The Kremlin would have sent that money to organizations in 24 countries

USA points out Russia spent $300 million to influence politicians in several countries

The United States Department of State has revealed information this afternoon that could affect politicians in several countries.

A European NGO points to Vox as the Spanish party that most opposes the Putin regime
Russia's support for separatism in Spain and the support of Spanish separatists for Russia

USA is providing information to some countries on this issue

As published this afternoon by the agency Associated Press (AP), the US State Department has revealed that Russia has covertly spent more than $300 million since 2014 to try to influence politicians and other officials in more from two dozen countries. The information, provided by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, cites a new intelligence assessment of Russia's global covert efforts to support policies and parties sympathetic to Moscow.

According to AP, the information does not name specific Russian targets, but says that the United States is providing classified information to some countries on this issue. This information would be part of a purpose of declassifying US intelligence data on the targets. military and political figures from Moscow, dating back to assessments that Russia would launch a new war against Ukraine, information that turned out to be correct.

Russia used front organizations to send that money

The agency said a senior administration official refused to say how much money Russia is believed to have spent on Ukraine, where President Volodymyr Zelensky and his top aides have long accused Putin of meddling. in Ukrainian domestic politics. The official pointed to allegations of Russian influence in recent elections in Albania, Bosnia and Montenegro. The information provided by the US State Department also indicates that Russia's covert influence involved the use of front organizations to channel money to related causes or politicians, including organizations in Europe and state-owned companies in Central America, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

The senior official quoted by AP has pointed out that Putin has been spending huge sums of money "in an attempt to manipulate democracies from the inside." According to AP, the Russian embassy in Washington has not responded to a That agency's request for comment, which adds that the US State Department took the unusual step of releasing a diplomatic cable that was sent Monday to many US embassies and consulates abroad, many of them in Europe, Africa and South Asia, exposing those concerns.

Russia planned to transfer "at least hundreds of millions more"

According to AP, that diplomatic cable, which was marked "sensitive" and was not intended for foreign audiences but was not classified, contained a series of talking points that US diplomats were to raise with their host governments regarding the alleged Russian interference. Among the steps that were indicated to US diplomats are recommendations for sanctions, travel bans and exposure of covert financing. According to that diplomatic cable, US intelligence officials believe that Russia planned to transfer "at least hundreds of millions more" of funds to political parties and officials sympathetic to Russia around the world.

A report already pointed out in June the most pro-Russian parties in Europe

According to a report released in June by the NGO VoteWatch Europe, the MEPs of the Group of Conservatives and Reformists (ECR, including the party Spanish Vox and the Polish Law and Justice party) and the European People's Party have been the most opposed to Russia in the voting that takes place in the European Parliament, while that the MEPs of The Left (GUE/NGK, which brings together communists and other far-left parties, including the Spanish Izquierda Unida and Podemos, which are government partners of the socialist Pedro Sánchez) and the rightists of Identity and Democracy (which includes, among others, Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National) are the most pro-Russian.

It would be desirable for the US to declassify and share the data it has on Russian financing of political parties, and whoever has to fall falls. Covertly accepting money from a foreign government for political favors is a form of corruption that erodes democracy and must be prosecuted relentlessly.

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Photo: Maxim Shemetov / Reuters.

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