researcher anna massoglia began tracking the operation. anna: mercury public affairs was able to leverage their connections in d.c., with people in political positions of power in order to further this foreign influence operation. one way that they did this was by contacting ambassadors in a number of countries, including australia, to send letters that furthered the interest of the foreign influence operation. sean: the lobbyists targeted the then australian ambassador to washington, joe hockey, to pressure him to support the lifting of sanctions. they sent him a briefing note warning, "rusal owns 20% of queensland alumina. therefore the jobs and critical economic activity of this company are at risk." serena lillywhite: the letter that was sent to the australian ambassador to the u.s., sought torovide assurances to the australian ambassador that the company had sufficiently restructed to warrant those sanctions against them being lifted, and those assurances t mr. deripaska had reduced his controlling ownership of rusal to less than 50%,