Staunton, August 26 – As Moscow’s
geopolitical isolation has increased, Dmitry Khmelnitsky says, the role of its
agents of influence abroad and the enormously variegated organizations that recruit
and direct them has increased far beyond what they were during the Cold War
when anti-communism served as a constraint.
“The Russian network of agents of
influence abroad is extraordinarily broad and differentiated,” the Ukrainian
historian living in Germany says. “It consists of a multitude of organizations
created and financed by Moscow and under social groups and simulating social,
cultural and scholarly activity” (zn.ua/international/kremlevskiy-maskarad-ili-rossiyskie-agenty-vliyaniya-za-granicey-292019_.html).
Some of these organizations are directed
at the local communities; others at emigres from the USSR and Russia, “although
sometimes both these tasks are addressed by one and the same organizations,”
Khmelnitsky continues. But
overwhelmingly, they are specialized and work “with the most varied political,
ethnic, social, cultural and professional communities.”
“Their classification by itself is
worthy of attention because under this format, the Russian special services
work in all the countries of the world.” And in a lengthy article, Khmelnitsky
presents an effort to classify these various groups in order to aid others in
making sense of and then ultimately countering what Moscow is doing.
Since Vladimir Putin came to power,
Moscow has created several major and many minor organizations to work with Russian
and Soviet emigres. Among the most important are the International Council of
Russian Compatriots (founded in 2002), the World Coordinating Council of
Russian Compatriots Living Abroad (set up in 2007), the World Congress of
Russian-Speaking Jewry (established in 2002) and the Russian World Foundation,
a pass-through funding group which now operates more than 200 Russian centers around
the world.
This list, of course, Khmelnitsky says,
“is only the tip of the iceberg. There are also Moscow agencies which … are
involved, beginning with Rossotrudnichestvo, a body that deals with CIS
affairs, compatriots abroad and “international humanitarian cooperation. It was set up in 2008 as the successor to the
Soviet VOKS which was created in 1958.
“In the USSR,” the commentator
continues, “ties with abroad traditionally were within the competence of state
security … In post-Soviet times, this situaiton hasn’t changed and therefore Rosstrudnichestvo
if you will can be considered a bureaucratic subdivision of the FSB.”
It has 95 foreign representations,
and in 62 countries, it operates 72 Russian centers of science and culture. “Besides
propaganda work in the emigration, its tasks include attracting foreigners to
study in Russia.”
“Immediately after Putin came to
power, his government began to undertake a systematic and very successful
effort at subordinating itself the mass media, both inside Russia and of
Russian media abroad.” It bought
existing outlets, like Russkaya mysl
in Paris, transforming them from dissident outlets to pro-Kremlin mouthpieces
and taking their archives to Moscow.
Indeed, today, there are few Russian
media outlets outside Russia that are not loyal to the Kremlin. But in addition
to subordinating to itself pre-existing newspapers and journals, Moscow has
created a large number of new ones. Golos
Germanii is typical. It publishes translations of Moscow articles and the
writing of German agents of influence.
To coordinate all this activity,
Moscow created in June 1999 the World Association of the Russian Press, a group
that has held annual meetings throughout the world and sought to impose a
common agenda on all Russian media regardless of where they are located, Khmelnitsky
continues.
Another arrow in Moscow’s quiver in
this regard is the Russian-Speaking Academic Science Association, a group set
up to cover Moscow’s industrial espionage in the West but also an organization the
Russian authorities use to identify potential agents of influence and to direct
their activities.
And yet a third are the
organizations the Russian special services have set up to work with targeted nations
such as the Germans. Two years ago in
Berlin was opened something called “The Dialogue of Civilizations Research
Institute,” a group headed by Vladimir Yakunin and supposedly independent,
devoted to research and interested in international security.
“But all this generates great
doubts,” Khmelnitsky says. “There is no basis for talking about its
independence, its research or its commitment to international security. In
fact, everything is exactly the reverse. This is just another specific
organization dreamed up specially for work with German political and business
circles” to promote Moscow’s interests.
No comments:
Post a Comment