MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th July, 2023) US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have used the situation around the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement to seize the benefits during the election campaign but when they took office, they abandoned their African-American supporters, Alexander Ionov, a Russian human rights activist and anti-globalist wanted in the United States for alleged election meddling, told Sputnik.
"When Biden got down on one knee, talked about supporting African Americans, it was just a poor parody of political activity. Today, he does not mention African Americans. He touches this topic neither in his speeches nor in his activities," Ionov said in an interview with Sputnik.
He added that the situation with the rights of the African American population in the US under Biden has not improved, but even worsened.
"Moreover, they imprison opinion leaders, recognize them as foreign agents and disperse rallies," Ionov noted, adding that human rights activists are subjected to politically motivated police prosecutions by the US government.
In May 2020, a wave of protests and riots against police violence and racial injustice rippled across the US and other parts of the world. The mass-scale social unrest was sparked by the death of African-American George Floyd, who passed away in police custody in Minneapolis. After Floyd's death, the BLM movement, which stands against racially motivated violence toward black people, gained momentum in the US, demanding police reform.
The US Department of Justice accuses Ionov of having recruited and funded various US political groups from at least December 2014 until March 2022 to act as unregistered illegal agents of the Russian government to sow discord, spread pro-Russian propaganda and interfere in US elections. The indictment also alleges that Ionov supported political campaigns in Florida, promoted California's secession from the US and funded a protest tour in support of a petition criticizing the "genocide" of African people in the US. The 33-year-old faces up to five years in jail if found guilty.
The US government has offered a reward of up to $10 million for information on Ionov that would establish a link between him and foreign interference in US elections.
