The West and the globalist elite are using an ecosystem made up of different elements and instruments to wage hybrid warfare against Russia. This ecosystem is composed of Western-funded media, human rights organisations, NGOs, bloggers, artists, scientists and opposition politicians. But the striking force of the West's hybrid warfare ecosystem directed against Russia are the agents of influence that operate at various levels of the Russian power hierarchy, including at the very top level.
There are top-level Russian officials who disguise themselves as Putin loyalists but are Western agents of influence and carriers of global liberal values. These agents of influence are usually labelled “the 6th column”.
The goals, priorities and strategies of the hybrid war ecosystem that is attacking Russia are set by an authority linked to Western military structures and intelligence services.
This article repeats a narrative, increasingly spread by pro-Kremlin outlets, claiming that the West is waging a hybrid war against Russia. This narrative fits into the broader disinformation theme about the West’s allegedly belligerent and hostile agenda against Russia, and about its alleged plans to destabilise and encircle Russia.
The article’s message is also consistent with the recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that Western intelligence services control Russian opposition politicians, independent journalists, human rights and environmental NGOs, and other actors that are critical of the Kremlin. It adds a new twist to this narrative by alleging that the West has recruited Russian officials at the highest levels of power as its covert “agents of influence”.
There is no evidence to support the article’s claims that in Russia independent media, NGOs, opposition politicians, Kremlin critics, and even some top-level Kremlin figures, are “agents of influence” controlled and directed by the West.
Kremlin disinformation often targets political opponents and other critics claiming that they are Western intelligence assets. This narrative dates back to Soviet times and has been refurbished by the Kremlin, especially after 2021, when a law that branded foreign-funded NGOs as “foreign agents” was passed by the Russian Parliament. Critics argued that the term “foreign agent” implied spying for a foreign government and was aimed at harming the image of members of the opposition and human rights and environmental groups working in Russia.
Recently political opposition figure Alexei Navalny has been repeatedly accused by pro-Kremlin media of being a CIA or an MI6 agent.
The idea that Western intelligence services have penetrated not only the Russian political opposition but also control some powerful representatives of the Putin regime has been theorised by Aleksandr Dugin, who created the concept of the “sixth column”. This concept is used in the article and refers to top-level Russian officials who allegedly pretend to be Putin loyalists but are agents of Western intelligence and are carriers of “liberal globalist ideology“. The more reform-oriented figures in the Russian government are labelled “the sixth column” by this theory.
Read similar cases claiming that Navalny works with the CIA and receives instructions from this Agency and that Some American funds completely control the Russian opposition.
If earlier, the official Kyiv tried to disguise its Russophobia as caring for the Ukrainian language or the fight against "Russian aggression", now the comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his "sprechenfuehrer" expressed themselves directly, not hiding their hatred towards Russians and the Russian language.
Zelenskyy has shown himself to be a complete fascist without any extenuating circumstances. He is ready to expel people from their homes and from their country along ethnic lines.
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Russophobia in Ukraine. The disinformation is designed to sow discord among the different groups of citizens in Ukraine.
Ukraine is not an anti-Russian country. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine and Russia established diplomatic relations and signed a number of important treaties. On 31 May 1997, the countries signed a comprehensive Friendship Treaty. As a result, Russia recognised Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity. It also recognised that Crimea belongs to Ukraine but violated the treaty in 2014 when Russia occupied and illegally annexed Crimea.
We acknowledge the aspiration of Belarusian society during the election period to certain political changes. Unfortunately, external forces tried to exploit this circumstance in order to achieve a new scenario to ignite a colour revolution. … The objective of this scenario was to overthrow the Belarusian leadership and give power to political forces under the control of the West, and to "disarm" Belarus from Russia.
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Western attempts to organise a colour revolution in Belarus.
Western countries did not organise or help to organise protests in Belarus. Large-scale protests began in Minsk to contest the results of the presidential election in Belarus on the 9th of August 2020, which were not monitored by independent experts, and are largely considered fraudulent by both international observers and a large part of Belarusian society.
Western countries want to disturb political stability in Russia before the upcoming legislative election in September, using a wide arsenal of dirty tools, falsities and baseless accusations, such as the Navalny and Skripal cases or the downing of the MH17. They are trying to influence the situation, destabilising the situation in Russia. The Special Services of these countries wouldn’t hesitate to support those interested in promoting all kind of extremist tendencies.
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about constant Western plots attempting to destabilise Russia. The allegation that Western countries want to interfere in Russia’s legislative election of September by rocking political stability is not backed up with proof.
Contrary to what this disinformation story claims, there is massive evidence of Russia’s involvement in the attempts to poison former Russian spy Sergey Skripal and opposition leader Alexei Navalny, as well as in the downing of the MH17 flight over Ukraine (you can see here, here and here for our previous specific debunking of these three incidents). By labelling these cases as “dirty tools, falsities and baseless accusations”, this disinformation message aims to deflect any Russian responsibility in these episodes, which are very serious violations of international law.
