U.S. – Russia relations April 2024 –

Right-wing influencers were duped to work for covert Russian influence operation, US says
(AP) — They have millions of followers online. They have been major players in right-wing political discourse since Donald Trump was president. And they worked unknowingly for a company that was a front for a Russian influence operation, U.S. prosecutors say.
An indictment filed Wednesday alleges a media company linked to six conservative influencers — including well-known personalities Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson — was secretly funded by Russian state media employees to churn out English-language videos that were “often consistent” with the Kremlin’s “interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions in order to weaken U.S. opposition” to Russian interests, like its war in Ukraine.
In addition to marking the third straight presidential election in which U.S. authorities have unveiled politically charged details about Russia’s attempted interference in U.S. politics, an indictment indicates how Moscow may be attempting to capitalize on the skyrocketing popularity of right-wing podcasters, livestreamers and other content creators who have found successful careers on social media in the years since Trump was in office.
The U.S. Justice Department doesn’t allege any wrongdoing by the influencers, some of whom it says were given false information about the source of the company’s funding. Instead, it accuses two employees of RT, a Russian state media company, of funneling nearly $10 million to a Tennessee-based content creation company for Russia-friendly content.
13 September 2022
US: Russia spent $300M to covertly influence world politics

1-3 August

Inside the Secret Negotiations to Free Evan Gershkovich
(WSJ) The effort to bring home The Wall Street Journal reporter and others unfolded on three continents, involving spy agencies, billionaires, political power players and his fiercest advocate—his mother

Long Johns, Forensics and a Bound Russian Killer: Inside the Big Prisoner Swap
The complex choreography caught some prisoners being freed in their robes and slippers, unaware of their fates, and required forensic experts to make positive identifications.
(NYT) This account of the tense hours surrounding the exchange — the biggest between Moscow and the West since the Cold War — is based on new details revealed by Western government officials involved in the process, and on early testimony from the Russian political prisoners released as part of the deal.
The swap [involved]…a complex seven-country deal that required intricate planning and timing. The successful transfer highlighted the ability of some of the world’s most powerful intelligence agencies to cooperate on a distinct operation of shared interest, even as Russia and the West engage in a tense standoff over the war in Ukraine.
… Last month, C.I.A. officers met with F.S.B. counterparts in Turkey to agree on the final terms of the swap, and also to plan the dizzying logistics for how it could actually be carried out on the tarmac in Ankara.
But even in the final hours, the Western officials said, the Americans and Germans worried that something could go wrong — for example, that Russia might not deliver the agreed-upon roster of prisoners or swap in look-alikes.
US and Russia complete biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history, freeing Gershkovich and Whelan
(AP) — The United States and Russia completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history on Thursday, with Moscow releasing journalist Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan, along with dissidents including Vladimir Kara-Murza, in a multinational deal that set two dozen people free.
The trade unfolded despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at their lowest point since the Cold War . Negotiators in backchannel talks at one point explored an exchange involving Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny but after his death in February ultimately stitched together a 24-person deal that required significant concessions from European allies, including the release of a Russian assassin, and secured freedom for a cluster of journalists, suspected spies, political prisoners and others.
Evan Gershkovich release: Biden and Harris greet Americans freed after prisoner swap
Emotional scenes at Andrews air force base as Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva step onto American soil
How Evan Gershkovich was finally freed after a 500-day odyssey in Russia’s prison system
Gershkovich was the first reporter to be charged with espionage since the cold war, and Putin barely hid his aim
(The Guardian) Evan Gershkovich was on a reporting trip deep in the Russian regions when the FSB came for him. The Wall Street Journal reporter was in Yekaterinburg, more than 850 miles from the Russian capital, when agents approached his table at a local bistro. As they frog-marched him out of the restaurant, the officers pulled Gershkovich’s shirt over his head to obscure his identity, witnesses said. The signal was clear: this was no ordinary arrest.
That began a nearly 500-day odyssey in Russia’s notorious prison system for Gershkovich, the first reporter to be arrested and charged with espionage since the cold war. The Russian government said Gershkovich had been recruited by the CIA to collect information about the country’s larger producer of main battle tanks, Uralvagonzavod.
The Kremlin Gets What It Wants
The release of journalists and dissidents is unequivocally good news—but the grubby reality is that the Russians have engaged in successful hostage-taking.
By Tom Nichols
(The Atlantic) Russia and its junior partner, Belarus, have agreed to a prisoner exchange with the United States and Germany. The deal includes the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, the retired U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, and the Russian British journalist and Kremlin opponent Vladimir Kara-Murza among the people who are being released after arrests and convictions on various charges. Some Russian dissidents, including allies of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny—who himself died in a Russian prison—were also freed and allowed to leave the country.
The Russians, for their part, are going to get their usual basket of criminals, including Vadim Krasikov*, a colonel in the Russian intelligence services who was sentenced to life in a German prison after carrying out a Kremlin-ordered hit on a Russian dissident in Berlin. Moscow’s shopping list also reportedly includes a Russian money launderer now in an American prison and two Russian spies caught in Slovenia.
*[Vadim Krasikov: who is Russian hitman linked to Navalny prisoner swap claim? – Allies of Russian opposition leader say he was killed to thwart exchange with FSB colonel jailed in Germany]
Today’s exchange is not a deal to trade professional intelligence officers as part of some romantic Cold War drama. No one is going to do a Bridge of Spies walk to freedom. (The hostages were flown to Ankara, where both sides agreed to meet and trade their prisoners.) The grubby reality is that the Russians have engaged in successful hostage-taking: They have arrested people on minor or trumped-up charges, and then agreed to free them in return for some very bad people the Kremlin wants to bring back to Russia. Krasikov, for one, will likely go home to “a hero’s welcome,” according to the investigative journalist Christo Grozev (who was reportedly involved in the negotiations). It’s that simple.
Trump congratulates Putin over deal that brought Evan Gershkovich home
(WaPo) Former president Donald Trump congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin over a prisoner swap that took place this week, saying the Russian strongman had outsmarted U.S. officials as part of the largest such deal since the end of the Cold War.

1 August
Foreign Interference in U.S. Election Heats Up
Russia and Iran aim to sow discord in the 2024 presidential race, officials warn.
(Foreign Policy) The U.S. intelligence community expects that Iran and Russia are adjusting their disinformation strategies to undermine democratic institutions, foment discord, and change public opinion in light of last month’s events, said a U.S. intelligence official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity based on ground rules set by the intelligence community.
– Russia is heavily leaning into right-wing conspiracy theories, including about the Trump assassination attempt, but said that the Kremlin expresses no clear preference for Trump in their efforts.
– Scaling up. The scale of foreign disinformation targeting U.S. elections is growing, especially with artificial intelligence powering it, and it’s getting more sophisticated, too.
– The U.S. intelligence official said foreign actors, especially Russia, are getting more professional, including by co-opting marketing and public relations firms to try to shape U.S. public opinion with fake websites and campaigns, even though Western authorities are catching up.