Thread from AlexPlitsas

After time in Ukraine I can confirm Russia is running a strategic influence campaign inside the United States targeting GOP voters before the midterm election in an attempt to undermine support for Ukraine and cutoff weapons and support. Russian propaganda is spreading lies.

Their objective is to try and sway a new Congress to cutoff support. Russia is spreading false narratives about money and weapons leaving the country on the black market that isn’t true. If that was happening they wouldn’t be pushing the Russians back in a counteroffensive.

Russia is also spreading nonsense about Nazism in Ukraine of which I saw NONE. The Ukrainians need what they have been given and are asking for. Those who are spreading any of those narratives mentioned above are pushing Russian propaganda and undermining national security.

To those who say otherwise, I’m here on the ground and witnessed all of this with my own eyes and ears. This shouldn’t be a partisan issue and Russia is continuing its approach to sow societal discord to undermine our institutions to further its objectives. We can’t let it happen

The Ukrainians are in need or more weapons and support because they are still actively fighting a war to defend their homeland from Russian aggression and war crimes. Every liberated village and town that was occupied by Russians comes with execution and torture of civilians.

I say all of this as a registered Republican, former local party chairman in Connecticut, and former Pentagon official with oversight for information operations. This is incredibly dangerous and we cannot allow Putin to divide us internally as Americans to further his objectives.

I saw hundreds of the thousands of apartment buildings that have been destroyed by Russian rocket and artillery fire. There are too many for this to be an accident. This was purposeful. I spoke to rape and torture victims. Mention Nazis and people look at you like you’re crazy.

The most frustrating part is that these Russian information operations campaigns are still ongoing targeting Americans and very little is being done about. We need to invest in our capabilities to combat this abroad as it’s producing strategic effects for Russia at little cost.

Finally, why this specific American target audience? Polls show GOP is likely to retake the House of Representatives and per the constitution that’s where funding bills originate. It’s meant to make this a partisan issue and stop the support. Russia has mastered this art.

Here’s what it actually looks like on the ground. I saw hundreds of them out of the thousands that have been destroyed. All civilian targets.

This is the inside of a middle class suburban family’s apartment after it was struck by the Russians. It’s just one of thousands of buildings.

The replies Russian propaganda isn’t our foreign policy. Our foreign policy is when and how we support Ukraine. Russia is attempting to influence that. We should have healthy policy debates based on facts. It’s okay to ask questions and oversee. There’s a difference.

This content was originally published via Twitter.

created: 2022-10-10T23:45:18 (UTC -04:00) tags: [disinformation, elections, russia, information_operations, media_manipulation, Ukraine, USA] source: https://twitter.com/alexplitsas/thread/1579567485820755969 author: AlexPlitsas description: I can confirm Russia is running a strategic influence campaign inside the United States targeting GOP voters before the midterm election in an attempt to undermine support for Ukraine and cutoff weapons and support.