Quote:A judge ruled Monday that a "firewall counsel" will be employed to protect sensitive information during federal court proceedings against Russians who allegedly attempted to influence the 2016 U.S. election through a widespread online campaign.

The new team, to be made up of attorneys from the Department of Justice's National Security Division who are not involved in the case, was previously requested by Robert Mueller's Special Counsel's Office to restrict the defense's ability to share sensitive discovery information with others, including the Russian government.

Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, widely known as “Putin’s chef,” who allegedly funded the operation through the consulting and catering companies he founded, is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Prosecutors have alleged in court documents that he was attempting to use a codefendant, a Russia-based management and consulting firm he controls called Concord, "as a stalking horse" to get his hands on "sensitive discovery while evading prosecution."

Friedrich previously placed other restrictions on the dissemination of information in the case, ruling that documents and files be kept at a U.S. office for the defense firm and "not disclosed, transported or transmitted outside of the United States."

The fact that the case is proceeding at all surprised Zaid, who described an "impressive strategy" by Russia to attempt to leverage the U.S. justice system to reveal intelligence secrets without any real risk to defendants safely within Russian borders.

If the protections put in place over information sharing aren't sufficient, he said, it could be a "gold mine" for Russian counter-spies.