The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has reportedly concluded that Russia intervened in the U.S. election with the aim of helping Donald Trump win the presidency. While Russias meddling in American politics may come as a shock to some, such tactics have been part and parcel of the Kremlins influence strategy in the post-socialist space and increasingly in Western democracies for a while now under President Vladimir Putin. As Putin seeks to reaffirm Russias place in the world, cultivating political connections with allies in the West is key to his influence strategy. Now that Trump won, the Kremlin will likely accelerate its overtures toward populist candidates who are critical of NATO, the European Union and the U.S. all of which Russia views as threats. And the populists will be, as they have been, more than happy to return the affection. The Kremlin has been churning out propaganda supporting European populists through statesponsored media (RT and Sputnik), internet trolls and fake news creators. While the documented funding of trolls and fake news creators is more opaque, since Putins been in power, Russia has openly funneled millions towards RT and Sputnik, which both operate in multiple European languages. Just this week, RT received $19 million from the Russian government in order to start a French-language channel. These disinformation propaganda tools are reminiscent of the active measures that the Soviet Union took to infiltrate and manipulate Western politics in the Cold War era. And then, of course, theres hacking. Germanys domestic intelligence agencysaid last week that Russia is undermining the countrys upcoming fall election with increasing cyberattacks and cyberspying. The head of the agency said that material hacked from the German Parliament, published recently by WikiLeaks, came from the same Russian group that hacked the U.S. Democratic National Committee. Populism would be rising in Europe on its own without Russias support, due to a variety of reasons. But Russias support is evident. Russian flags wave high at Germanys antiIslam PEGIDA rallies while the Russian state-sponsored mediaregularly broadcastslive coverage of the movements demonstrations. And Germanys euroskeptic Alternative for Germany partys youth wing hasformed an alliance with Putins United Russia partys youth movement. Meanwhile, in France,intelligence officials also claim Russia may be interfering in its own upcoming election, which will be held in April. The leader of Frances far-right National Front party, Marine Le Pen, is a darling of the Russian state-sponsored media and isreceived at the highest levels of the Kremlin. In 2014, a Moscow-based bankfunded the National Front with a 9 million euro loan, and this year, Le Pen publiclyasked Russia for an additional 27 million euro loan. And Le Pen is returning the love,hailingPutin as a patriot and defender of common Christian values. She haspraisedRussias brutal intervention in Syria, blaming the escalation in the conflict on the EU while commending Russias bombing campaigns, which have contributed to massive civilian bloodshed and have exacerbated Europes refugee crisis. The National Front also ardently supported Putins annexation of Crimea
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in 2014 an act not recognized by any international body or Western country.
The Kremlin has also aligned itself with populist candidates and parties in Italy, the U.K., Austria, Bulgaria and beyond. Hungarys far-right partys member of the European Parliament, Bela Kovacs, is evenunder investigation for allegedly spying for the Russians, earning him the nickname KGBela. European leaders must not stand by while a malign foreign government seeks to interfere in domestic politics. Western democracies cannot beat an authoritarian regime at its own game, nor should they. A response to Russian influence in politics should thus be grounded in Western values of openness and transparency. European governments and the EU should take the following steps to get ahead of Russias interfering: 1. Fund efforts by civil society groups and independent media to expose the Kremlins meddling. Investigative work is costly, and independent media in the West is already under threat. To support the work of independent organizations, the EU should establish a counter-influence task force that would coordinate the work of intelligence agencies and function as an information hub by releasing declassified research to civil society groups.
Atlantic Council
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