Russia is motivated “to try to benefit specific political parties and undermine democracy in all these countries,” the official said. “Our view is one of the most effective ways to deal with Russian covert influence is to expose it.” Findings from the review — ordered by Biden administration officials earlier this summer — were downplayed so the information could be shared with the public and allies around the world, the official said. The US shared the findings as well as steps that can be taken to address this threat with countries invited to the Democracy Summit in December. The US is also quietly notifying affected countries. “The U.S. intelligence community privately briefs select countries on Russian covert funding targeting their specific political environment. We keep these briefings confidential due to the sensitivity of the data and to empower those countries to strengthen their electoral integrity in private,” he said. the official. The Biden administration hopes there will be many benefits from publicly sharing this information, including: increasing global awareness of the threat of Russian covert political financing, triggering other countries to come back to the U.S. with their own information about Russia’s operations and making clear that Russia’s covert political influence is a “global phenomenon that requires concerted action,” the official said. Russia and the parties it supports have also been put on notice now that this information is public. “In light of this light on Russian covert political funding and Russian efforts to undermine the democratic process, we are putting these foreign parties and candidates on notice that if they are secretly accepting Russian money, we can and will expose it. So we really see this multi-faceted benefit of sharing this IC study the way we are,” the official said.
“A big challenge” for the US
CNN previously reported that US officials are bracing for a mix of foreign interference and domestic disinformation campaigns about the voting process as midterm voting approaches. In July, the Biden administration announced sanctions against Russia for its global “malign influence” and election meddling. farm known as the Internet Research Agency, its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin — who is a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin — “and linked Russian entities and associates to their involvement in US election interference.” The IRA, which is known for meddling in the 2016 presidential election, had a monthly budget of $1.25 million at the height of that election, according to a 2018 Justice Department indictment against the group and its staff. Facebook, meanwhile, revealed in 2017 that Russian trolls bought more than $100,000 in ads on its platform during the 2016 election. A senior administration official zeroed in on US vulnerabilities on Tuesday, saying “Russian covert political influence is a major challenge for the United States.” The Biden administration believes it is important to recognize that Russian meddling is not just a separate challenge for the US. “The point of this exposure campaign is to look beyond the United States without denying that this is a concern that we have and a vulnerability that we have here. But we wanted to use the exposure campaign to put our context in the larger context of the challenge Russian covert political influence, which is global in nature, as the IC analysis makes so clear,” the official said. “We’re clear that it’s ongoing, it’s pervasive, it’s global,” said the government official on Russia’s covert political operations. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Monday sent a cable to embassies around the world detailing the findings of that review by the intelligence community. Russia’s global involvement has been documented in some cases, such as in Bosnia, Montenegro and Albania. Blinken’s cable said the US intelligence community’s review included Russian involvement in more than a dozen countries. “For Russia, the benefits of ‘hidden political funding’ are twofold: to build influence over individuals and parties that benefit, and to increase the likelihood that these parties will perform well in elections. The covert relationships between these parties and their Russian benefactors undermine the integrity and public faith in democratic institutions,” the cable reads. Blinken described Russia’s meddling methods, including lavish gifts, cash or cryptocurrency, moving funds through shell companies and think tanks, and using Russian embassy accounts and resources. CNN’s Marshall Cohen and Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.
