{"id":1815,"date":"2020-12-10T15:44:16","date_gmt":"2020-12-10T15:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=137213"},"modified":"2020-12-10T15:44:16","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T15:44:16","slug":"two-employees-of-foundation-linked-to-russian-troll-farm-released-from-libyan-custody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/10\/two-employees-of-foundation-linked-to-russian-troll-farm-released-from-libyan-custody\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Employees Of Foundation Linked To Russian Troll Farm Released From Libyan Custody"},"content":{"rendered":"
Two employees of the Moscow-based Foundation for the Protection of Traditional Values with links to a notorious Russian “troll farm” have been released from Libyan custody where they had been held since May 2019.<\/p>\n
The foundation’s chief, Aleksandr Malkevich, who also edits a controversial English-language website titled USA Really, said on December 10 that Russian citizens Maksim Shugalei and Samer Khasan Ali Sueifan had been released and are on their way back to Moscow.<\/p>\n
Libyan authorities said last year that Shugalei, who is also a lawmaker in Russia’s northern Komi Republic, and his interpreter Sueifan, were arrested on suspicion of trying to influence upcoming elections in Libya, which Russian officials have denied.<\/p>\n
Shugalei and the foundation are widely known to have links to the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based organization known as the Russian “troll farm.”<\/p>\n
Owned by the Kremlin-connected businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, the troll farm was mentioned repeatedly by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.<\/p>\n
The foundation says it is a \u201ca nonprofit organization whose activities are aimed at protecting the national interests of the Russian Federation.”<\/p>\n
In 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department slapped economic sanctions on Malkevich, saying USA Really was “posting content focused on divisive political issues but is generally ridden with inaccuracies.”<\/p>\n