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US charges 13 Russian nationals, 3 organizations with alleged meddling in 2016 election

One of the thirteen persons embraced by the charges is businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin

© EPA/JIM LO SCALZO

WASHINGTON, February 16. /TASS/. The US authorities have issued official charges with the alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election in the US to thirteen individuals and three organizations in Russia, as follows from the documents that the US Department of Justice made public on Friday.

The documents suggest that the authorities had formed a grand federal jury, which had confirmed the charges against the Russian citizens and organizations, issued by the team of special counsel Robert Mueller. The jury found that the accusations had legal grounds.

One of the thirteen persons embraced by the charges is businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin.

The other twelve persons are Mikhail Ivanovich Bystrov, Mikhail Leonidovich Burchik, Aleksandra Yuryevna Krylova, Anna Vladislavovna Bogacheva, Sergey Pavlovich Polozov, Maria Anatolyevna Bovda, Robert Sergeyevich Bovda, Dzheykhun Nasimi Ogly, Vadim Vladimirovich Podkopaev, Gleb Igorevitch Vasilchenko, Irina Viktorovna Kaverzina, Prigozhin and Vladimir Venkov.

The list of the three organizations includes the Internet Research Agency in St Petersburg, which Washington claims has taken part in the efforts "to defraud the US" since 2014 by "impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful functions of government" through an ostensible interference with the American political processes and electoral procedures.

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