US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — In order to influence the outcome of the American presidential election, Moscow may secretly advise candidates, according to the FBI and the Ministry of Homeland Security.
The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI warned U.S. authorities this year that Russia could try to intervene in the 2020 US election. About this writes the Associated Press, at the disposal of which was a report of departments.
The report, dated February 3, is positioned as a “reference guide” and is called “Possible Tactics of Russia before the 2020 Presidential Election”. The document, in particular, states that Moscow may try to secretly advise candidates and make recommendations for their election campaigns.
Since the report was prepared before the outbreak of coronavirus, it does not reflect how a pandemic can affect tactics that Russia can use to interfere in elections, AP said.
The document describes Russia’s possible tactics for influencing the presidential election this year. The threats emanating from Moscow are divided into “high” and “moderate”. High risks include hacking mail and information leaks, as was the case in 2016 when letters from Hillary Clinton, a Democratic candidate, were published by WikiLeaks.
Other examples of “high” threats are pressure on Washington through economic and business leverage, the use of “state-controlled media weapons to distribute election narratives to the target audience” and a social media campaign to influence the opinions of American voters.
“Moderate” threats include the manipulation of electoral infrastructure, such as voter databases and vote counting systems, as well as the provision of financial support to US political candidates or campaigns.
The possibility that the Kremlin could secretly advise candidates and campaigns is also described as a moderate threat. The document emphasizes that such tactics have never been used by Russia in the United States, but it is noted that Russian political strategists, allegedly working for Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is often called the “cook of Vladimir Putin” by the media, “were involved in the political campaign in about 20 African countries for 2019″.
At the same time, specific policies that Russia could support with its actions are not indicated in the note. “Russia has used the situation in those countries where there are loopholes in laws to prevent foreign interference in political companies,” the authors of the report note.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to the agency’s request, and an FBI spokesman declined to comment.
U.S. officials have repeatedly accused Russia of interfering in the 2016 elections. Russia denies this. Sanctions were imposed against a number of Russian citizens and companies because of these charges, including against Prigogine.
US presidential elections scheduled for November. By early April, the only Democratic candidate to rival incumbent President Donald Trump was former vice president Joe Biden.
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