US special counsel Robert Mueller has warned that Russian intelligence operatives are continuing to run active “interference operations” in the United States, despite a number of indictments stemming from his investigation.
Mueller made the claim during a bid to have a federal judge limit pre-trial evidence being sought by lawyers acting on behalf of Concord Management and Consulting, one of three companies and 13 Russian citizens indicted in February.
Those indicted have been accused of “producing propaganda, posing as US activists and posting political content on social media as so-called trolls to encourage strife in the US”, Fairfax Media says.
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In a court filing, Mueller wrote that a number of US documents sought by those indicted identify “sources, methods and techniques used to identify the foreign actors behind these interference operations”.
Disclosure of those documents would “help foreign intelligence services in Russia and elsewhere while undermining US law enforcement and national security investigation”, Bloomberg says.
The documents reportedly contain unclassified but sensitive information, including links between the defendants, identities of people who are cooperating with the investigation and the identities of people and foreign governments that have not yet been charged.
Mueller has argued that handing over the documents to Concord’s lawyers would “allow foreign actors to learn of these techniques and adjust their conduct, thus undermining ongoing and future national security investigations”.
The US is due to hold its midterm elections in November this year.
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