African meddling

Two Russians have been arrested in Libya on accusations of working for a Russian troll farm that sought to influence elections in the country and in other African nations, Bloomberg reported.

One of the men’s employers, the Moscow-based Foundation for the Defense of National Values, said they were carrying out sociological research and not intervening in Libya’s electoral process.

Malign influence

Russia has accused the United States of “vicious anti-Russia propaganda” tactics that hearken back to the Cold War after the U.S. State Department’s aid agency drafted a framework on “countering malign Kremlin influence.”

USAID said earlier that the framework “responds to authoritarian challenges by increasing the economic and democratic resilience of targeted countries,” including Ukraine and Moldova.

Khachaturyan sisters

Four people staging single pickets in support of and opposition to the teenage sisters on trial for the murder of their allegedly abusive father have been detained in Moscow.