US Special Counsel Unveils New Charges in 'Russian Probe' Over False Statements

"On November 3, 2017, the defendant Alex van der Zwaan, did willfully and knowingly make materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements and representations… to the Special Counsel's Office, including Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in Washington, D.C., in the course of answering questions concerning his work as an attorney employed by a law firm engaged in 2012 by the Ukraine Ministry of Justice to prepare a report on the trial of Yulia Tymshenko," the document said.

The US Special Counsel Robert Mueller has accused a lawyer of lying to investigators about his interactions with Rick Gates, a partner of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who also has been charged in the Russia probe. Mueller has sued Gates on 12 counts, including money laundering and failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) for his work for the Ukrainian government.

The document with charges against Alex Van der Zwaan also accuses him of deleting or otherwise not sending emails requested by the Special Counsel's office, which is conducting an investigation into possible ties between President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia.

READ MORE: Kremlin on Mueller Report: Accusations of Russia's Election Meddling Baseless

The charged have been declared while president Donald Trump was accusing his predecessor of being too soft on Russia.

Moscow has repeatedly denied allegations of collusion with the Trump campaign, as well as meddling in the US elections. Russian officials have called the accusations groundless and invented to deflect opinion from actual election fraud as well as other pressing issues.
The Trump administration has called Mueller's investigation a "witch hunt" and emphasized that there was no communication between campaign associates and Russian officials.