Did Russia provide funding and support for booster of California secession movement?

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In February 2018, as organizers of the so-called “CalExit” campaign to have California secede from the union and form its own country, a Russian national named Aleksandr Ionov sent electronic messages to a secession supporter, court documents say. Ionov offered funding for a protest that would have supporters make their way into then-Gov. Jerry Brown's office. Ionov and the organizer traded proposed designs for posters for the event, and eventually wrote that he sent $500 to the organizer, who on Valentine's Day led a demonstration at the state Capitol “in support of Calif…

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