Securing Democracy Dispatch

ASD has updated its Authoritarian Interference Tracker to include a sixth vector of Russia’s and the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) interference in democracies: kinetic operations. ASD defines kinetic operations as “the deliberate use of—or credible threat to use—physical violence and/or physically disruptive actions to undermine security, damage confidence in democratic governance, and/or destabilize democratic society.” Explore these cases and more than 400 additional cases of authoritarian interference in more than 40 transatlantic countries here.

Democracies must respond forcefully to Russia’s—and other authoritarian countries’—increasing use of kinetic operations, which heighten real-world fear and invite further interference campaigns in democratic societies, Research Analyst Etienne Soula and Research Trainee Lea George write.

Russian diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week:

• Oval Office Blowup: Russian government officials and state media celebrated the fallout from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s disastrous meeting with US President Donald Trump last week. In the most shared X post of the week among monitored accounts, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev referred to Zelenskyy as an “insolent pig” and praised Trump for giving him a “proper slap down”. Multiple outlets posted videos of the full exchange, with propagandist Vladimir Soloviev calling Zelenskyy a “cocaine clown” and an “ungrateful pig” who deserved his reprimand from the “owners of the pigsty”. RT gleefully noted that the Oval Office “erupt[ed] in LAUGHTER” after Zelenskyy was questioned about his attire, while a RT en Español reporter added a laughing emoji alongside the pained reaction of Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, who was present for the verbal altercation. RT also amplified a misleading Newsmax segment that claimed that Zelenskyy had already signed away Ukraine’s mineral rights to the United Kingdom, accusing Zelenskyy of “playing both sides”.
• European Reaction: After the verbal altercation in the White House, European leaders’ support for Zelenskyy during an emergency summit in London was portrayed as a “pity party” by Sputnik and a “lackeys summit” by a RT en Español reporter. Medvedev referred to the gathering as an “anti-Trump Russophobic coven to swear allegiance to the Nazi nobodies in Kiev”. With a notable shift in rhetoric, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed that Europe’s desire for more war betrayed Washington’s “common sense”. He also added that “in the last five centuries, all the world’s tragedies have arisen in Europe or have occurred thanks to European policy” and that “Americans did not play any provocative or ‘inflammatory’ role”. 

The PRC’s diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week: 

• Oval Office Blowup: PRC state media outlets provided extensive coverage of the “heated Oval Office meeting” on all monitored platforms, notably diverging from Russian narratives. CGTN blamed “selfish US calculations” for turning Zelenskyy’s trip to the United States into “a farce”. CGTN affiliate T-House added that “Trump’s ultimate purpose is to extract as much concession as possible from Ukraine and Europe”. CGTN TV host Wang Guan released a five-minute video describing the meeting as “shocking, horrendous, humiliating” and “one of the most undiplomatic moments” in history. Some pro-PRC commentators asked their X followers to react to the “blowup” while CGTN Frontline used ChatGPT responses as evidence that the United States consistently backstabs its allies. CGTN Europe also published a scathing TikTok vox pop segment from European streets.
• Tariffs: The spokesperson for the PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) pushed back strongly against the US decision to impose a further 10% tariff on Chinese goods, discarding the “fentanyl issue” as a “flimsy excuse”. The MFA also warned that “bullying does not work on [the PRC]” and that “if war is what the” United States “wants (…) we’re ready to fight till the end”. PRC diplomats in Australia, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sudan, and the United States further relayed this statement. Xinhua produced a video implying that the measures would “tank the US economy”; People’s Daily and CGTN Europe highlighted the poor performance of US stocks; and CGTN America cautioned that “there are never any real winners in a trade war”.

US Cyber Command reportedly ordered to halt plans to target Russia: The US Department of Defense denied widespread media reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed US Cyber Command to suspend offensive cyber operations against Russia. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency also affirmed that it will continue to monitor Russian cyber threats, contrary to media reports that suggested the opposite. Co-Managing Director David Salvo told the Dispatch, “The US government is notoriously tight-lipped about offensive cyber operations, so it’s not surprising that the Pentagon would deny reports that Cyber Command would suspend such operations against Russia. One would also hope there is truth behind the Pentagon’s denial. One way to strengthen deterrence is to signal your capabilities to your adversary, especially when that adversary, Russia, almost certainly has no intention of suspending its own cyber and hybrid operations against the United States.”

Russian state media correspondent briefly accesses Oval Office: A correspondent from Russian state media outlet TASS temporarily gained access to the Oval Office to report on Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy last Friday. The White House maintains that TASS was not on the approved media list and that the correspondent was escorted out, but did not comment on how he was able to enter the Oval Office. Senior Fellow Bret Schafer said, “This is a truly bizarre incident that speaks to a significant lapse in either security or judgment. TASS is a slightly more respectable outlet than, say, RT or Sputnik, but their presence in the Oval Office while Reuters and the Associated Press face bans is not a good look, to put it mildly.”

In Case You Missed It

• Russian, PRC, and other US adversaries’ intelligence services have accelerated their efforts to recruit recently or soon-to-be-fired US national security employees, including on sites like LinkedIn, Reddit, TikTok, and Rednote, according to CNN.
• Romanian authorities arrested six men for allegedly plotting to overthrow Romania’s government and reorient the country’s foreign policy away from the West in consultation with Russian officials.
• The US Department of Justice charged 12 Chinese citizens for involvement in a PRC government-linked “hacker-for-hire” operation whose targets included US government agencies and several American news organizations.
• UK intelligence has responded to at least 20 credible Iranian threats to kidnap or murder UK citizens and residents since 2022, including dissidents, according to UK Security Minister Dan Jarvis.

Bruxelles, je t’aime ? : L’Allemagne a voté – À quoi faut-il s’attendre ? (Brussels, my love?: Germany has voted – What should we expect?) Research Analyst Etienne Soula interviewed on Euronews (in French)

Alman Marshall Fonu yanıtladı: Bir Avrupa ordusu kurulabilir mi? ABD’nin açığını kapatabilir mi? (The German Marshall Fund answered: Could a European army be created? Could it close the deficit of the United States?) Senior Manager for Europe and Fellow Vassilis Ntousas quoted in CNBC-e (in Turkish)

“The end of the war in Ukraine will improve the ability of Russia to engage in hostile activity elsewhere in Europe as it pursues its political objectives by means both fair and foul.”

—The 2025 edition of the Finnish intelligence agency Supo’s National Security Overview report.

The views expressed in GMF publications and commentary are the views of the author alone.