as its athletes were ensnared in a massive doping scandal, encouraged APSP’s efforts to seek reparations for American slavery, and offered to finance defendant Nevel in a run for local office.

Yeshitela, Hess, Nevel, and Romain face charges of conspiring to defraud the US. The former three are also charged with failure to register as agents of a foreign government.