WASHINGTON – The US government on Wednesday indicted two Russian nationals and seized more than 30 domain names linked to websites. A campaign to influence American elections.
But a trove of information filed in court by the FBI also revealed another bombshell: a Russian operation aimed at trafficking politicians, businessmen, journalists and other influential people in Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.
The Kremlin’s campaign in Europe was aimed at sowing division, discrediting America and undermining support for Ukraine, according to Russian documents, memos and a series of Russian psychological warfare meetings.
The documents were obtained by the FBI and entered into an affidavit as part of Wednesday’s indictment. 277 page file Details of Russian plans to win the hearts and minds of Europeans.
Fake sites of Le Monde and Le Parisien
A memo from the Social Design Agency, a Russian tech company, describes a plan to target people through social media posts and comments. Bots A platform responsible for content filtering.
The Social Design Agency is operating under the orders of Sergei Kiriyenko, Vladimir Putin’s deputy chief of staff, according to an FBI affidavit.
The Russian document states that the campaign aims to “eliminate the public from rational reactions (such as “Why should we help Ukraine?”) and emotional reactions (such as “Americans are real bastards!” )”.
Psychological operations also rely on so-called “doppelgänger” domain names (like look in French) to disseminate false articles and content, to make them appear to come from Western press outlets.
The domain names included counterfeits of Reuters, Der Spiegel, Bild, Le Monde, Le Parisien, Welt, FAZ, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Delfi and others and were paid with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, according to an FBI sworn statement.
“Intensify internal tension”
The Russian team that mounted the psychological operation identified Germany as a particularly vulnerable target for Kremlin influence.
Regarding the Federal Republic’s economic dependence on Russian gas and exports, one of the Russian documents reads, “The Germans are more dependent than the French.”
According to an internal Russian memo cited by the FBI, “first and foremost, we must discredit the United States, Great Britain and NATO, and then” persuade the Germans to oppose an “effective sanctions policy.”
Another Social Design Agency document describes an operation called “incitement of international conflict” that specifically targets France and Germany.
Its aim: “intensify internal tensions (…) to promote the interests of the Russian Federation” and “influence real conflicts and artificially create conflict situations” through fake articles, influencers, as well as targeted messages and comments on social networks.
The Russian document adds that the aim was to “destabilize the social situation” in France and Germany by “disseminating additional false narratives”, “false documents, videos and recordings of telephone conversations”, “comments on social networks” and “fake and real”. Quotes from Influencers”
This article was first published in English by POLITICO and edited in French by Jean-Christophe Catalon..
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