Russian President Vladimir Putin is shown on the screen of a camera viewfinder at the new headquarters of the 'Russia Today' television channel in Moscow, Russia on Tuesday, June 11, 2013.
Washington's indictment shines a bright light on the dark corners of Russian disinformation operations
The indictment and its associated documents show a side of Russian influence operations people in the West rarely see, said Roman Osadchuk of the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab in Washington. The affidavit supports the the U.S. Department of Justice's request for the seizure of 32 internet domains and includes descriptions of Russian disinformation projects in both their original Russian and in English.
When dealing with a U.S. audience, "there is no point in justifying Russia and no one to justify it to," Gambashidze wrote in a project proposal called "Project Good Old USA," which was among the supporting documents released by Washington.As a former KGB officer, Putin has always appreciated the value of working in the shadows.
"What's happened in Canada or the U.S. is already disturbing but not yet critical," said English. "In Europe, and also everywhere from Qatar to Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan in particular, we have seen swing elections. We have seen them turn committee decisions in the European Parliament and other institutions of the European Union. No doubt it has been more effective there.
Gambashidze identifies the cost of living as a key pressure point. Americans, he writes, are "suffering from rising prices, primarily for gasoline, historically high inflation and the actual impoverishment of white taxpayers, a significant part of the middle class. Under these circumstances, the recipients of public assistance, unemployed people of color and residents of large cities end up being privileged groups of the population.
But Gambashidze also warns Russian propagandists to take care not to harp too much on Ukraine or Russia-specific matters that could attract attention: "The amount of the highly resonant content and hot topics should not exceed 20 percent of the total volume of all publications."That same tradecraft appears in the Department of Justice indictment and its associated documents.
Those bogus stories — entirely fake webpages not searchable by Google that mimic websites for legitimate news organization like the Washington Post's — gave Doppelganger its name.Doppleganger posts mimicking both U.S. and European media outlets have been appearing online since 2022. A customer looks at refrigerated items at a Grocery Outlet store in Pleasanton, Calif., Sept. 15, 2022. The cost of living was identified as a key pressure point for a Russian-backed influence operation in the U.S.
The Russians don't appear to care much about consistency. Because their goal is to spark conflict and polarize societies, they are often active on both sides of the most controversial issues. But at the same time, Russia appears to support some of the loudest anti-Israel voices on social media, such as pro-Putin U.S. influencerThe same is true of left and right. While Russian disinformation in North America and Europe currently tends to push right-wing and white supremacist themes, in Africa it pushes anti-colonialist narratives that present the West as an arrogant white exploiter.
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