The Washington Post: Secret Russian document reveals plan for weakening West
A secret Russian Foreign Ministry document obtained by The Washington Post reveals Russia's intention to leverage its war in Ukraine to challenge what it perceives as American dominance and reshape the global order.
Russia has been intending to use its war in Ukraine to forge a global order free from what it sees as “American dominance,” according to a secret Russia’s Foreign Ministry document, The Washington Post reports.
In a document, the ministry calls for an “offensive information campaign” in the military-political, economic, trade, and informational psychological spheres against a “coalition of unfriendly countries” led by the US.
“We need to continue adjusting our approach to relations with unfriendly states.
It’s important to create a mechanism for finding the vulnerable points of their external and internal policies with the aim of developing practical steps to weaken Russia’s opponents,” states the 2023 document, which was provided to The Washington Post by a European intelligence service.
The document shows that Russia has been waging a hybrid war against the West. According to it, Moscow seeks to subvert Western support for Ukraine and disrupt the domestic politics of the US and EU through propaganda campaigns spreading isolationist and extremist policies fakes.
It also intends to refashion geopolitics, drawing closer to China, Iran, and North Korea in an attempt to shift the current balance of power.
The document highlights Russia’s position that the outcome of the war in Ukraine will “to a great degree determine the outlines of the future world order,” in an indication of Moscow’s belief that the success of its invasion is closely linked to its and other authoritarian regimes’ ability to exert influence on a global scale.
The Kremlin also expects the West will “realize the lack of any future in its confrontational policy and hegemonistic ambitions and will accept the complicated realities of the multipolar world,” according to the document.
The Russian Foreign Ministry declined to provide comments and will not respond “on the existence or nonexistence of internal ministry documents.”
“As we have stated several times on different levels, we can confirm the mood is to decisively combat the aggressive steps taken by the collective West as part of the hybrid war launched against Russia,” the ministry said.
For years, Ukrainian and Western officials have warned that Russia has intensified its influence campaigns to undermine support for Ukraine.
Moscow tried to create a new global divide as part of the strategy, scattering its propaganda in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia.
Russian ex-oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky says it is unsurprising that Russia seeks ways to undermine the US.
“For Putin, it is absolutely natural that he should try to create the maximum number of problems for the US.
The task is to take the US out of the game and then destroy NATO. This doesn’t mean dissolving it, but to create the feeling among people that NATO isn’t defending them,” he said.
Khodorkovsky added that the delay in providing more military assistance to Ukraine only makes it easier for Russia to challenge the US’s global power.
“The Americans consider that insofar as they are not directly participating in the war (in Ukraine), then any loss is not their loss.
This is an absolute misunderstanding,” he emphasized.
He said that a defeat for Ukraine would signify a diminishing fear of challenging the US for many, resulting in heightened costs for the US.
Read more:
- Ukraine-NATO Council convenes emergency meeting on 19 April at Zelenskyy’s request
- Despite heavy losses, Russia military capabilities expand
- Defense Express: Russia’s new Kh-69 cruise missiles, “worse than Kinzhal,” used in Trypilska power plant strike
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