ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — The Department of Justice launched a federal investigation Friday into the Russian government's possible interference into U.S. politics including local elections right here in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Former St. Petersburg mayor Rick Kriseman commended investigators Monday in a facebook post saying, "It is vital that we have confidence in the democratic process."
If the allegations in the indictment are true, that means there was Russian influence over people living in St. Petersburg during the entire time period Kriseman served as mayor.
The indictment has an entire section on background, which explains that the Russian government will find groups and people in the U.S. willing to spread their message. They'll use the group's reach to create wedges, confuse people and degrade democracy.
Although the indictment did not name specific groups or people, the FBI raided the Uhuru House in St. Petersburg Friday.
Akile Anai, a leader within the African People’s Socialist Party and Uhuru movement told reporters the group is "in support of Russia."
"A propaganda war is being waged against Russia every day throughout the news," Anai said. "The U.S. has a hold on what is being propagated about the war, a defensive war, Russia's defensive war against Ukraine, against world colonial powers."
The feds are accusing the Uhuru group of working directly with the Russian government to influence local St. Pete elections in 2017 and 2019. Rick Kriseman was elected mayor in 2017.
We don't know if that race was specifically targeted but five years later Kriseman said, "To see they're doing it at the local level, not just federal or state level, in some ways it's not surprising, quite frankly, it's at the local level the most policy gets implemented. Local elected officials are closest to the people so if you want to impact the people directly, starting at local levels does make some sense."
Jesse Nevel was the Uhuru candidate in the St. Pete mayoral race in 2017.
When asked if he coordinated with people in Russia on his campaign, he said, "This is garbage. This is garbage. I’m not going to entertain the discussion. The campaign got massive support from people who wanted to stand with the Black community and their demand for reparations."