CNN: You May Be Unwittingly Spewing Russian Propaganda

In a report bearing all the classic earmarks of the 2020 Hunter Biden-Russian disinformation letter or the Trump-Russiagate investigation  — which the Durham Report later exposed as promoting "a false or exaggerated narrative to the public" — CNN on Friday issued an article reporting that "newly declassified US intelligence" purports to show how Americans may be spewing "laundered" Kremlin propaganda.

But what sets this report apart from others is that, in previous instances, there was always the accusatory notion of conspiring with Russia. But now, some "unwitting US and Western targets" may be guilty of spreading Russian disinformation without even knowing it. In other words, the report undergirds a foundation for a slippery slope toward thought crime.

"Russian intelligence," CNN writes, "is operating a systematic program to launder pro-Kremlin propaganda through private relationships between Russian operatives and unwitting US and Western targets, according to newly declassified US intelligence."

"US intelligence agencies," the report continues, "believe that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) is attempting to influence public policy and public opinion in the West by directing Russian civilians to build relationships with influential US and Western individuals and then disseminate narratives that support Kremlin objectives, obscuring the FSB's role through layers of ostensibly independent actors."

Commenting on the matter, one unnamed U.S. official tells the CNN that "These influence operations are designed to be deliberately small scale, the overall goal being US [and] Western persons presenting these ideas, seemingly organic. The co-optee influence operations are built primarily on personal relationships … they build trust with them and then they can leverage that to covertly push the FSB's agenda."

While not linking to the "declassified US intelligence," CNN reported the official in question did not offer any "specifics to back up the intelligence community’s assertions that the FSB is funding this kind of operation but noted that once officials were able establish FSB backing, it is easy to trace the narratives they are pushing in open-source materials."

The CNN report does point examples of Russian propaganda making its way into the West, such as claims that Nazis embedded in Ukraine's military ranks was Russian propaganda.

"The FSB," CNN adds, "does use similar tactics to influence political opinion within Russia, according to the intelligence. In one instance, a Russian media figure named Anton Tsvetkov organized protests outside of embassies in Moscow — including the US Embassy — at the FSB's behest."

"The protests pushed Russia’s narrative of the war in Ukraine, 'promoting the ‘Ukrainian Nazi’ narrative and blaming the U.S. and its allies for the deaths of children in the Donbass,' while hiding the Russian government’s role, according to the declassified intelligence."

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