It has been irrefutably established that during the pre-presidential election period in the US in 2016, the Russians penetrated the voting systems through hacking, phishing, attempts at altering electoral rolls, posting false news and ads. It was described as intense and sustained.
It’s been suggested that the current tempo of similar activity is much more subdued. Some credit improved preparation and enhanced cyber tools with which social media companies are successfully combating the Russian digital offensive. However, while the Kremlin’s push on the cyber front seems to have been held back, its cadre of Western agents of influence continues their efforts apace.
Mikk Marran, the director general of the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service at the recent Security Forum in Aspen, Colorado, said that Russia is not dependent just on internet trolls and bots to do its bidding because it has business people, diplomats, journalists, politicians advancing the Kremlin’s agenda. According to Marran some of these individuals have been cultivated for years.
Without identifying any individuals, be they in Estonia, elsewhere in Europe (where some ultra-nationalistic parties are known to have received financial support from Russia), or in the US, Marran says: “Politicians that have been in the margins of local politics some years ago, are actually right now in national parliaments or governments. … What they have provided to those people is media support, political support. They have proposed or provided some exclusive business opportunities. In some cases we have also seen that they have provided some financial aid.”
Marran stated that due to Estonia’s geographic locations the country’s intelligence service does not have the luxury of shifting its information gathering priorities. He acknowledges that many Western states have adjusted the importance of their objects of interest. For Estonia, the focus is still on Russia.
(Pikemalt Eesti Elu 3. augusti paberlehes)