The Mueller indictments — here's which Russians were charged with interfering in the 2016 US election

The office of special counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies on Friday for illegally interfering in the US political system.
The charges directly targeted the Internet Research Agency, a Russian organization that employed "trolls" to sow discord about the election on social media.
Read on to find out what you need to know about the people and companies involved.

Special counsel Robert Mueller's office charged 13 Russian nationals and the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a notorious Russian "troll factory," with violating US law and interfering in the 2016 election.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the indictments during a press conference on Friday.

"The defendants allegedly conducted what they called 'information warfare against the United States' with the stated goal of spreading distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general," Rosenstein said.

While the indictment sheds light on the elaborate and multi-faceted nature of Russia's social-media influence operation, it does not allege that any Americans knowingly collaborated with the effort. Rosenstein also said that the underlying conduct did not affect the outcome of the election.

Here's some background on the 13 individuals and three companies that Mueller's office charged:

Internet Research Agency

The IRA registered with the Russian government as a corporate entity in 2013. It was based out of an office in St. Petersburg, the second biggest city in Russia.

Over the next few years, the IRA employed hundreds of people, Rosenstein said, and was primarily funded by Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, a prominent Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin.

In 2014, the IRA established an initiative called the "translator project," the indictment said, which focused on provoking Americans on social media platforms, including Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others. Rosenstein said more than 80 employees were assigned to the project during the heat of the US campaign season in July 2016.

The IRA was part of a multi-faceted Russian operation called "Project Lakhta." The project aimed to sow discord among Americans in the run-up to the 2016 US presidential election.

Yevgeniy Prigozhin

Prigozhin is one of Russia's richest and most politically connected people, with ties to the highest levels of the Kremlin, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Prigozhin is known in Russia for running numerous restaurants and catering businesses that have hosted Putin's dinners with foreign diplomats. Last year, the AP reported that some in Russia media have nicknamed him "Putin chef."

Mueller's indictment says Prigozhin financially "approved and supported" the IRA's activities.

"The Americans are very impressionable people. They see what they want to see," Prigozhin told Ria Novosti, a Russian state news agency, following the indictment's release. "I have a lot of respect for them. I am not upset at all that I ended up on this list. If they want to see the devil, let them see him."

Last year, the US government placed Prigozhin on its sanctions list for his dealings with Russia's Defense Ministry, which has been heavily involved in the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

The Concord companies

Prigozhin was primarily responsible for bankrolling the IRA's work through two companies he controlled: Concord Management and Consulting LLC, and Concord Catering.

Through those companies and various other affiliate groups, Prigozhin provided the IRA with a monthly budget of at least $1.25 million, according to the Justice Department indictments.

Both of Prigozhin's Concord companies, which hold various contracts with the Russian government, were named in Mueller's indictment.

But Concord's activities weren't limited to funding the IRA. It also recommended personnel, and oversaw the group's management and activities, the indictment filing said. Concord was able to disguise its funding as payments related to software support and development, and the group often transmitted money to the IRA through a collection of Russian shell companies and 14 different bank accounts, the DOJ said.

12 other defendants

The remaining 12 defendants named in Mueller's indictment were all identified as former employees of the IRA. While they held a variety of different positions, they were all allegedly involved in carrying out Russian influence operations in the US. Here's what their roles were, according to the indictment.