WASHINGTON(Washington Insider Magazine) – Federal prosecutors charged a dual Russian-U.S. national with operating unlawfully as a Russian state operative in the U.S. on Tuesday.
According to the documents filed in federal court of New York, Elena Branson, also known as Elena Chernykh, was accused of operating as an illegal Russian operative for over a decade. She was alleged of attempting to sway US government officials in support of Russian policy positions.
According to the documents, Branson is accused of directly speaking with then-Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, demanding administrative aid so she could host events at the embassy in Washington, D.C. and the consulate in New York.
According to NBC NEWS, she allegedly managed to help propagate Russian goals by coordinating an attempt in April 2016 to approach republican candidate Donald Trump in order to invite him to an annual event known as Russia Forum New York or, if yet he still could not really make it, to get one of his grown children to attend.
Branson, 61, is also alleged of trying to get Trump to attend the 2016 World Chess Championship, which was held at New York’s South Street Seaport. She reportedly approached a Trump associate on Nov. 10, 2016, and requested that Trump, who had been then the president-elect, participate in the event. The FBI officially released photographs from the event to verify whether Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, was actually present, according to the court filing. Trump was not present, according to the evidence.
According to the court petition, Branson, who was actually born in the USSR before moving to the United States in 1991, had become a US citizen in 1999. She is said to have informed a high-ranking official of a Russia-based think tank that the center’s aims were to combat anti-Russian feelings in the U.S., according to the complaint. She founded the Russian Center New York with the support of the Russian government.
According to the lawsuit, Branson was active in several efforts to connect with New York state legislators and New York City authorities, and she is also accused of lobbying Hawaiian officials to keep a fort in Kauai’s Russian name.
According to the FBI’s court filing, she communicated directly with Russian government officers on various occasions, including ambassadors in the United States, and she also took part in a strategy to submit relevant data to the US State Department in assistance of visa applications for Moscow officials and their colleagues that she knew comprised materially false and misleading statements.
During September 2020, the FBI questioned Branson and searched her house, finding 34 electronic devices, including 11 smart phones, as per the court filing.
According to lawyers, Branson traveled to Russia one month afterwards but has yet to return to the US. She is still on the loose.
Prosecutors also alleged that Branson came on Russian television in October for a chat with Maria Butina, who was convicted in 2018 of functioning as an illegal operative of a foreign government in a case probed by then-special counsel Robert Mueller.
According to the court document, Branson informed Butina that she departed the United States following the FBI interrogation because she believed she would be imprisoned if she stayed.
Butina attempted to ingratiate herself into the National Rifle Association, according to court records, and she also engaged in contact to the Trump campaign. She was immediately deported after serving her prison term and was appointed to the Russian assembly, the Duma, last year.
