Russia Sent More Than 60 Wire Transfers ‘To Finance Election Campaign of 2016’

‘Russian Foreign Ministry Sent Nearly $30,000 to Its Embassy in Washington’

Buzzfeed has just published a huge scoop. The FBI and other law enforcement agencies are examining more than 60 wire transfers from the Russian government to its embassies, including those in the U.S., marked: “to finance election campaign of 2016.”

On Aug. 3 of last year, just as the US presidential election was entering its final, heated phase, the Russian foreign ministry sent nearly $30,000 to its embassy in Washington. The wire transfer, which came from a Kremlin-backed Russian bank, landed in one of the embassy’s Citibank accounts and contained a remarkable memo line: “to finance election campaign of 2016.”

Those wire transfers “totaled more than $380,000,” and “each came from the Russian foreign ministry and most contained a memo line referencing the financing of the 2016 election.”

Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti, now a candidate for Illinois Attorney General, notes: “Foreign contributions in connection with U.S. federal elections are against the law.”

The wire transfers were made to Russian embassies “across the globe,” Buzzfeed reports.

“Seven nations had federal elections during the span when the funds were sent — including the Duma, Russia’s lower house of Parliament, on Sept. 18, 2016. Russian embassies and diplomatic compounds opened polling stations for voters living abroad.”

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