“Russian interference in the US elections will still be talked about in 20 years” - analytical portal POLIT.RU

Grigory Golosov Editing text in documents

The media reported that they learned about the existence of documents confirming Russian influence on the US elections. Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry notes that they have found a format suitable for communication with Washington.

The existence of such documents was reported by the Reuters news agency. According to him, they were developed by the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISI) and became the basis for the conclusion of US intelligence services about Russian interference in the 2016 election campaign

We are talking about two papers: recommendations developed at RISI in June 2016, and their new version, created in October. As the news agency clarified, seven sources who wished to remain anonymous told him about the documents.

According to Reuters, the first document was distributed "at the highest levels" without being addressed to anyone in particular, and recommended launching a propaganda campaign to "encourage US voters to elect a president who will take a softer stance towards Russia than the administration of President Barack Obama "

The second document allegedly proceeded from the likely victory of Hillary Clinton in the elections and proposed to curtail the campaign to popularize a candidate with a “softer” position and concentrate efforts on disseminating messages about election irregularities. According to Reuters, this was meant to undermine the legitimacy of the electoral system and discredit Clinton.

Hillary Clinton at a reception

American intelligence officials refused to comment on this information, notes the RBC news agency . As reported by the RT television channel , the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that he was not aware of the alleged interference in the elections. At the same time, he noted that “seven anonymous sources are not worth one real one.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Ryabkov, speaking in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper about the prospects for normalizing relations between Moscow and Washington, noted that, apparently, the department managed to find a format in which it is more realistic to convey Russia’s ideas to the American side.

The topic of possible Russian interference in the US presidential elections in 2016 emerged naturally, although not in connection with any current events, says political scientist Grigory Golosov, professor at the European University in St. Petersburg. In a conversation with Polit.ru, he explained that this topic will be of interest to Americans not only six months after the elections, but even twenty years from now.

“Concerning the documents published by Reuters, I can only say that there is no need to look for links to any specific situation. It's just that this is a fairly important issue for the United States, and it will be further studied in the media. That is, we can expect that there will be other publications on this topic.

All this fits both into the context of the domestic political situation in the United States and into the international context, but, I repeat, fundamentally this is simply an important problem that will always be given attention in the United States. I assure you, twenty years will pass and people will still remember that Russia interfered in the American elections.

As for the prospects for improving relations with the United States, they now look rather bleak. I have always said and now believe that Trump really wants to make a deal with Russia on some issues, but the fact is that he cannot offer Russia any conditions for such a deal that would be acceptable. And the reason for this is that Russia at the moment does not want to make any concessions that would be acceptable to the United States.

Donald Trump US President

That is, Trump is not the kind of person who would make concessions for the sake of making concessions; he needs to get something in return. He cannot get anything from Russia in return. The reason for this is that Russia's position is quite uncompromising on all issues that are of mutual interest to Russia and the United States.

At the same time, Trump will not interrupt contacts with the Russian leadership. Tillerson's visit was simply necessary in this regard. Naturally, Trump and the United States want to maintain relationships with other important political players. And Tillerson’s visit in itself, indicating that Trump does not want to remain completely without contacts with the Russian leadership, does not indicate that these contacts will lead to any improvement in the situation. It's just a way of talking.

Are Russian officials now saying that these kinds of conversations during diplomatic visits can be more productive than other diplomatic means? Maybe. But I wouldn’t have any big illusions about this if I were them. If they maintain contact with you, this does not mean that they want to work with you. Rather, it may mean that they want to control whether you will do anything unexpected,” said Grigory Golosov.

He also answered a question about how such uncompromising might be perceived by Washington in light of reflections on Russian influence in the elections. According to the expert, difficulties in reaching an agreement are mainly related to the subject of the agreement itself.

“These are, in my opinion, two different contexts. Russia's reputation is not improved by being accused of interfering in the American elections, that much is clear. But the United States has extensive experience interacting with regimes that do not suit them in one way or another, and even with those regimes that were directly hostile towards them. Therefore, if there were grounds for some kind of joint decisions, then this would not interfere with anything.

Of course, this reduces the level of trust and makes any agreements more difficult, but this does not make them impossible. And the fact that agreements have not been reached at the moment is a consequence of what exactly is the subject of the agreements. Not a consequence of the reputational damage that Russia suffered. Although, I repeat, there was also a small contribution to this,” noted Grigory Golosov.

Let us add that Mikhail Fradkov, who heads the RISI mentioned by the American media, said that the institute does not have the ability to conduct information operations. This is how he responded to Reuters publications, calling them an attempt to “draw attention to the outgoing agenda,” RBC reports .

See also: RISI rejected accusations of authorship of a “plan” to interfere in the US elections. Media named the authors of the “plan” to interfere with the Russian Federation in the US elections. The FBI will create a special unit for Russian interference in the elections.