Russia has secretly funneled more than $300 million to foreign political parties and candidates since 2014 in an effort to influence elections in more than two dozen countries, a senior U.S. official told reporters.
Russia transfers the funds — cash, cryptocurrency and non-monetary contributions — using intermediaries including security services, oligarchs and supposedly independent foundations or think tanks, the State Department said in a note to dozens of U.S. embassies that was shared with reporters.
This influence effort may ramp up in the months to come as Russia seeks to blunt the effect of international sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, according to the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.
The U.S. has notified more than 100 countries of its findings, and officials are offering more detailed information to countries they say were targeted by the Kremlin, which include Albania, Bosnia, Madagascar and Montenegro. The official said Washington wants to highlight the scale of the threat, gain further information from targeted countries and warn would-be recipients of illicit Russian funds that they can and will be identified.
The official said the Kremlin plans to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars more to influence elections in its favor. The official declined to assess the success of Russia’s influence efforts or discuss the risks of Russian covert financing in U.S. elections.
The Russian embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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