Kremlin launches campaign to meddle in U.S. election, as GOP ends support for Ukraine 

Russia resumes efforts to influence the U.S. presidential election. The Kremlin is planning and has launched a complex campaign to discredit Joe Biden over the Ukrainian subject. Moscow, to that end, once again uses people involved in the 2017 investigation into Russia’s meddling in U.S. election.

That is why Andrii Derkach, former MP of Ukraine, who is under U.S. sanctions and suspected of treason by Kyiv, came to Belarus from Russia. That is the first time he appeared in public since Russia invaded Ukraine, and he fled to Russia. Derkach was stripped of Ukrainian citizenship in January 2023, when accused of treason. Andrii Derkach studied at Russia’s FSB Academy in 1990-1993. His father, a former KGB officer, who headed the Security Service of Ukraine (1998-2001), was involved in criminal cases of arms trafficking, and contributed to Ukraine’s disarmament. He had ties to Russian intelligence. His son, Andrii Derkach, was lobbying hard for the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine and promoted the Kremlin in the energy sector while working in the Ukrainian parliament (as First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on the Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety). Upon arrival to Minsk, Belarus, Andrii Derkach was interviewed by Simona Mangiante Papadopoulos, a journalist. That might be their second meeting since 2021.

Simona is the wife of ex-Trump adviser George Papadopoulos, detained by U.S. prosecutors on a charge of lying, but then pardoned by Trump before the end of his presidential term.

Senator Richard Burr, who chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee when it investigated Russian election interference in the 2016 presidential election, said in October 2017, that Papadopoulos was noticed by the committee over the emails he sent in an effort to arrange a meeting between Trump and Russia’s president Vladimir Putin. Papadopoulos admitted he had lied to FBI agents on October 5. The case was reopened on October 30, following Manafort’s indictment.

Papadopoulos has been an independent U.S. president adviser on energy and policy issues since 2017. Energy issues, therefore, connect Papadopoulos with Andrii Derkach. We believe Russia used this connection and these people in an effort to discredit President Biden’s son (Hunter), as for his part in Ukraine’s energy projects.

Derkach most likely met with Simona to hand over the papers the Russian intelligence had or false papers, to meddle in the U.S. presidential campaign.

Some facts indicate that Simona Papadopoulos may be affiliated with Russian intelligence (presumably military intelligence).

Her interest in journalism grew when her husband faced legal challenges. She used to be a legal adviser in the office of the President of the European Parliament. Mangiante worked for two high-powered European parliament officials, Mairead McGuinness – a vice-president – and McGuinness’s Italian predecessor Roberta Angelilli. Simona was in contact with the Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud, with suspected ties to the Kremlin, who was enthusiastic about working with her because of her extensive Brussels “contacts book”. Mifsud’s regular participation in the Valdai Forum, which Putin uses for recruitment and influence actions, speaks for his ties to Russian intelligence.

Simona started her career as a journalist with an interview for “Ukraine: the Everlasting Present”, propaganda and disinformation documentary made in cooperation with the RT state media, used as an Psyop tool by Russian military intelligence. The purpose of this documentary was to discredit Ukraine, introduce conspiracy theories in line with Kremlin narratives after 2014. The fact she cooperated with RT leaves no room for doubt that Simona is affiliated with the Russians and takes part in influence operations. The authors of the documentary pointed out that American Democrats, especially Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, were mired in corruption in Ukraine. Simona, therefore, was likely to take part in discrediting the Democratic leaders together with her husband, George Papadopoulos, who agreed to a deal with the law and pleaded guilty of lying to FBI agents as for communication by the Republican headquarters with foreigners, including the Russians, and collecting dirt on Hillary Clinton. Simona’s posts on Twitter confirm that hypothesis.

On December 12, 2023, for example, she shared a picture of Ukraine’s President Zelensky with Alexander Dubinsky (now in prison), a Ukrainian with a Romanian passport who was in contact with Rudolph Giuliani, and signed it: “Zelensky – Europe’s Newest Dictator Covering for Biden Corruption in Ukraine!!” That is why there is no doubt Simona is part of Russia’s campaign to attack President Biden and the Democrats ahead of this year’s election. That is further supported by the fact that she mentioned the Burisma case, and a call for the presidential impeachment in the tags for this post. Russia’s objective is crystal here: to make the Republicans block military support for Ukraine. 

The pictures Simona shared on social media include those with Igor Lopatenko, Russian propaganda film director, who worked closely with Oliver Stone, undeniably affiliated with the Russians.The investigators claim Papadopoulos was a liaison between Washington and Moscow, which was pressing hard for Donald Trump’s trip to Russia’s capital to meet Vladimir Putin.