WASHINGTON – Charges against 12 Russian military intelligence officers for U.S. election hacking undermine denials by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that the Russian government was the source of stolen Democratic emails published by the anti-secrecy organization.
The indictment reveals correspondence between WikiLeaks and a fictional persona that shows them working in an apparent effort to harm the prospects of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
READ MORE: 12 Russian intelligence officers indicted in Robert Mueller investigation
Assange has said that WikiLeaks’ source “is not the Russian government and it is not a state party.”
But if the charges in the indictment are proved true, it would show that WikiLeaks – referred to as “Organization 1” in the indictment – received the material from a persona directly controlled by Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate, and even gave the Russian hackers advice on how to disseminate it.