How Russia rules the world-US media - ForumDaily
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How Russia rules the world-American media

Фото: Depositphotos

The Russian concept of conflict does not distinguish between hybrid and classical war - it is simply a war in which the Russian government resorts to a large set of tools that American researchers call the “set of active measures.” These measures are used by Russia to undermine and destabilize democracies around the world, writes the American edition Wired.

ForumDaily Thesis transmits the material of the publication.

But they are not an innovation of the regime of Vladimir Putin, but existed long before he came to power. According to polls of more than a dozen officers and diplomats of American and European intelligence, Russian active measures represent perhaps the greatest challenge to the Western order after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The collection of materials on active measures that Russia uses to influence other countries, according to researchers, dates back to Tsarist Russia and the beginning of the formation of the Soviet Union. He perfected and deployed over the decades to promote Russian interests both domestically and abroad.

One of the first identified operations to use active measures was the publication in 1903 of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, a fabricated anti-Semitic brochure distributed by the Russian Tsarist police, which described the Jewish plot to achieve world domination. The purpose of its dissemination was to create a pretext for Russian anti-Jewish pogroms.

Active Measures Tools

At the broadest level, modern Russian active measures are broken down into at least eight different instruments. Although each of them is important in its own way and, in fact, is self-sufficient, Russia achieves goals by constantly combining them.

Disinformation

Disinformation is a term for so-called information influence operations aimed at changing the political situation. It can include both traditional media in Russia and abroad, and an army of bots on social networks.

At the same time, bots and trolls make up only 10% of the tools used for disinformation. They are used to enhance the wave of information or bullying in social networks.

In addition, this war is fought on a more open level, through Vladimir Putin’s blogs and interviews, which are sometimes published in prestigious American publications, such as The New York Times and the Washington Post.

The Kremlin also funds a number of less visible news publications around the world, often targeted at specific audiences. This policy has not bypassed even church bulletins in Russia and abroad.

According to a report analyzing the impact of Russian disinformation efforts in Central Europe, although Russia could not win the hearts and minds of people in this region, it managed to intimidate and upset them. The goal of Russian propaganda is not necessarily to convince people that the Russian view of the world is correct or that their interpretation of events is better, but rather to destroy and undermine confidence in the Western media.

Sometimes Russia also finds in its informational efforts an unwitting ally, who has become the president of the United States, Donald Trump, who at every opportunity accuses the American media of lying.

Cyber ​​tools

In order to achieve its goals in cyberspace, Russia often uses criminals who previously stole money from banks or credit cards, and, upon the request of the Russian government, spread viruses and collect secret information on computers of countries opposing Russia.

Sometimes employees of the Russian special services and criminals are united for these purposes, as was the case with the breaking of accounts Yahoo. According to American investigators, hacking servers DNC was, apparently, the work of two separate Russian teams: one of the GRU and one of the FSB, who did not know that they were working together, doing the same work. Then they washed the stolen files through Internet leak sites, such as WikiLeaks and DCLeaks, the last of which, according to investigators, was created by the GRU.

But Russia's cyber efforts were not limited to financial fraud and information operations. Russia has repeatedly deployed cyber activities in countries such as Estonia and Ukraine, focusing on damage to infrastructure networks (electrical, online trading portals, etc.).

In addition to attacks on states, Russian cyber operations are steadily pursuing individual critics of the regime.

Фото: Depositphotos

Energy

Russia boasts the world's largest natural gas reserves and the seventh largest oil reserves. Europe has long been dependent on Russian hydrocarbons—about a third of Europe's oil and gas comes from Russian pipelines. Russia actively uses these levers in geopolitics, especially since its largest energy companies, such as Rosneft and Gazprom, are closely connected with Putin’s inner circle.

Since 2006, Russia has repeatedly used gas to put pressure on Ukraine. In the winter of 2009, during a political conflict with Ukraine, Russia sharply reduced the amount of natural gas supplied to this country, which led to a decrease in the efficiency of the pipeline, affecting Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia and Croatia. This step caused immediate crises, as these countries did not have enough gas for heating and for the normal operation of industry.

However, the use of oil and gas in politics was only partially successful. Russia is too dependent on money received from foreign sales of oil and gas, and the steady low cost of oil destroys the Russian economy. In addition, Europe is interested in finding alternative sources of hydrocarbons.

At the same time, Russia and Europe are moving ahead with the construction of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline, which will bypass Eastern Europe and supply natural gas directly to Germany, increasing the country's dependence on Russian exports.

Money

According to the American and European intelligence services, Russia regularly draws cash into peripheral political parties in Europe that could promote pro-Kremlin rhetoric in their country.

In addition, investments from Russian oligarchs also limit the possibilities of European companies, which are often associated with the policies of Western countries.

Violence

Russia has long resorted to beatings or killing opponents of the regime, it began in the days of the USSR. Moreover, this measure is applied both in Russia and abroad.

The purpose of such operations abroad is not to eliminate criticism abroad, but to intimidate the Russian diaspora so that it remains calm and obedient.

Over the past few decades, dozens of Russian officials and critics of Putin have died in suspicious circumstances. Often these murders are arrogant, intended to send messages that Putin will not tolerate public criticism for a long time. In 2006, former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned with radioactive polonium in London. Just a month before Litvinenko’s death, journalist Anna Politkovskaya was shot dead in Moscow on Putin’s birthday.

Most recently, opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was shot practically near the Kremlin.

According to the article, another favorite of the Russian special services is “suspicious suicide,” such as the December death of banker Oleg Zhukovsky, who opposed Kremlin attempts to seize his financial institution. According to the authorities, Zhukovsky killed himself in a very strange way, he tied himself to a chair and rushed into the pool.

Kompromat

While intelligence agencies around the world usually blackmail and use emotional pressure, Russia has long succeeded in using compromising materials, preferring materials of a financial, sexual, or health-related nature. This method may be more likely to make a person cooperate or be silent.

If there is no compromising information from the special services, they will mount it, American journalists write.

Journalists, diplomats, and influential figures visiting Russia warn them to beware of “lures”, people trying to seduce them, or strangers offering deals that seem too good to be true.

Фото: Depositphotos

Espionage

Russia takes advantage of the openness of Western democracies to conduct advanced espionage operations, relying heavily on its UN consular headquarters in New York to hide intelligence agents under diplomatic cover.

In addition, spies are sometimes hidden in society and seem to be completely ordinary people.

In the year of 2010, after a long-term investigation by the FBI, 10 arrested Russian agents who had been undercover for years, working in seemingly apolitical jobs. Other cases have demonstrated the depth and breadth of Russian intelligence operations in the United States. In 2012, the FBI arrested 11 people in Texas on charges of participating in the so-called “Russian military procurement network”, the smuggling of high-tech tools from the United States.

Spies working under diplomatic cover have greater access to documents and secret information.

Diplomacy

Thanks to the old-fashioned diplomacy of praise and money, the Putin government has gathered many Western political allies. In this sphere, Russia is interested in politicians of extreme views: left or right, which are easier to convince and bring to the side of the Russian worldview.

Often this applies not only to politicians, but also to sports and film stars or simply well-known personalities, whose words have an impact on a certain audience.

Traditions

American Wired cites intelligence data that part of what makes these measures effective for Russia is that the Kremlin’s tactics focus not only on Putin’s grand strategic goals, but also on Russia's unique tradition, which is largely different from Western doctrines.

While the technological prowess of American and European intelligence has led these agencies to sometimes forward "intelligence signals"—calls and emails that can be intercepted—Russian intelligence has tended to use human sources and well-placed spies. This is partly due to the fact that Russians, coming from a traditionally closed society where the media acts as an extension of the state, do not trust the means of communication and prefer to communicate through trusted people.

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