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10 Sep, 9 tweets, 4 min read
US blacklisted four Russia-linked individuals for attempting to influence US election, including Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach, who it called “an active Russian agent.” Derkach has helped Rudy Giuliani dig up dirt on Joe Biden. My story on today's news buzzfeednews.com/article/christ…
A lot more about Derkach, who the US is now calling “an active Russian agent,” and what he's been up to here: buzzfeednews.com/article/christ…
Commenting on today's sanctions, @stevenmnuchin1 said, “Derkach and other Russian agents employ manipulation and deceit to attempt to influence elections in the United States and elsewhere around the world.” buzzfeednews.com/article/christ…
Derkach is not answering his phone right now but he read my messages. FWIW, in our conversations in July and August, he denied being a Russian agent (even though he was schooled at a KGB academy in Moscow) and interfering in the US election.
Over the past few months, Derkach has released several audio tapes that purport to capture phone conversations between Biden Poroshenko while the two were in office. They've done nothing to substantiate, let alone advance, accusations from Trump, Giuliani, etc of Biden corruption
Bu Derkach is still pushing the tapes, and he was discussing them as recently as last night on Ukraine's 112 channel. He also told me he gave anti-Biden material to Senate Republicans investigating 2016 Ukraine interference (a debunked conspiracy theory).
Another reason US designation of Derkach being "an active Russian agent" is big: Donald Trump promoted @OANN and @ChanelRion interviews with Derkach and material released by him. In other words, Trump was pushing info from a man deemed by the his own govt to be an agent of Russia
@OANN @ChanelRion Pompeo statement on Derkach sanctions: "Derkach maintains close ties to Russian intelligence and sought to influence the views of American voters through a Russian-directed covert influence campaign ... designed to culminate prior to Election Day."
Here's a good thread on the three Russians working for the Internet Research Agency who were sanctioned today along with Derkach and their crypto addresses. h/t @arawnsley

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More from @ChristopherJM

Christopher Miller Profile picture
11 Sep
When this couple came to Molalla, Oregon to take photos of the fires, armed locals thought they were Antifa arsonists. Spoiler: the weren't.

@JaneLytv and I wrote about the disinfo spreading like, well, wildfire on the West Coast. buzzfeednews.com/article/christ…
@JaneLytv Molalla Police Dept, Medford Police Dept, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office have all published appeals on Facebook in the past 24 hours for the public to stop spreading false information connecting Antifa to Oregon fires. buzzfeednews.com/article/christ…
And for people who may be thinking, "What in the world is Chris doing writing about Oregon?" Well, I was born and raised there; graduated from PSU. My family lives in the area I reported on. And working in the former Soviet Union for past 10 years means I cover disinformation.
Read 4 tweets
Christopher Miller Profile picture
23 Aug
What a show. Lukashenko steps off a state helicopter in riot garb and carrying an assault rifle.
Incredible. Lukashenko, donning full OMON riot police gear in a series of propaganda videos released by Belarusian state media, says protesters — his the Belarusian people — “scattered like rats” as he arrived to thank security forces. Notice the assault rifle at his side. 🙄
Omg that’s his 16-year-old son Kolya in full combat gear beside him.
Read 6 tweets
Christopher Miller Profile picture
23 Aug
Another Sunday, another big opposition demonstration planned in Minsk this afternoon. Ahead of it, Lukashenko sent a large column of military vehicles and anti-riot trucks into the city. Earlier in the week he implied he was ready to crush protesters.
Do follow @HannaLiubakova who is in Minsk and reporting on events. She has a good thread here about the mood of Belarusians as they prepare for what could be a decisive protest.
Ominous sign. In a courtyard in central Minsk, Belarusian riot police appear to be gearing up for this afternoon’s opposition protest.
Read 6 tweets
Christopher Miller Profile picture
9 Aug
🗳Election Day in Belarus🗳

President Lukashenko is expected to rig the results to secure a sixth term. Challenging him is a 37-year-old former English teacher who was a total unknown weeks ago but has galvanized the opposition.

Watch this space.

buzzfeednews.com/article/christ…
Lukashenko has used his riot police to crack down on opposition supporters, grabbing many off the streets and jailing them. But his security services are also employing other tricks to suppress people’s voices, including disrupting internet access.
Here’s challenger Svetlana Tikhanovskaya last night encouraging Belarusians to vote and later to return to their polling stations as results are counted. She pleads with election commission officials not to falsify the results.
Read 38 tweets
Christopher Miller Profile picture
24 Jul
New from me for @BuzzFeedNews: I spoke Rudy Giuliani's Ukrainian operatives who are leaking Biden calls, passing material to Senate Republicans, and doing their damnedest to undermine the former Dem Veep's campaign (spoiler: it's not really working). buzzfeednews.com/article/christ…
Andriy Telizhenko and Oleksandr Onyshchenko said they've been asked to be interviewed as part of @RonJohnsonWI's Senate inquiry. Johnson wouldn't comment. The Ukrainians plan to visit DC soon, and Telizhenko was setting up to attend the RNC in Florida before it was canceled.
BTW, that's Onyshchenko chatting with me over his hotel breakfast in Hamburg, because he's on the run from Ukrainian authorities who accused him of embezzlement (he denies).
Read 14 tweets
Christopher Miller Profile picture
23 Jul
NEW: Very pleased to finally share this story. I and a crack team of @RFERL reporters have determined the IDs of 7 Russia-backed militants who along with Igor Girkin ordered firing squad executions of 3 Ukrainians in 2014, setting a dark tone for the war. rferl.org/a/the-executio…
We did it using ~100 documents recovered from Girkin’s former office in Slovyansk, eastern Ukraine, open-source investigative methods, and interviews with dozens of alleged torture victims, witnesses, and family members of the executed men. (📸 taken this month) Image
This was years in the making. On July 7, 2014, I was with @NoahSneider & @maxseddon in Slovyansk, E Ukraine. Russia-backed forces had just retreated. Inside their HQ we stumbled upon stacks of papers. They were death sentences from "military tribunals." (📸 @EvgenyFeldman) Image
Read 13 tweets

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