Something is amiss when FBI agents are forced to resort to using Google to interview suspected Russian spies. Unlike China’s American-based Confucius Centers which support its spy operations in the US, few in the American public are familiar with Russia’s version – the Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots of the US (known colloquially by its Russian acronym KSORS). For several years the FBI has been investigating people connected to this diaspora group, including conducting searches of their homes and offices. The ongoing investigation, apparently opened before 2018, is looking at Russian funding of the organization across the entire United States. Foreign influence operations in the US are not uncommon. What is troubling are the amounts and types of resources Russia is pouring into its clandestine influence operations in the US while at the same time the American intelligence community is constrained by limited funding and legal restrictions that hamstring its efforts to protect the country. Russia’s President Putin, a former intelligence officer, is well aware of how the United States operates and is employing that knowledge in a soft power campaign against Washington.
Alexander Reid Ross, writing in The Daily Beast, notes one KSORS interviewee said: “Yes! People from the FBI came to me. But it was not very serious. They did not take a translator and we used Google. That was funny.” It’s outrageous that pro-Russian intelligence elements do not view our efforts seriously at a time of heightened tension between the two countries! National security risk increases when America’s foreign adversaries feel safe ignoring our military strength and political leadership. This, however, is not the first instance. In 2014, during the Obama Administration, Russia occupied the Crimean region of the Ukraine. The Russian government, at the same time, decided to enhance its active measures against the United States by creating a “Fifth Column” in this country. It forcefully inserted personnel into KSORS who agreed to work with the Russian Embassy in Washington to advance the Kremlin’s interests. They, in essence, took over the organization to create an expansive subversive, clandestine network operating freely across the United States.
“Critics among Russian-speaking diaspora groups in the United States claim that KSORS became increasingly adversarial amid the escalation of tensions during Russia’s occupation of the Crimea” says Ross. Former KSORS chair Igor Baboshkin was forced to leave the group when he refused instructions to sign a statement supporting the Russian invasion of the Crimea. According to Kseniya Kirilova, of the Jamestown Foundation, at issue is how to differentiate Russian propaganda and misinformation operations from true cultural exchange programs. You Tube has footage of a Sacramento, CA area camp run by KSORS members who are teaching children military-style training . Another related Russian language You Tube video taken in Pine Bush, New York shows American children and adults involved in KSORS celebrating Russian military victories in Soviet uniforms and with weapons. It is not an innocent cultural exchange organization. Recently many KSORS members, including several of it 10 council leaders, sold their homes in the US and returned to Russia, citing a myriad of reasons, although none admitted its was due to the FBI’s investigation of the group.
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According to the Robert Lansing Institute, Putin also “is seeking to set up alternative interaction channels with the West via the European monarchies” in a great power competition that is increasing in intensity over the last few years. It notes that “The Federation of Russian Parties in Europe includes four existing Russian parties of the EU (Association for Human Rights in United Latvia, Union of Russians in Lithuania, Russian Party of Estonia, Party for the Defense of Russophonia of France). All those “parties” were created by Moscow to further its interests in Europe and exist solely due to its financial support.” This is a coordinated effort by Moscow inside western democracies and needs to be recognized as such as it is not a benign movement.
Daria Novak provides insights on Russia each Thursday.