Russia’s latest tactic to inject pro-Moscow content into US politics

This week Indictment of two Russian state media employees about the allegations they paid a Tennessee company to create pro-Russian content has raised concerns about foreign interference in the November election while revealing the Kremlin’s latest tactic in a information warfare.

Analysts say the allegations, if true, would represent a significant escalation and could be just a small part of a larger Russian effort to influence the election.

“We’ve seen smoke for years. Now this is fire,” said Jim Ludes, a former national defense analyst who now directs the Pell Center for International Affairs at Salve Regina University. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were doing more of this. I have no doubt.”

According to prosecutors, two employees of RT, a Russian news agency formerly known as Russia Today, wired $10 million to the U.S. media company, which then paid several prominent right-wing influencers for their content — in one case, $400,000 a month. Two of those influencers said they not knowing their work was supported by Russia.

Intelligence officials and private analysts say Russia’s disinformation campaigns are designed to cut off US support for Ukrainepaved the way for a quick Russian victory after more than two years of fierce conflict.

In the presidential race, Russia backed Donald Trump because the candidate was seen as least supportive of Ukraine, intelligence officials said. Trump has publicly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed cutting money to Ukraine and repeatedly criticize the NATO military alliance. On Thursday, Putin sarcastically stated He is backing Vice President Kamala Harris to win.

Officials said a secondary goal of Russia’s disinformation campaign was to increase political polarization and distrust as a way to erode Americans’ faith in democracy.

This summer, intelligence officials warned that Russia took advantage of Americans without them knowing. to spread its propaganda by tailoring it to existing social debates within the United States. Instead of creating new conflicts, Russia has succeeded by identifying and exaggerating existing divisions, tailoring its disinformation to fit. When successful, Russia can get Americans to spread its views for free, without them even knowing where they came from.

When a train derailment in Ohio caused massive environmental damage last year, Russian voices have tried to steer the debate with anti-government posts being quickly reposted by American users. Some American websites have taken Russian propaganda and reposted it without attribution.

Earlier this year, Russian state media and networks of fake accounts began amplify immigration complaints on platforms used by Americans.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Russian state media claimed without evidence that the virus was the product of U.S. biological weapons experiments and that the U.S. maintained biological laboratories in Ukraine. English-language posts soon began appearing on U.S. social media sites.

Four years later, the conspiracy theory still resonates on far-right forums.

“What if Covid was created in a bio lab in Ukraine and War kept it a secret?” one poster wrote last week on XThe platform formerly known as Twitter.

The company hired by RT has been identified by two of the right-wing content creators it paid as Tenet Media — Tim Pool and Benny Johnson. Both men said on social media on Wednesday that they knew nothing about Tenet’s relationship with RT and that if the allegations were true, they were victims.

Pool posted that no one told him what to say on his podcast and condemned Russia: “Putin is a bad guy.”

Pool, however, has a long history of promoting pro-Russian, anti-Ukrainian views as well as conspiracy theories about the Democratic Party and American democracy.

In a podcast, he said “criminal elements” within the US government were directing the war against Russia and said Ukraine was the real enemy.

“Ukraine is our enemy, funded by the Democrats,” Pool said. “Ukraine is the greatest threat to this country and the world. We should cut off all funding and financing, withdraw all military assistance, and we should apologize to Russia.”

Trump told Truth Social that the incident was “election interference” by federal prosecutors, who he said were “reviving the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, and trying to say that Russia is trying to help me, which is totally false,” with the last word capitalized.

Trump’s comments referred to concerns about Russian interference in the 2016 election, when Kremlin-linked groups used social network And paid advertising on facebook and other platforms to support Trump. Russia also find ways to help Trump in the 2020 election.

China and Iran have waged their own campaigns to use social media to shape American opinion. Iran has secretly supported protests over the war in Gaza and has recently been accused of try to hack into the campaign system of Trump and Harris, his Democratic opponent.

However, intelligence officials still insist that Russia remains the main threat.

In a briefing with reporters last month, an official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Russia is increasingly trying to cover its tracks by “transferring its efforts to commercial entities to hide its actions and launder money through influential U.S. voices.” The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Russian officials have repeatedly boasted of their ability to shape American opinion despite the US government’s efforts. RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, who was sanctioned for her ties to the Russian government, has detailed how Moscow tries to hide its fingerprints from US intelligence.

“We create a lot of information sources that have nothing to do with us,” Simonyan said recently on a Russian talk show. “While the CIA is trying to figure out that they are involved with us, they have a huge audience. This is how we pursue each other. It’s actually very interesting.”