US sends intelligence report to 100+ countries, says Russia trying to undermine elections

The United States on Friday (October 20) released an intelligence report it said it had sent to more than 100 countries saying that it has found that Russia is trying to undermine democratic elections worldwide. The intelligence report claims that Russia is using social media, spies and its state-run media to erode public faith in the integrity of elections.

"This is a global phenomenon," said the assessment. "Our information indicates that senior Russian government officials, including the Kremlin, see value in this type of influence operation and perceive it to be effective."

Reuters cited an unnamed senior official in the US Department of State who said that Russian attempts to intensify election interference efforts were bolstered by its success in spreading disinformation aboutUS Presidential Elections 2020.

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"Success breeds more, and we definitely see the US elections as a catalyst," the official said.

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There was no immediate reaction from Russia. Currently, relations between the US and Russia are strained over Russian invasion of Ukraine. The US has led Western response to the invasion and has imposed sanctions to isolate Russia globally.

The unnamed US official told Reuters that the intelligence report was sent to other countries in a cable dated Wednesday. The countries include those in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa.

The official reportedly added that Washington was privately briefing recipient governments and shared the assessment "to get ahead of elections that are over the horizon over the next year," the official said.

USA's 'own vulnerability'

Washington "recognizes its own vulnerability to this threat," said the report. It mentions that US intelligence agencies found that "Russian actors spread and amplified information to undermine public confidence in the US 2020 election."

Former US president Donald Trump, who lost to the incumbent Joe Biden in 2020 election has not, to date, conceded his defeat and has maintained that the elections were 'rigged'. His attempts to overturn the election results were rejected by courts across America, including the US Supreme Court. But he has not budged from his position.

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Russia "utilises both overt and covert mechanisms, including influence networks and proxies managed" by Russian spy services, the report said.

As an example, the report mentions how Russia's FSB security service worked behind the scenes in order to organise election day protests, intimidate election workers and "sabotage overseas voting" in an unnamed European country's 2020 election.

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The report said that Russia's state-run media openly made claims that the elections would be undemocratic and "amplified false claims of fraud" in advance of multiple elections in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America between 2020 and 2021.

(With inputs from agencies)

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