Woman who ran Russian ‘propaganda’ center in New York tried to contact Trump in 2016, prosecutors say

Federal prosecutors charged Elena Branson with illegally acting as Russian government agent in US

A dual citizen charged with illegally acting as a Russian government agent in the US sought meetings with then-candidate Donald Trump leading up to the 2016 presidential election, according to federal prosecutors.

Elena Branson was charged on 8 March with acting as an agent of a foreign government without notifying US authorities, conspiring to commit visa fraud, making false statements to the FBI, and failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York alleges that Ms Branson corresponded with high-ranking officials in Russia, including Vladimir Putin, to open a Russian “propaganda center” in New York City, for which she “received tens of thousands of dollars in funding from the Russian government” for events and messaging at the direction of Russian officials, without registering her role as a foreign agent with US authorities, according to the government’s complaint.

Federal prosecutors allege she began coordinating with Russian officials from at least 2011, and received Moscow’s approval to open the Russian Center New York in Manhattan in 2012.

She also was appointed as chairperson of the Russian Community Council of the USA, formerly the Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots of the US. The group shut down its activities last year following the FBI probe.

Prosecutors allege she tried to invite then-presidential candidate Trump or his children to a “Russia Forum New York” in April 2016, though it does not appear any of the Trumps attended the event.

According to the complaint, on or about 16 March, 2016, Ms Branson sent an email to the chair of the Russian Community Council of the USA, known as KSORS, with a draft of a letter addressed to Mr Trump inviting him to the event and suggesting that if his “busy schedule will not permit your attending our forum, perhaps you can suggest one of your children … who have followed in your footsteps.”

She also emailed an adviser to Mr Trump following the 2016 presidential election “expressing congratulations for their victory in the presidential election” along with an invitation to the World Chess Championship, according to prosecutors.

The invitation was signed by “President of the International Chess Federation,” the complaint says.

Ms Branson was later photographed at the event with Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov, according to prosecutors.

Other correspondence collected by investigators in the complaint appears to show Ms Branson coordinating meetings with US elected officials and Russian officials.

She left the US for Russia in 2020 and remains at large, according to prosecutors.

“Particularly given current global events, the need to detect and hinder attempts at foreign influence is of critical importance,” US Attorney Damian Williams with the Southern District of New York said in a statement.