WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The United States on Friday released a U.S. intelligence assessment sent to more than 100 countries that found Moscow is using spies, social media and Russian state-run media to erode public faith in the integrity of democratic elections worldwide.

“This is a global phenomenon,” said the assessment. “Our information indicates that senior Russian government officials, including the Kremlin, see value in this type of influence operation and perceive it to be effective.”

A senior State Department official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said that Russia was encouraged to intensify its election influence operations by its success in amplifying disinformation about the 2020 U.S. election and the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    9 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    The assessment was sent in a State Department cable dated Wednesday to more than 100 U.S. embassies in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa for distribution to their host governments, he said.

    The report represents Washington’s latest move to combat what it says are Moscow’s efforts “to sow instability” in democratic countries by portraying elections as “dysfunctional, and resulting governments as illegitimate.”

    Washington “recognizes its own vulnerability to this threat,” said the report, noting that U.S. intelligence agencies found that “Russian actors spread and amplified information to undermine public confidence in the U.S. 2020 election.”

    U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, in 2020 beat his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, who refuses to accept the results, falsely claiming that he lost due to fraud.

    Concerted Russian operations between 2020 and 2022 sought to “undermine public confidence in at least 11 elections across nine democracies, including the United States,” the report said, adding 17 others were targeted by “less pronounced” efforts.

    Russia “utilizes both overt and covert mechanisms, including influence networks and proxies managed” by Russian spy services, the report said.


    The original article contains 531 words, the summary contains 179 words. Saved 66%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • Number1SummerJam@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I stayed in a hotel recently and was browsing the channels on the tv. There were about 50 channels, all of them completely normal, but one stood out. Why the fuck was RT one of the few news channels on cable tv in an American city? RT is a Russian propaganda weapon and they’re trying to influence Americans by broadcasting here.

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    9 months ago

    I mean, yeah. But as it turns out, so do we. If you have a chance, read The Jakarta Method, it’s a real eye opener. The CIA bastards that brought slavery back to Guatemala and overthrew the democratically elected government there (either at the behest of United Fruit or because we just really think slavery is cool) did a fucking jig because they were so pleased with themselves. You’re fooling yourself if you think Russia is the only player in the game (and they ARE playing this game) promoting insane right-wing authoritarianism; I could just about guarantee we’re doing the very same.

    • gsfraley@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      That’s true, but whataboutism is a tried and true tactic to deflect attention from Russia. We can do both. Fuck Russia for doing this now, and we should fuck ourselves/hold ourselves accountable and advocate for better transparency.

      But this is an article about Russia, now’s not the time for tangents.