- Russia “exercised direction or control” over the California secession movement, according to a federal indictment.
- A Russian national with ties to the FSB is accused of providing funds and advice to the group.
- The group’s founder has not been charged with a crime and denies any wrongdoing.
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At a 2018 rally in Sacramento, hundreds of Californians called for a national divorce, citing “irreconcilable and irreconcilable differences.”
“Ultimately, the best people to govern California are us Californians,” Louis Marinelli, founder of the secessionist group Yes California, told The Script newspaper.
Marinelli, a right-wing activist who previously campaigned against LGBTQ rights, framed the nation of California in terms of competing values and, at the time, said he had changed his mind on issues such as gay rights (the your Twitter timeline, today). , has returned to largely conservative causes). In a country led by former President Donald Trump, this liberal bastion, he said, should not answer to reactionaries in Washington, DC.
It was a cause he cared so much about that he left his home in Yekaterinburg, some 1,000 miles from Moscow, to fight for it.
“I enjoyed my life in Russia,” Marinelli told The Sacramento Bee, “but one thing that worries me a lot is the independence of California.”
According to a federal indictment filed Friday, Russian intelligence officials were also deeply concerned about West Coast secession as part of an effort to destabilize the United States.
The indictment centers on Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, a Moscow resident and head of the “Russian Anti-Globalization Movement,” Deputy Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said in a statement. Prosecutors alleged that he worked with at least three Russian officials in a “brazen influence campaign, turning American political groups and citizens into instruments of the Russian government,” Olsen wrote.
This effort involved hosting government-sponsored conferences in Russia, inviting secessionists from around the world, as well as providing “financial support, consulting, training and promotion in the Russian media” to US separatist movements.
The indictment does not identify who specifically participated in this influence campaign. It claims that at least one US citizen was aware that Ionov’s group was linked to the Russian government. No Americans have been charged with a crime related to the case.
But the prosecution provided solid leads. He identified the leader of the secession movement as “UIC-6,” meaning an unindicted co-conspirator, “who resided in Russia and California,” and described the organization they founded as “Political Group 3 of the United States,” which focused on California. secession, according to the indictment.
That person, he said, was in contact with Ionov regarding a 2018 rally “at the California Capitol building in Sacramento, California,” and in his correspondence mentioned “the possibility of funding the event “.
According to prosecutors, Ionov reviewed the poster designs and encouraged the group’s leader to adopt protest tactics that could lead to violence.
In an email, sent in Russian, Ionov urged the group’s leader to “physically enter the governor’s office,” which was held in 2018 by Democrat Jerry Brown.
He then sent the person $500 to pay for the posters, as he later confided to an FSB officer, according to the indictment.
The group did not end up storming the governor’s office, as Ionov later regretted. In a message to his leader, the Russian citizen complained that the event did not amount to a “historic” rally “IN THE PARLIAMENT BUILDING”. But he did request photos of the event which he passed on to an FSB officer, writing that the latter had asked for “disturbance” and “here it is”.
Marinelli, who now resides in Arkansas, has denied any wrongdoing and said he is no longer associated with the secessionist movement in California.
Speaking to Insider, he noted that his name does not appear in the indictment.
“However, of course, if it is me they are referring to, I would first point out that their own press release states at the bottom that these are all unproven allegations,” Marinelli said. He denied that Ionov “exercised direction and control” over Yes California, also stating that the group “did not benefit from any tangible support”.
“I also object to the allegation that Ionov provided funds for the event,” he said, declining to address the specific charge that posters at the event were paid for by the Russian national. He went on to say that he did not try to enter the governor’s office, as suggested by Ionov, but was simply photographed with the bear statue outside.
“I went to the Capitol and stood there just like every other visitor to the Capitol does,” he said. “Every Californian knows that the actual governor’s office is guarded by the state police and no one would attempt to ‘physically enter’ without permission.”
But while Marinelli denies receiving any funds for his actions in the United States, he has in fact accepted Ionov’s support before, at least when he was still abroad. As The New York Times reported in 2017: “A Russian group, known as the Anti-Globalization Movement … offered him office space in Moscow to open an ’embassy’ of California in Russia, and Mr. Marinelli he accepted.”
According to the indictment, the identity of “UIC-6” is known to a federal grand jury. But Marinelli said he has not yet been contacted by law enforcement.
“I am happy to provide additional background and information on the affairs of Alexander Ionov and would be willing to do so if contacted by the federal government,” he said. “At the moment, however, I have not been contacted.”
Ionov, meanwhile, the only person charged with a crime, faces up to 5 years in prison, the US Department of Justice said, for conspiring to have US citizens “act as illegal agents ·laws of the Russian government”.
Got a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com