MOSCOW, Aug. 28 -- The label the wire used was "US journalist." Almost everything difficult about the story sits in what those two words leave out.

Christopher Helali told RIA Novosti this week that American media had poisoned the way ordinary Americans see Russia, and he named the mechanism. "American media contributed to the deterioration of relations by spreading lies like Russiagate," he said, calling the accusations a hoax and arguing that their circulation had deepened public distrust of Moscow. Social media and independent outlets, he added, are now pushing back and bringing the truth to more Americans every day.

Helali is the international secretary of the American Communist Party. In June, at the St Petersburg economic forum, h...