US brings first charge for meddling in 2018 midterm elections

us-midterm-election Employees work in Facebook's "War Room," during a media demonstration in Menlo Park, California | AFP

A Russian woman has been found guilty of foreign interference in the 2018 mid-term elections in the United States. The woman is accused of trying to sway public opinion through social media in the first federal case on the 2018 mid-term elections.

Elena Khusyaynova, 44, a St. Petersburg, Russia-based accountant, was charged in a criminal complaint to defraud the US for taking part in a scheme targetting social media ads and web postings aimed at sowing "division and discord in the US political system.”

Khusyaynova works for Concord, a Russia -based company that Special Council Robert Mueller's office had indicted for alleged interference in the 2016 election.

Investigation by Mueller, who is leading the investigation into the Russian interference of the 2016 presidential election, had laid bare techniques to influence US politics used by Russians. According to complaints filed against Khusyaynova, the Russians are using the same techniques for this year's mid-terms.

The unsealing of the new charge Friday appears to signal that U.S. law enforcement is not letting up in its efforts to investigate, deter and publicize alleged Russian interference in U.S. politics. The release was coordinated with a statement from President Donald Trump’s top national security leaders warning about the foreign interference efforts from Russia, China and Iran.