Russia launders propaganda through unwitting Western influencers
Russian intelligence is cultivating ties to a network of influential individuals in the United States and Europe to launder pro-Kremlin propaganda through seemingly independent and domestic voices, according to declassified US intelligence. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) is trying to influence Western public opinion and policy through these “deliberately small scale” operations that are designed to manipulate unwitting individuals into promoting Russian government talking points. In one instance, the FSB directed a project that sponsored US and European journalists to visit Ukraine to learn “the alleged truth” about what was happening in the country. In another example cited by US intelligence officials, a Russian organization was directed by the FSB to build a network of “future Western leaders” within think tanks and academia.