'I know many things but I don't know English': 'Simple Russian woman' mocks election meddling charges saying she's 'filled with pride' to help America the superpower elect their president
- Justice Department prosecutors alleged that Elena Khusyaynova helped manage finances of the same social media troll farm that Robert Mueller indicted
- It marked first federal case for foreign interference in 2018 midterm elections
- Khusyaynova responded to Friday's allegations Monday in a video on Federal News Agency website saying she was 'surprised and shocked'
The Russian woman accused of helping to oversee a social media effort to influence the 2018 US midterm elections mocked the accusations Monday, saying her 'heart filled with pride'.
After Justice Department prosecutors alleged Elena Khusyaynova played a part in managing the finances of Internet Research Agency on Friday, she recorded a video insinuating how preposterous the claims were.
'I was surprised and shocked, but then my heart filled with pride,' Khusyaynova said. 'It turns out that a simple Russian woman could help citizens of a superpower elect their president.'
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Elena Khusyaynova, 44, responded after Justice Department prosecutors alleged she helped manage finances of the same social media troll farm that Robert Mueller indicted this year
The social media troll farm was indicted earlier this year by special counsel Robert Mueller, along with three companies and 13 Russian individuals, regarding the 2016 election that Donald Trump won.
It's one of the companies allegedly controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman who reportedly has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
'Dear people of the world! Let's all help the American people elect such politicians who would behave in a humane way and lead our planet to peace and goodness,' she continued in the Russian language clip. 'Let's all wish America to become a great and peaceful country again!'
The video was posted on the Federal News Agency website which is reportedly also linked to Prigozhin.
She said in the footage she was bewildered by allegations that she could have influenced the American elections as she is just a simple bookkeeper who doesn't speak English.
She mocked the election meddling charges saying she was 'filled with pride' to help a superpower country like the US elect a president as Donald Trump won in 2016
Justice Department prosecutors claimed St. Petersburg woman Khusyaynova ran the finances for a hidden but powerful Russian social media effort aimed at spreading distrust for American political candidates.
The department states that the work had an impact on social issues such as immigration and gun control.
She was named as part of a group accused of working to 'create and amplify divisive social and political content' including on deadly shootings in South Carolina and Las Vegas, prosecutors said in court papers.
One fake persona, Bertha Malone, made over 400 Facebook posts with inflammatory content. Another, Rachell Edison, made more than 700 posts about on gun control and the Second Amendment.
Press Association reported the group tried to brand late Republican senator John McCain as 'an old geezer who has lost it and who long ago belonged in a home for the elderly'. Another instruction was to pass him off as a man 'pathological hatred toward Donald Trump and toward all his initiatives'.
Internet Research Agency is one of the companies allegedly controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin
Prigozhin is a businessman who reportedly has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin
Last year, Mueller was also allegedly dubbed a 'puppet of the establishment' linked to the Democratic Party and 'who says things that should either remove him from his position or disband the entire investigation commission'.
Friday allegations formed the first federal case of foreign interference in the 2018 midterm elections which take place November 6.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkovalso denied the claims.
'Washington, having spread shameless lies about the mythical "hand of Moscow" for more than two years, is now trying to play the same card ahead of the approaching US Election Day,' Ryabkov said in the statement.
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The Russian bailiffs' database states Khusaynova, 44, owes approximately 10 million rubles ($167,000) in debt-recovery cases.
However it's not known how she incurred the fees.
In 2015, a bank in 2015 filed to recover 7.8 million rubles in debt and a court ordered foreclosure on a residence she owned in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, reports independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
Her son, Timur Khusainov, had a channel on YouTube that he used to post videos critical of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his clips suspiciously received thousands of 'likes' within minutes each time they were posted.
He started using hopeful Facebook-rival Vkontakte instead of YouTube after his channel was shut down.
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