Sergei Kirienko, a former prime minister of Russia and currently the Number-2 man in charge of President Vladimir Putin’s staff, believes Russia can win the information war against the US and its allies.

In his meetings behind closed doors at the Kremlin, Kirienko has revealed that he thinks Americans are so trusting in their press like the Washington Post, CNN, and Fox News,  that if fake Post, CNN, Fox,  and other dummies of the US media can be created to report positive propaganda about Russia, instead of the negative propaganda these media usually run, Americans will be convinced to switch sides in the war to destroy the Russian army on the Ukrainian battlefield, and the war of US sanctions to destroy the Russian economy.

    BY JOHN HELMER

Kirienko also believes this can be achieved by spending less than $5 million of Kremlin money on an information war consultant named Ilya Gambashidze.

This is the evidence presented in a Philadelphia court this week by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in an indictment for money laundering and trademark counterfeiting alleged against Gambashidze and his associates.  Without saying how the agency got hold of his records, the FBI has quoted at length from Kirienko’s remarks to Gambashidze “between April 2022 and April 2023…[in] notes relat[ing] to at least 20 Russian Presidential Administration meetings.”

During that time the FBI charges that Kirienko, Gambashidze and other Russian officials  decided to implement “foreign malign influence campaigns…designed to reduce international support for Ukraine, bolster pro-Russian policies, and influence voters in U.S. and foreign elections by posing as citizens of those countries, impersonating legitimate news outlets, and peddling Russian government propaganda under the guise of independent media brands.”

The records of Gambashidze’s notetaking may not be authentic. Gambashidze may have misquoted, misrepresented or exaggerated what Kirienko told him. Gambashidze himself is quoted by the FBI as saying the evidence against him “is not completely true.”

The Kremlin has so far not responded.

For the rise of 62-year old Kirienko – birth name Israitel — during the Yeltsin administration, his ill-fated prime ministry in 1998, and his career promotions in the Putin administration, read this 44-story archive.  For a brief summary, click.

Detailing allegations of Kirienko’s role in Russian propaganda operations in the US, and also in Germany, France, Israel, Mexico, and the UK, the FBI affidavit runs for 277 pages. It was dated August 30 and unsealed in US Federal District Court in Philadelphia on September 4; click to read here.  

The FBI has called Kirienko’s and Gambashidze’s plan of US media fakes “Operation Doppelganger.” It is part of a larger Department of Justice prosecution of “Influence Operation [which] Relied on Influencers, AI-Generated Content, Paid Social Media Advertisements, and Social Media Accounts to Drive Internet Traffic to Cybersquatted and Other Domains”.  This is aimed by Vice President Kamala Harris’s election campaign to persuade US voters that their foreign enemies, the Russians,  are trying to manipulate their votes, and that the Russians are secretly backing Donald Trump to win on November 5.

In the second indictment, also issued on September 4, the Justice Department has alleged that “the Russian state broadcaster RT orchestrated a massive scheme to influence the American public by secretly planting and financing a content creation company on U.S. soil [and] to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging.”  

According to the US court papers, the Russian government spent about $3 million on the Kirienko-Kambashidze operation; $10 million on the RT scheme. In money outlays and employees, these Russian government efforts are dwarfed by their counterparts in the US,   the European Union, and the UK.  

As the battles of the information and propaganda war by the US against Russia go, there is nothing exceptional in the latest operations. The new FBI affidavit and Justice Department papers resume the story where the Russiagate revelations first began in January 2017 with the Golden Showers dossier.  Follow that story here.  

This is ““The Lie That Won’t Die”, according to former CIA analyst on Russia, Ray McGovern. “Most Americans… will believe this recycled drivel from top Justice Department and F.B.I. officials, whose predecessors promoted the same gambit. As we pointed out four weeks ago in “Decay, Decrepitude, Deceit in Journalism,” thanks to Establishment media, Russiagate continues to survive ‘like a science fiction monster resilient to bullets.’ This, even though the $32 million Robert Mueller investigation found no conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign — a main plank in the Russiagate tale. The other main plank, that Russia hacked Democratic National Committee computers, was also debunked.”  

What is novel, that’s to say unique, in the FBI evidence of this week is the Gambashidze record of what Kirienko has been thinking and saying, and by implication what Kirienko has been telling Putin.    

For background on Gambashidze, 47, read the French propaganda agency report of February 2024.  Using French, European Union, British and Ukrainian sources, France 24 claimed Gambashidze was one of several ambitious successors to Yevgeny Prigozhin’s propaganda operations in the US.  The French report on Gambashidze was followed in May by the US propaganda organ, Voice of America:

Investigation: Who is Ilya Gambashidze,
the man the US government accuses of
running a Kremlin disinformation
campaign?

Here is what the FBI now reports Kirienko as having said and decided, according to eight separately dated records which Gambaridze prepared, titling them his meeting minutes.   

• “That note from April 16, 2022 details a meeting led by SVK [Sergei Vladilenovich Kirienko] at which ‘SVK was taking detailed notes’ to discuss bolstering support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The meeting participants discussed topics for propaganda, and SVK provided his opinion, with GAMBASHIDZE recording SVK’s response to the ideas as ‘well received’, ‘need to work’, or ‘the right thing to do.’ SVK told the group they must use two mechanisms ‘to be effective: 1. Creating of a nuclear psychosis. The USA have been prepping Europe for a big war with the Russian Federation. War for peace. 2. Exaggeration.’ While GAMBASHIDZE’s note contains passing references to other meeting participants, the most substantive details recorded were when SVK provided his opinion or instructions.”
• “On July 13, 2022, GAMBASHIDZE wrote a note titled ‘Minutes of the Meeting at the AP [Presidential Administration] on July 13, 2022.’ The note listed meeting participants as ‘Stas, Sofia, Ilya, and Sergey.’ I assess that the Sofia referenced is likely Sofia Zakharova, a Russian Presidential Administration spokesperson. Zakharova is a Kremlin official who has also focused on information technology and communications infrastructure. Zakharova has regularly taken part in conferences and events dedicated to artificial intelligence. Based on my training, experience, and information gathered through this investigation, I assess that the Ilya referenced is Ilya GAMBASHIDZE and that the Sergey referenced is KIRIYENKO. GAMBASHIDZE’s note identifies KIRIYENKO, as ‘SVK’, telling the meeting participants, ‘it’s an impossible task,’ which I assess to be a reference to the difficulties in effectuating the Doppelganger campaign. GAMBASHIDZE notes that the participants had ‘initially talked him into five countries. Now he says no.’ Based on the context of the note and this investigation, I assess that ‘him’ and ‘he’ refers to KIRIYENKO. GAMBASHIDZE records that the group agreed ‘the Germans are more dependent than the French’ and decided to focus its efforts on the Germans. In particular, the group agreed that ‘first and foremost, we need to discredit the USA, Great Britain and NATO, and secondly, we need to convey the truth about the war in Ukraine’ and the need to convince Germans to oppose the ‘inefficient politics of sanctions.””
• “According to a note titled ‘Meeting Minutes AP_25.07.22 – 11.00’ SVK and others again discussed targeting Germany. SVK suggested ‘in order to normalize relations, it is necessary to show who caused them to deteriorate,’ and directed the meeting participants to influence German-Russian relations. The notes indicate that Sofia, whom I assess to be Zakharova, instructed the creation of ‘websites to tell the Germans the truth!’ Another participant suggested using ‘real facts to complement fake facts.’ One suggestion included trying to ‘make a fake on an American soldier that raped a German woman. That would be great!’”
• “Another note, titled ‘AP Meeting Minutes, Monday, January 16’ referenced another party as being ‘fully in charge of filling the content on the Ukraine Tribunal portal.’ That note also indicated a topic ‘for business-elites’ as ‘Bypassing sanctions: they don’t need to be lifted, they need to be bypassed.’”
• “In a note titled ‘Minutes of the Meeting at the AP, August 1, 2022’, GAMBASHIDZE mentioned that articles would be submitted to SVK’s office and that ‘so far three were well received.’”
• “Another note, ‘Minutes_-_ECC_AP_05.04.23’, included a discussion of resources, wherein a participant reported ‘SVK is not against including our influencers abroad.’  That note referenced a French businessman whom the participants believed could do an ‘interview’ for ‘RRN’.”
• “A note titled ‘Meeting Minutes -_AP_01.18.23’ refers to SVK as ‘listening to no more than ten newsworthy events’ and notes that ‘we need to create our OWN concept based on Ukraine monitoring and Tabak’s concept.’ GAMBASHIDZE noted, ‘They are expecting fake news from us every day.’”

The FBI told the court that of the 20 Gambashidze meeting minutes the agency has obtained, five did not list Kirienko as a present,  although the officials at the meetings discussed with Gambashidze materials for Kirienko’s subsequent review, with requests for his approval.

According to the FBI, at least 13 of the meeting notes listed Sofia Zakharova (right), a Kremlin official reporting to Kirienko, as present and presiding. The FBI agent says that “based on my training, experience, this investigation, and the context and content of the notes, I assess that Zakharova reported to KIRIYENKO and conveyed information regarding these meetings to and from KIRIYENKO for his approval and further direction.”

Zakharova is also reported as telling Gambashidze that she was also reporting on their work to President Putin directly. “One note of a January 13, 2023, meeting attended by GAMBASHIDZE, Zakharova  and others mentioned they had ‘reported to the President about the project.’ I assess that ‘the President’ refers to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The note stated that the participants should not constrain themselves to specific countries; rather, ‘false stories spread could be initiated everywhere, in different countries, even launched through media.’ The note referenced specific campaigns, including the use of influencers, a ‘media cluster’ with ‘40-50 websites per country,’ which I assess refers to creating unique media brands led by ANO Dialog, and making ‘political animated movies.’ After mentioning ‘our fakes will be restored’, ‘the IAG team’ was specifically assigned to work on ‘analytical products and videos.’ I assess that IAG is a reference to GAMBASHIDZE.”

Attached to the FBI affidavit are samples in Russian of the planning papers prepared by one of Gambashidze’s companies, Social Design Agency (SDA). Undated, the excerpts illustrate how Gambashidze and his associates interpret US politics, and their belief that the Kremlin should support the Republican Party (“Party B”) and Trump’s re-election campaign. Note the racial analysis in Exhibits 9A and 9B.

The affidavit exhibits do not include facsimiles of Gambashidze’s notes of his meetings with Kirienko, Zakharova, and others in the presidential administration.

https://johnhelmer.net/the-war-and-the-world-according-to-sergei-kirienko-in-the-kremlin/

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