Washington: The United States today announced a reward of up to $10 million for information on Russian interference in US elections. Announcing the rewards, the US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program, administered by the Diplomatic Security Service, stated that the reward offer seeks information leading to the identification or location of any foreign person, including a foreign entity, who knowingly engaged or is engaging in interference in U.S. elections. It also sought information leading to the “prevention, frustration, or favourable resolution of an act of foreign election interference”.
This announcement from RFJ is part of the United States Government’s wider efforts to ensure the security and integrity of its elections and protect against foreign interference in American elections.
The Department seeks information on Internet Research Agency LLC (“IRA”), Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, and linked Russian entities and associates for their engagement in U.S. election interference.
IRA is a Russian entity engaged in political and electoral interference operations, the US stated and claimed that beginning as early as 2014, IRA began operations to interfere with the U.S. political system, including the 2016 U.S. presidential election, with a strategic goal to sow discord. IRA operated through several Russian entities, including Internet Research LLC, MediaSintez LLC, GlavSet LLC, MixInfo LLC, Azimut LLC, and NovInfo LLC, it claimed.
According to the US State Department, Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin is a Russian national who provided funding to IRA through the companies he controlled, Concord Management and Consulting LLC and Concord Catering (collectively “Concord”). Concord sent funds, recommended personnel, and oversaw IRA’s activities through reporting and interaction with IRA’s management, the US claimed.
Mikhail Ivanovich Bystrov, Mikhail Leonidovich Burchik, Aleksandra Yuryevna Krylova, Anna Vladislavovna Bogacheva, Sergey Pavlovich Polozov, Maria Anatolyevna Bovda, Robert Sergeyevich Bovda, Dzheykhun Nasimi Ogly Aslanov, Vadim Vladimirovich Podkopaev, Gleb Igorevich Vasilchenko, Irina Viktorovna Kaverzina, and Vladimir Venkov worked in various capacities to carry out IRA’s interference operations targeting the United States. “They knowingly and intentionally conspired to defraud the United States by impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful functions of the government through fraud and deceit for the purpose of interfering with the U.S. political and electoral processes, including the presidential election of 2016,” the US claimed.
“We encourage anyone with information on IRA, Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, and associated Russian entities and/or individuals linked to interference in U.S. elections to contact the Rewards for Justice office,” the US stated.
Rewards for Justice is a premier national security program administered by the Diplomatic Security Service at the U.S. Department of State. Since its inception in 1984, the program has paid out in excess of $250 million to more than 125 people across the globe who provided actionable information that had helped resolve threats to U.S. national security.
– global bihari bureau
