Kremlin-linked Russian troll farm based in St. Petersburg; indicted by Mueller in Feb 2018
Background
The Internet Research Agency (IRA) was a Russian troll farm based in St. Petersburg, linked to oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin and, through him, to the Russian state. Operating since at least 2013, it conducted social media influence operations targeting U.S. audiences beginning in 2015. Mueller’s February 2018 indictment charged the IRA and 13 associated individuals with conspiracy to defraud the United States, wire fraud, and bank fraud. The indictment alleged the IRA spent approximately $1.25 million per month on operations by mid-2016 and that its accounts and content reached tens of millions of Americans. The IRA was formally dissolved in July 2023 following Prigozhin’s death in a plane crash.