Putin's Asymmetric Assault on Democracy in Russia and Europe: Implications for U.S. National Security

Description

This official U.S. government report reveals how Putin's Russia has interfered in democracy around the world for political advantage and personal benefit. This report begins with an overview of Vladimir Putin's rise to power through the KGB to mayor of St. Petersburg and eventually as head of the Russian state. It explains how Putin used Cold War KGB tactics to weaponizing civil society and Russia's criminal element against the nascent Russian democracy. This campaign included ties to NGOs, thinktanks, extremist political groups, the Russian orthodox church, industrial and energy policy, and the Russian Mafia. In the next phase of the operation, the Kremlin exported this political extortion and corruption to its Eastern European neighbors, then their western partners in the European Union. As it begins to reach America's shores, the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is giving the nation fair warning about this new assault on our political system. Putin's Asymmetric Assault on Democracy in Russia and Europe reveals not only the history of Russia's devastating tactics, but how to recognize and counter them.