This Minority Staff Report was prepared for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the U.S. Senate's 115th Congress, 2nd Session, January 10, 2018, released by Senator Feinstein (Ca). Nearly 20 years ago, Vladimir Putin gained and solidified power by exploiting blackmail, fears of terrorism, and war. Since then, he has combined military adventurism and aggression abroad with propaganda and political repression at home, to persuade a domestic audience that he is restoring Russia to greatness and a respected position on the world stage. All the while, he has empowered the state security services and employed them to consolidate his hold on the levers of political, social, and economic power, which he has used to make himself and a circle of loyalists extraordinarily wealthy.
Democracies like the United States and those in Europe present three distinct challenges to Mr. Putin. First, the sanctions they have collectively placed on his regime for its illegal occupation of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine threaten the ill-gotten wealth of his loyalists and hamper their extravagant lifestyles. Second, Mr. Putin sees successful democracies, especially those along Russia’s periphery, as threats to his regime because they present an attractive alternative to his corrupt and criminal rule. Third, democracies with transparent governments, the rule of law, a free media, and engaged citizens are naturally more resilient to the spread of corruption beyond Russia’s borders, thereby limiting the opportunities for the further enrichment of Putin and his chosen elite. Mr. Putin has thus made it a priority of his regime to attack the
democracies of Europe and the United States and undermine the transatlantic alliance upon which Europe’s peace and prosperity have depended upon for over 70 years. He has used the security services, the media, public and private companies, organized criminal groups, and social and religious organizations to spread malicious disinformation, interfere in elections, fuel corruption, threaten energy security, and more. At their most extreme, the Russian government’s security services have been used to harass and even assassinate political enemies at home and abroad; cheat at the Olympic Games; and protect and exploit cybercriminals in Russia who attack American businesses and steal the financial information of American consumers. Mr. Putin resorts to the use of these asymmetric tools to achieve his goals because he is operating from a position of weakness—hobbled by a faltering economy, a substandard military, and few followers on the world stage.
The tactics that Putin has deployed to undermine democracies abroad were developed at home, and over nearly two decades he has used them against the Russian people with increased impunity. The result has been hundreds of billions of dollars stolen and spirited away abroad, all while independent media and civil society, elections, political parties, and cultural institutions have been manipulated and suppressed, significantly hindering effective domestic opposition to Putin’s regime.
While consolidating his grip on power at home, Mr. Putin oversaw an opportunistic expansion of malign influence operations abroad, targeting vulnerable states on Russia’s periphery, as well as countries in Western institutions like the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Kremlin has substantially increased its investments in propaganda outlets beyond Russia’s borders, funded and supported nongovernmental organizations and political parties that advanced Mr. Putin’s anti-EU and anti-NATO agenda, nationalized mafia groups to help launder money and commit other crimes for the state abroad, and used its near-monopoly over energy supplies in some countries to exert influence and spread corruption.
In semi-consolidated democracies and transitional governments on Russia’s periphery, the Kremlin most aggressively targets states that seek to integrate with the EU and NATO or present an opportunity to weaken those institutions from within. For example, as Georgia and Ukraine moved closer to these institutions, the Russian government attacked them with cyber warfare, disinformation campaigns, and military force. When the Kremlin’s attempt to politically influence Montenegro’s election failed, its security services allegedly tried to launch a coup. In Serbia, the Kremlin exploits cultural connections and leverages its near monopoly on energy supplies to attempt to slow down or derail the country’s Western integration efforts. And though they are in the EU and NATO, countries like Hungary and Bulgaria face acute challenges from the Russian government, which exerts significant influence in politics, business, and the energy sector. Despite some efforts to counter
Russian malign influence, these countries remain significantly vulnerable to the Kremlin’s corrupt agenda. In consolidated democracies within the EU and NATO, the Russian government seeks to undermine support for sanctions against Russia, interfere in elections through overt or covert support of sympathetic political parties and the spread of disinformation, and sow discord and confusion by exacerbating existing social and political divisions through disinformation and cultivated ideological groups. This group of countries has developed several effective countermeasures that both deter Russian government behavior and build societal resilience. As it crafts its response, the United States should look to these lessons learned:
• The United Kingdom has made a point to publicly chastise the Russian government for its meddling in democracies, and moved to strengthen cybersecurity and electoral processes.
• Germany pre-empted Kremlin interference in its national election with a strong warning of consequences, an agreement among political parties not to use bots or paid trolls, and close cyber cooperation between the government and political campaigns.
• Spain has led Europe in cracking down on Russia-based organized crime groups that use the country as an operational base and node for money laundering and other crimes.
• France has fostered strong cooperation between government, political, and media actors to blunt the impact of the Kremlin’s cyber-hacking and smear campaigns.
• The Nordic states have largely adopted a ‘‘whole of society’’ approach against Mr. Putin’s malign influence operations, involving the government, civil society, the media, and the private sector, with an emphasis on teaching critical thinking and media literacy.
• The Baltic states have kept their publics well-informed of the malicious activities of Russia’s security services, strengthened defenses against cyberattacks and disinformation, and diversified energy supplies to reduce dependence on Russia.
The recommendations below are based on a review of Mr. Putin’s efforts to undermine democracy in Europe and effective responses to date. By implementing these recommendations, the United States can better defend against and deter the Kremlin’s malign influence operations, and strengthen international norms and values to prevent such behavior by Russia and other states.
Read full report. Well done and useful.
Original working URL: https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FinalRR.pdf
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