Russian psychological warriors identified Germany as a particularly vulnerable target for Moscow's influence, U.S. law enforcement says.
The U.S. government on Wednesday indicted two Russian citizens and seized more than 30 internet domains related to a campaign to influence the American election. But the trove of information filed in court by the FBI also revealed another bombshell: A Russian operation to manipulate German, French, Italian and U.K. politicians, businesspeople, journalists and other influencers. The goal of the Kremlin's campaign in Europe was to sow division, discredit America and undermine support for Ukraine, according to a host of Russian documents, memos and minutes from Russian psychological warfare meetings.
The documents were obtained by the FBI and filed in a court affidavit as part of Wednesday's indictments. The 277-page dossier https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-09/doppelganger_affidavit_9.4.24.pdf details Russian plans to win over Europeans’ hearts and minds.
The Russian document says the goal of the campaign is to “evoke in the audience rational (such as, ‘really, why do WE need to help Ukraine?’) and emotional (such as, ‘Americans are such scumbags!’) reactions.”
The psy-ops also relied on so-called doppelgänger domains to spread fake articles and content made to look like they came from Western media outlets.
The domains included fakes of Reuters, Der Spiegel, Bild, Le Monde, Le Parisien, Welt, FAZ, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Delfi and others, and were paid for with cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, according to the FBI affidavit.
