A Facebook posting, released by the House Intelligence Committee, for a group called "Being Patriotic" is photographed in Washington, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. A federal grand jury indictment on Feb. 16, charging 13 Russians and three Russian entities with an elaborate plot to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, noted that beginning in June 2016, defendants and and their co-conspirators organized and coordinated political rallies in the U.S. "Being Patriotic" promoted and organized two political rallies in New York according to the indictment, including the one of July 23, 2016. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A year before Donald Trump announced his presidential candidacy, two Russian operatives landed in the United States to lay groundwork for an intelligence operation targeting the legitimacy of the 2016 election.

What began as a Cold War-like attack by an old adversary would mix old-fashioned political agitation with 21st century social media tools that ultimately roiled the election and shook America's political landscape.

The indictment of 13 Russians by special counsel Robert Mueller Friday revealed that the now well-documented Russian social media campaign also relied on extensive intelligence work by operatives on U.S. soil. It also began earlier than commonly believed, first aiming to "sow discord" ahead of the 2016 election and later to boost Trump's candidacy.

The indictment does not specifically tie the influence operation to Russia's intelligence apparatus. Instead, it fingers a group of operatives working for a unit called the "organization," financed to the tune of millions of dollars by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a St. Petersburg businessman dubbed "Putin's chef" because his restaurants have catered dinners for the Kremlin leader and foreign dignitaries.

The scheme outlined in the indictment began with fraudulent visa applications for U.S. travel.

Though some of the Russians were rejected, two operatives, Aleksandra Krylova and Anna Bogacheva, allegedly traveled as tourists through at least nine states over about two weeks in June 2014. They had developed "evacuation scenarios" in case their cover was blown.

Another unindicted operative traveled to Georgia in November of that year.

Prosecutors say the operatives were gathering intelligence used to evaluate political targets on social media. The operation developed metrics on social media groups, measuring things like frequency of posting and audience engagement.

Later, back in Russia, some of the operatives posed as U.S. citizens to contact political and social activists.

The indictment describes one interaction with someone at a "Texas-based grassroots organization" who suggested they target closely-contested purple states like Colorado, Virginia and Florida. It was banal conventional wisdom, but afterward, the Russian operatives began using the jargon in their own interactions, which U.S. authorities somehow were able to access.

The early groundwork set the table before the campaign was in full swing.

Social media accounts were established to lend credibility to their covert efforts. The Russian-based operatives posed as U.S. political activists from all corners. Later, goals were set and enforced by the group's leadership: undermine Hillary Clinton while boosting her Democratic opponent in the primary, Bernie Sanders, as well as Trump.

To obfuscate their efforts, the operatives, working in concert with the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based troll farm, purchased server space in the U.S. Using virtual private networks they could conduct their social media interactions while appearing to be based in the U.S.

They also relied on identity theft, stealing and then using the social security numbers, home addresses and birthdates of real Americans without their knowledge, the indictment says.

The operatives set up bank accounts at a federally insured bank, set up accounts at PayPal using stolen identities and fake drivers' licenses, and purchased fraudulent credit card and bank account numbers at as many as six U.S. banks.

The operatives even received money from real Americans who wanted to use the Russian-backed social media pages for their own promotions, the indictment says.

The false identities and accounts aided the covert purchase of internet advertising, circumventing laws to prevent foreign influence in U.S. politics. It also helped stage political rallies — while posing as American political activists, the operatives paid people in the U.S. to promote or disparage candidates.

Starting in June 2016, just weeks after Trump had officially clinched the Republican nomination, the Russians upped the ante of their clandestine work. They began to organize and coordinate pro-Trump political rallies.

To build interest, the Russians promoted the events using their "false U.S. persona social media accounts," contacting unwitting American administrators of large social media groups focusing on U.S. political issues. Using fake pro-Trump Facebook and Twitter accounts, the Russians touted two political rallies in New York, one slated for June 25, 2016, and a second for July 23.

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