Latest Russian Collusion Targets Democrat Bernie Sanders
Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders is the latest target of Russian cyberwarfare. (Flickr)
U.S. officials told Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders that the Russian government is working to help him secure the Democratic presidential nomination, as reported by the Washington Post on February 21. The report came right before Sanders’s landslide victory in the Nevada primary. Sanders has also emerged victorious in Iowa and New Hampshire, making him an early favorite for the Democratic nomination.
The revelation comes shortly after an election security official from the Office of National Security briefed lawmakers in a classified meeting that Russian forces are also attempting to help Donald Trump win reelection.
It is not yet clear how Russia has supported the two opposing candidates. U.S. prosecutors discovered in 2016 that the Kremlin had used social media to boost Sanders’s campaign against then frontrunner Hillary Clinton. This intervention via popular social media platforms was part of a broader effort to sow dissent in the U.S. electorate, proliferate disinformation about the Clinton campaign, and help elect Trump to the office of the presidency, according to the Washington Post.
In reaction to the news, Sanders said, “I don’t care, frankly. Who Putin wants to be president?” referring to long-time Russian President Vladimir Putin. “My message to Putin is clear: stay out of American elections, and as president, I will make sure that you do.”
Disinformation campaigns are nothing new for Russia. Since the Cold War, Russia has engaged in what is known as “dezinformatsiya,” according to senior editor Michael Weiss of the Daily Beast. Disinformation was one of Russia’s most potent “active measure” tools during the Cold War era and was used by Soviet intelligence to sow discord among allies perceived as hostile to Russia.
Russia’s latest active measure is targeted at the United States and democracy in the West as a whole. Jessica Brandt, head of policy and research for the Alliance for Securing Democracy, argues that the latest news surrounding a nexus between Russia and Bernie Sanders “is part of Russia’s much broader effort to cast democracies as feckless, ineffective, and corrupt. In other words, to dent democracy’s appeal.”
Many election analysts say that Russia’s endorsement of Sanders is merely a way to divide the Democratic electorate and cause chaos. Some current and former officials expressed doubt that Russian officials are in support of Sanders and postulate instead that the disinformation campaign is aimed ultimately at aiding Trump and tearing at the strings of democracy.
Experts have yet to determine the full extent of Russian interference in the 2016 election. However, they agree that the impact of the Kremlin’s actions were vast. In the midst of the primaries for the 2020 election, it appears that Russia is once again engaging in the same fraudulent tactics that caused chaos and polarization in 2016.