Vladimir Putin, in a videoconference in the Kremlin on September 8. /
The State Department publishes a partial report that estimates Moscow’s payments to foreign parties, officials and candidates in more than two dozen countries since 2014 at 300 million dollars
Russia engineered international campaigns to weaken democratic systems and promote political forces aligned with its interests, channeling $300 million in payments to political parties, public officials and foreign candidates in more than two dozen countries since 2014, a report reveals. Commissioned by the Biden Administration this summer, partially declassified this week, in an attempt to counter the Kremlin’s ability to influence political systems in countries in Europe, Africa and elsewhere.
According to the report released by the State Department, Kremlin subsidiary actors also used shell companies, think tank groups and other means to influence political developments, sometimes to the benefit of far-right groups. The US government considers the Russian meddling in the elections “an assault on sovereignty”, similar to Russia’s war against Ukraine. And he estimates that the findings constitute only “the tip of the iceberg” of the global scope of Moscow’s interference that could go far beyond the nations and the sums that have been detected.
The report, shared with other countries, only released the names of a few nations, including Albania, Montenegro, Madagascar and potentially Ecuador. It also mentions an unnamed Asian country where the Russian ambassador gave millions of dollars in cash to a presidential candidate.
The partial publication of the investigations, which does not include Russian activities in the United States, is part of the initial effort of the Biden administration to share intelligence material to expose the scope of Russian interference in political processes and elections in the world. , and mobilize other countries to combat it. Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election in support of candidate Trump has been abundantly documented in intelligence reports and a bipartisan Senate investigation. Other secret service documents reveal Putin’s authorized campaign to damage Biden’s presidential bid against Trump in 2020.
The State Department on Monday sent a dispatch to its embassies in more than 100 countries with details of the Russian activity and measures to counter it, such as sanctions, a travel ban or the expulsion of Russian spies involved in political financing activities. Details provided to the press identify Russian oligarchs involved in the financing schemes, including Yevgeniy Prigozhin and Aleksander Babakov, both of whom are close associates of Putin.
misinformation network
Prigozhin, known as “Putin’s chef” for earning large sums on Russian government catering contracts, was indicted in 2018 for his attempted interference in the 2016 US election. Wanted by the FBI, he has been linked to the firm private military Wagner, considered a secret unit of the Russian military intelligence agency GRU. In April, the Justice Department charged Babakov, who is also a Russian lawmaker, as well as two other Russian citizens, with conspiracy to violate US sanctions and a visa fraud scheme through a network of disinformation and influence. to promote the interests of the Kremlin abroad.
Payments are made in cash, cryptocurrency, electronic funds transfers and luxury gifts, moving through a wide range of institutions to keep the source of funding opaque, a practice known as ‘cutouts’. The institutions are usually foundations, study centers, organized crime groups, political consultancies, front companies and state-owned companies in the country. According to the report, the funds are also secretly transferred through accounts and resources of the Russian Embassy.