Elena Branson. Photo credit: Russian Center New York / Facebook
Elena Branson, the chairperson of the Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots (KSORS) of the USA and president of the Russian Center in New York, hurried to fly to Russia because of the FBI's persecution back in 2020. She did not give up hope of returning to New York for over a year, until she became firmly convinced that she would face up to 35 years in prison in the U.S. She told Russkiy Mir about the reasons behind that.
– The U.S. Department of Justice has accused you of violating the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). In 2018, FARA was applied against Maria Butina, a Russian student who was studying in the United States. She got a prison sentence and returned to Russia after 18 months behind the bars. You were lucky. It seems you were able to leave in time, weren't you?
– I just got frightened. It was around 6 a.m. on September 29, 2020. My doorbell rang. I was surprised. It is not a common practice to ring the doorbell in the house where I live. Usually, it is the concierge who is called. I looked through the video door phone and saw a lot of FBI agents, about 30 of them may be, standing at my doorstep. It was intimidating. All of them had guns and wore bulletproof vests. I opened the door. What caught my eye was a tire iron, or I don't know what it's called, that could be used to break down the door. I was served with a search warrant. There was also a warrant to arrest me, provided that they would believe that there were grounds for it. The agents asked me to step outside and searched the apartment for about seven or eight hours.
– What was the search outcome?
They held me responsible for six articles as a foreign agent and told me that I was to face a long-term prison sentence. I listened and was unable to associate things heard with myself. The charges included such terms as an agent of a foreign state, conspiracy with a foreign state, registration of a foreign propagandist, violation of the law on disclosure of information about foreign agents, and the unauthorized extension of registration. It turned out that I had concealed information about being a foreign agent. Actually, I do not know what a foreign agent means, and I am not engaged in any agent's activities.
– There should have been some signs before the above-mentioned search that had been alarming to you.
– Certainly, the secret services started monitoring the KSORS (a public organization, by the way) much earlier than today or yesterday. I knew that the Department of Justice was also annoyed by the Russian Center in New York. I was threatened with punishment for designing the "I Love Russia" poster. Yet, this is the regular tension between government officials and public activists in a civil society. It was my understanding that the "I Love Russia" campaign was a cultural and humanitarian one. It was addressed to American young people who want to learn the Russian language and to explore our culture in its source language. We openly declared this objective. When I sat down to read the FBI letter of accusation, I learned that this campaign "demonstrates the attempts to act at the behest of the Russian government to illegally promote its interests in the United States." That morning, when the FBI agents had gone away leaving me alone with my thoughts and concerns, I pulled my strength and will together as much as I could. I sat down and read over and over again everything I had been charged with. Naturally, I was frightened. For a month I did not know what to do. I found out that I could face up to five years in prison for the poster "I love Russia" alone. So, after that search, I finally flew to Moscow.
– You used to work for KSORS and the Russian Center in New York. Could these organizations have any influence on U.S. domestic politics?
– Both the KSORS and the Russian Center have never engaged in the U.S. domestic political agenda. We have never had any funds. We had never received or distributed any grants, which I was also suspected of.
– When you arrived in Moscow, have you sought any help or advice on how to bring the situation back to the humanitarian track?
– I addressed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russian Embassy in the United States. The embassy referred to the accusations against me as a "witch hunt" and the onset of "persecution of compatriots". I didn't want to believe it, I refrained from such harsh judgments while believing that there was hope for an amicable agreement. Maria Butina called me and explained a lot about the principles of a gradual approach of FARA. I would say that she saved me from prison. And as of late 2021, I also realized that the FBI had selected our public organizations to be punching bags. We had to suspend our activities.
Alas, at least 300 Russian compatriots in the U.S., including students and retirees, have been under surveillance by the FBI over the past year. My understanding is that we turned out to be an easy target for cultivating an image of the enemy, that is Russian agents. Now I see the charges against me as a part of the United States' campaign against Russia. What other way is there to look at the recent announcement by the US Department of Justice that I was charged with illegal activities as a foreign agent? I may face up to 35 years in prison on six charges.
– Recently, while setting up the International Public Tribunal for Ukraine, you stated, and I'm quoting here, "The United States is in the process of dehumanizing the Russians." Has it gone that far?
– Then what the ethnic-based discrimination can be called? Moreover, it is not ideological Russophobia anymore but rather physical actions. They close the accounts of Russians, ethnic restaurants. They do not prevent vandalism and practice criminal prosecution not only in my case, by the way. They also violate the independence of diplomats. All of the above are just elements of the dehumanization of Russians. Furthermore, this is happening in the country of immigrants. Although, representatives of the diasporas have no issues cooperating with the local authorities. No one declares them foreign agents. For instance, the Israelis in New York have their own minister of labor. No one prevents natives of Mexico, China, and other countries from learning their native language. I may face up to 35 years in prison for the same things as in my case the above is described as lobbying for Russian interests and promoting Russian policy and ideology, as well as assistance to Russian civil servants in obtaining entry visas. Shouldn't they be assisted in obtaining visas when those officials, scientists, and students from Russia were invited to our events? It took me a while to realize that searches and interrogations on "suspected ties with a foreign state" would not end well. Now I understand that the security services are not interested in our open goals of preserving and promoting the Russian language and our cultural and historical heritage in the United States.
– Who needs this witch hunt and why?
– Do you remember Senator Joseph McCarthy initiated the mid-twentieth-century witch hunt? It targeted U.S. Communists first, and then all supporters of left-wing views
Now the new McCarthyists do not seek peace, love, and understanding. The new Cold War with the new Russia is in their minds, so, as I understand it, open ties with Russia is the fact that is sufficient for criminal prosecution.
It does not matter what kind of ties there are: economic, cultural, or humanitarian. By the way, Washington interprets the latter as "Russian soft power." Thus, they annoy the White House. So the American authorities began to smash the associations of our compatriots, push us out of the country, and infringe on the rights that we have as U.S. citizens, by the way. Actually, America had a similar experience in past. In 1942, when World War II was at its height, over 120,000 Japanese citizens were expelled from the country or imprisoned in concentration camps on U.S. territory without any charge. This is something they do not mention today. It is also improper to mention that private property was taken away from these people. It was not until 1988 that President Reagan signed a document where he apologized for the internment and described it as a mistake.
– Doesn't mean that the three-million Russian-speaking diaspora in the U.S. could face sanctions up to...?
– I don't think it will get to the point of internment. I guess I was affected on the spur of the moment. Why shouldn't Russian Americans be induced to "condemn Russia's actions in Ukraine"? Why not adjust them to the set goals? Such organizations as the KSORS or the Russian Center in New York are good options to start with. Such instruments of pressure have been repeatedly used by Washington all over the world. Another thing is that the humanitarian values declared by America as part of the "American dream" are degrading, if not being diluted.
