St. Louis, Missouri - Three members of the African People's Socialist Party, including its chairman, Omali Yeshitela, have been indicted by a federal jury on charges of acting as agents of the Russian government.

According to the indictment unsealed by the Justice Department, four US citizens and three Russian nationals allegedly organized or contributed to "a multi-year foreign malign influence campaign in the United States."

All four of the accused US citizens are associated with the African People's Socialist Party (APSP), which is part of the internationalist Uhuru Movement.

Among them is the party's chairman, Omali Yeshitela, who was previously targeted in a violent FBI raid in August last year, part of the same investigation into alleged links to Russian individuals who authorities say tried to influence US elections – in particular, Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, who was also indicted.

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Now, the four APSP members are accused of giving Ionov a platform to spread Russian propaganda and supporting various pro-Russian talking points on the Ukraine war.

Yeshitela has previously described the notion that he was working for Russia as preposterous.

"Most of my life, I have been struggling to change the circumstances for Black people in this country and around the world," he said during a speech after the FBI raid, "so for them to cop some notion that some Russian had to tell me that it was wrong to murder Michael Brown and leave him in the streets for four and a half hours on 100-degree-plus asphalt... is the most extraordinary fabrication you can have."

In response to the indictment, a statement from the Uhuru movement said: "At the advice of our attorneys, we are unable to make a statement or comment on the current indictment. However, we are looking forward to our day in court."

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Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, meanwhile, insisted that the case amounted to "Russia’s foreign intelligence service allegedly weaponi[zing] our First Amendment rights – freedoms Russia denies its own citizens – to divide Americans and interfere in elections in the United States."

The First Amendment protects, among other things, the right to political speech.