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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAnd in the latest Russian election rigging news...
FSBs infiltration of political party Parnas aimed at Norway
It sounds like a crime novel. And clearly, it has the elements of a scary book. However, this story is real, says Andrey Kapitonov, the former party leader in Murmansk.
In what appears as a surrealistic-like conspiracy against the liberal political party Parnas, the FSB first managed to hire Kapitonov and make him establish a local party office. Then Kapitonov was sent to the Norwegian border town of Kirkenes where he was to approach the Norwegian secret police PST and request financial support. Later, when back in Murmansk, Kapitonov was to announce that his party was nursing contact with NATO country Norway and receiving money from a foreign intelligence service.
It was in the run-up to the September 2016 State Duma elections, and the operation was to defame Parnas as a party supported by the abroad and discredit Norway as a country meddling in Russian domestic politics.
However, it all flopped.
Kapitonov changed his mind, and quit his cooperation with the agents. Instead, he turned against the security service and has now sueded the agents behind the setup.
In an interview with Barents Observer, the now former party leader says that the scam was not primarily aimed against Parnas. It was Norway which was the main target, he argues.
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2017/04/fsbs-infiltration-political-party-parnas-aimed-norway
Election tampering seems to be the usual Russian m.o..
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)Russia is a poor country with a big and skilled secret spy service.
No wonder that Russia's preferred tools of attack on the West are election subversion and propaganda.
US 2016
France
Norway
UK Brexit vote
Russia has its hands in them all. Maybe not a huge effect but big enough to matter in close races.
orangecrush
(19,508 posts)The Russians were able to infiltrate us so easily was simple.
America has always been an open society, where transparency is more highly valued than secrecy.
A paradox that this "weakness" is our greatest strength.
Volaris
(10,269 posts)To the first poster, Russia isn't a poor country, it's broke because it's been looted by thieves. Additionally, the Russian PEOPLE are not, and should not, be considered the enemy of the US...only their government is dangerous and opressive. As soon as the Russian People remember that Russia is in fact, a superpower, they will be one again, if that makes sense.
We need to Be Woke. After that's done, we need to go to work trying to 'wake up' Russia, Iran, and the greater middle east. It might not look like Pax Americana when that jobs done, but I promise you, the world and all its Creatures great and small will be better off for it.
It's time to go back to work. Let's get it done, Democrats!!