(NYTimes) Spies are usually thought of as bystanders who quietly steal secrets in the shadows. But the Russian versions, schooled in techniques used during the Cold War against the United States, have a more ambitious goal — shaping, not just snooping on, the politics of a nation that the Soviet-era K.G.B. targeted as the “main adversary.”
That at least is the conclusion of a declassified report released on Friday that outlines what America’s top intelligence agencies view as an elaborate “influence campaign” ordered by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia aimed at skewing the outcome of the 2016 presidential race. […]
Mark Kramer, an expert on the Cold War at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard, said the declassified report had erred by stating that the Russian “influence campaign” directed at the November election marked a “significant escalation” of previous Russian operations. This assessment, he said, “is simply untrue” and reflects a lack of understanding of just how extensive Moscow’s meddling has been in the past.
“The reality is that the two main Soviet intelligence and security agencies waged a vigorous campaign for decades to meddle in U.S. politics and discredit the United States,” Mr. Kramer said in an email.
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