Mail bomb suspect made numerous references on Facebook to Russian associates and echoed pro-Kremlin

views.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/10/27/mail-bomb-suspect-made-numerous-references-facebook-russian-associates-echoed-pro-kremlin-views/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7ecc6756df57

A Facebook account apparently belonging to the man charged with sending pipe bombs to prominent Democrats this week included references to Russian associates and propaganda links that echo Kremlin views on the Syrian civil war, alongside ramblings about soccer, women and U.S. politics.

Cesar Sayoc, 56, a vocal supporter of President Trump who was arrested in Florida on Friday and charged with multiple federal crimes, apparently spoke of “my Russian brothers” on several occasions on a Facebook page in 2015. The meaning of the references to Russians is not clear, nor is it clear how Sayoc came to view and share propaganda sympathetic to Russian actions in Syria.

Facebook removed the account from public view after news spread of Sayoc’s arrest. But The Washington Post obtained hundreds of public posts from 2015 and 2016 from Columbia University social media researcher Jonathan Albright, who downloaded them Friday before Facebook removed the information.

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The “hardrockintlent” account — which lists the name “Julus Cesar Milan” as the owner — in July 2016 posted about “my brothers in from Russia the great leader Puttins relatives visiting us today” at a Hard Rock Cafe in South Florida. “Puttins” appears to be a misspelled reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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Sayoc appeared to maintain several Facebook accounts, which were all disabled Friday. An account with the name “Cesar Altieri Randazzo” had many personal photos of Sayoc, including videos he took of himself at a Trump rally in 2016. The account, before it was eventuality disabled by Facebook, showed Sayoc had more than 2,700 friends.

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