The United States believes Russian intelligence agencies have worked closely with the editorial staff of five Russian-language media outlets to build public support for a new Moscow invasion of Ukraine, US officials familiar with the intelligence assessment told GLM. , at a press conference.
Officials from Russia’s domestic and international intelligence agencies — the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) — have infiltrated various publications with articles blaming the West for tensions with Russia over Ukraine, they question the legitimacy of the government in Kyiv and challenge the United States’ commitment to its European allies, US officials charged.
One pillar of the alleged propaganda scheme is the Strategic Culture Foundation, a Russian magazine that the US Treasury Department sanctioned last April for spreading disinformation on the 2020 US election, according to authorities.
US officials did not show the underlying intelligence evidence on which the allegations are based. They also refused to describe how the information was obtained. Some of the data was corroborated with open source reports.
The United States speaks of disinformation campaign in Ukraine
Tension between Russia and Ukraine grows, what will happen?The revelation is part of a furious effort by the Biden administration to declassify intelligence information in hopes of preempting Russian military action in Ukraine. Something Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other US officials have warned could happen at any time. Indeed, Russia has massed roughly 130,000 troops on the Ukrainian border, according to two sources familiar with recent assessments.
The disinformation campaign “is a main vector for how the Russian government will bolster domestic support for an invasion of Ukraine. As well as spreading any disinformation about a false flag operation,” a US official authorized to speak behind the scenes to the media told GLM.
Neither the Strategic Culture Foundation nor the Russian Embassy in Washington responded to a request for comment. Moscow has previously denied US accusations that the Kremlin spreads disinformation.
The declassified US assessment reflects the views of government agencies and their allies, the officials said. And they also said it sheds light on how US spy agencies view the mix of Russian publishers and intelligence agents.
US officials say that Vladimir Maximenko, director of the Strategic Culture Foundation, has met in person with his handlers at the SVR and that publications controlled by Maximenko — known as Fondsk and Odna Rodyna — have spread disinformation about Ukraine. Neither Fondsk nor Odna Rodyna responded to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, the Russian intelligence agency, the FSB, pulls the strings for well-known media outlets such as News Front, Antifaschst and Politnavigator, according to US intelligence. Coordination is so tight that known FSB officials tell magazines when to publish articles and when to remove certain content, according to US officials.
US Department of the Treasury sanctions News Front
Will Putin attack Ukraine? 2:59The US Treasury Department sanctioned Crimea-based News Front last year for spreading disinformation. In addition to Russian, the outlet publishes in English, Polish and other languages in an effort to reach a wide audience.
News Front is run by Konstantin Knyrik, who has been active for years in Crimea, territory Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. US officials point out that senior FSB officials have praised Knyrik for spreading disinformation in Ukraine.
News Front did not respond to a request for comment on the US allegations against Knyrik.
Biden administration officials have aggressively pursued alleged Russian machinations in Ukraine in recent weeks. Even speaking publicly about the alleged Russian plans to make a video, full of actors and corpses, showing a fake attack on Russia as a pretext to invade Ukraine.
“The costs of inaction at this point are likely to outweigh any risk” to the US intelligence community in revealing intelligence about Russian activities in Ukraine, said Gavin Wilde, a former Russia-focused National Security Council official.
“The Biden administration is creating as much friction as it can. And I think that’s a positive development that I hope will carry forward,” Wilde, who is now a management consultant at the Krebs Stamos Group, told GLM.