U.S.: RUSSIA FANS DOUBTS ABOUT ELECTION INTEGRITY
State Dept. cable says efforts extend to several nations
Russia’s long-running efforts to weaken the world’s democracies have expanded in recent years to sow public doubt in election integrity, according to a declassified State Department cable disclosed Friday, which says the U.S. intelligence community found evidence that Russian actors made a concerted effort to undermine faith in the voting process in at least nine countries, including the United States, between 2020 and 2022.
During that period, the intelligence community also found that, in 17 additional countries, there was “a less pronounced level” of Russian social media activity and other “messaging” aimed at amplifying preexisting domestic narratives questioning election integrity.
The U.S. intelligence community has routinely highlighted what it portrays as Moscow’s ongoing scheme to subvert elections and destabilize democratic countries, but the State Department cable said that such tactics appear to be evolving with a specific goal of eroding trust in the basic administration of elections.
The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Notably, the document says there is little evidence that the Chinese government is similarly focused.
The cable, dated Wednesday, is intended to be shared with the governments of more than 100 democracies, a senior State Department official said on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive internal effort. U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials plan to meet with partner nations to detail the threats to their election systems posed by Russia, potentially with an eye to encouraging other countries to expel Russian diplomats or take other measures to try to combat the efforts.
“Our insights suggest that Russia is focused on carrying out operations to break public confidence in election integrity, and that they are doing this on a global scale,” a senior U.S. intelligence official said, also speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Our information indicates that senior Russian government officials, including in the Kremlin, see value in this type of influence operation and perceive it to be effective in undermining confidence in the outcomes and legitimacy of the elected government.”
The cable cited an example of one 2020 election in an unidentified European country in which the Russian Federal Service Security Service, also known as the FSB, covertly attempted through proxies to deploy agitators to intimidate campaign workers, organized protests on the election day, and sabotaged overseas voting.
During a 2022 election in an unidentified South American country, the cable said, Russia used the messaging app Telegram to seed false coverage of alleged fraud, and Russian “trolls” used multiple social media platforms to “amplify concerns about post-election instability.”
The cable did not cite specific countries. The Russian government has denied that it seeks to subvert other countries’ elections.