Geopolitical conflict is now less about the collision of massive armies and much more about a combination of intelligence, espionage, criminal networks, cyberwarfare, psychological warfare, information warfare, and an overall blend of strategies in addition to traditional “hot” war mechanisms like troop deployment, as well as more modern twists on military engagement including drone strikes and cyberoffensives. Russian psychological warfare of the Cold War era presaged much of what was to come in modern day spy vs. spy intensity, and the advent of the Internet, social media, and an entirely new digital threat horizon heralds the growth of this form of conflict for years and decades to come.
I think James Madison — the Father of the Constitution — would have had many choice words about this development. Since we cannot alas ask him his opinion any longer, perhaps his parting words to the beloved country he was instrumental in creating can suffice:
The advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is the Union of the States be cherished and perpetuated. Let the open enemy to it be regarded as a Pandora with her box opened; and the disguised one, as the Serpent creeping with his deadly wiles into Paradise.”
This list casts a wide net in enumerating the various principals of interest to Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election… and beyond. The Russia scandal has continued to unspool throughout the Trump presidency, including the real estate magnate’s first impeachment over his extortion of Ukraine, and his second impeachment over the armed insurrection he incited following his failed re-election bid. It continues to this day.
Plus, don’t miss the RussiaGate Lexicon — and please note these are both works in progress and being updated frequently as new details emerge about the Russia scandal, the Trump family criminal organization, and Putin’s revanchist influence in American politics.
Bestiary
Label
Nationality
Type
Known for
American
Civil servant
Top aide to Hillary Clinton
Latvian
Bank
One of the largest private banks in Latvia
Russian
Oligarch
Russian steel magnate whose Evraz company was given the green light to supply steel to DAPL by the Trump administration
Lobbyist
A company seeking to build nuclear power plants in the Middle East in partnership with a sanctioned Russia company; Mike Flynn was working for them without having disclosed it to the US government as required.
Russian
Russian
Oligarch
Emin's father; a wealthy Russian-Azerbaijani oligarch who has received lucrative construction contracts from the Kremlin. Known as "Putin's Builder"
Russian
Oligarch
Popular Russian-Azerbaijani singer and businessperson who may have facilitated a handoff of hacked information to Donald Trump Jr via surrogates
Russian
Russian Mafia
Ukranian
Oligarch
Ukranian steel magnate who brokered the relationship between Paul Manafort and defeated presidential candidate Victor Yanukovich
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
Former Soviety spy who attending the June 9 meeting in Trump Tower between Don Jr, Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya
Russian
Oligarch
CEO of Lukoil, Russia's second largest oil and gas company, that sought the services offered by Trump data firm Cambridge Analytica
Russian
Bank
Largest private commercial bank in Russia, that reportedly had a mysterious secret server connection to the Trump Organization during the campaign. The head of Alfa Group is the father-in-law of Dutch lawyer Alex Van Der Zwaan, currently serving 30 days in federal prison after being indicted by the FBI in the Mueller investigation.
Azerbaijani
Wife of Emin Agalarov and daughter of the president of Ajerbaijan.
Company
Head of Crowdstrike, the US security firm that first broke the results of the DNC hack investigation, concluding the Russian military intelligence agency was behind it.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
IRA-controlled Twitter account, an anti-immigration persona with 24,000 followers
American
Media Outlet
Helped bury stories portraying Trump in a bad light before the election, via catch and kill methodology among others
Chinese
Company
Flight 93
American
Company
The House might come after messaging records for principals.
Oligarch
co-founder of Bayrock and Kazakh-born Soviet official turned real estate tycoon
Ukranian
Member of the Ukranian parliament who says Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen and business crony Felix Sater confirmed the White House received his βpeace proposalβ (suggesting Russia βleaseβ the country for 100 years)
Australian
Hacker
Editor-in-chief of Wikileaks and former hacker from Australia, currently holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London on the lam from rape charges in Sweden; he is suspected of coordinating with the Russian government on the cyber attack on the American election in 2016.
Russian
Oligarch
Russian banker and consultant who bought Bank of Cyprus's Russian-based businesseses; a transaction overseen by Wilbur Ross
Ukranian
Politician
Former Prime Minister of Ukraine who was ousted in the Maidan revolution along with President Viktor Yanukovych.
Cypriot
Bank
American
Principal actor
Suspected organized crime figure who accompanied Ivanka and Don Jr to Russia in 2007-2008
Russian
Oligarch
Head of investor relations for Rosneft who met with Carter Page in Moscow after his 2016 speech.
Russian
Worked at the Internet Research Agency
French
Foreign Intelligence
Cooperated with Russia in the Syrian civil war and nominated Putin for a Nobel Peace Prize; Donald Trump, Jr. spoke at an event held by Baussart's French think tank.
Company
Employed Felix Sater for a number of shady real estate dealings involving Mr Trump. Founded by Tevfik Arif, a Russian oligarch.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
An IRA-controlled Facebook group that bought ads in support of the Trump campaign, and had over 200,000 followers by the time it was finally deactivated in mid-2017
Civil servant
Trump's pick to lead the DOJ's criminal division; once represented a Putin-tied Russian bank
Russian
Hacker
Hacker group
Russian
Journalist
Well-known journalist who was the founding editor of Russiaβs top business daily, Vedomosti, as well as the first publisher of the Russian edition of Forbes; left the country during the Brain Drain. βThe Kremlin doesnβt care because it doesnβt consider the likes of me Russiaβs best and brightest,β he told me by email after his departure to Germany in the summer of 2014. βTo them, weβre the traitors, the fifth column.β
Russian
26-year-old former worker at the Internet Research Agency in Russia who has spoken to the US media about his experiences in the "factory of lies"
American
Lawyer
U.S. Attorney who was prosecuting the Prevezon Holdings case when he was fired by Trump, shortly after which the huge case about to go to trial abruptly settled.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
IRA-controlled persona claiming to want to teach African-Americans self-defense to protect themselves when contacted by police, that hired an actual self-defense instructor in NY to offer classes sponsored by Black Fist
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
IRA-controlled account posing as grassroots activists
American
his company Colt Ventures provided data management services to the Trump campaign
American
Civil servant
John Kerry's deputy secretary of state under Obama
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
Worked for the Internet Research Agency from at least April 2014 to at least July 2014; she served on the translator project and oversaw the group's data analysis operations. She is one of the operatives who traveled to the United States to gather intel.
Politician
Russian deputy foreign minister
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
Director of FSB circa 2015
Foreign Intelligence
Worked for the Internet Research Agency from at least November 2013 to at least October 2014. She was at one time head of the translator project, along with other positions.
Civil servant
American
Intelligence Community
Acting CIA director under Obama; one of the 3 who brief Trump and Obama about the Russian attack on Election 2016
American
Company
LLC begun by Maria Butina and Paul Erickson in South Dakota
American
Lobbyist
Major Trump campaign donor and Deputy Finance Chair of the RNC, who suspiciously took hundreds of millions of dollars from the UAE and was working on a business deal with the corrupt Prime Minister of Malaysia implicated in a heist of $4.5 billion dollars. Had himself been charged with felony bribery, ended up turning state's witness, plea-bargained his case down to a misdimeanor while those he bribed went to prison. Also, he was reportedly negotiating a deal wherein he stood to benefit to the tune of $75 million, to drop the Feds' case into the Malaysian theft.
American
Activist
Founder of Hermitage Capital, who worked with Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky to uncover a $230 million money laundering scheme from Prevezon Holdings into NYC real estate. He has sought justice for the murder of Magnitsky in 2009.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
One of the 13 Russian nationals indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in February 2018, in connection with the Internet Research Agency's attack on the U.S. 2016 election. Burchik was Executive Director, the #2 in the organization, from at least March 2014.
American
Politician
(R-NC) and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, one of the committees in Congress conducting Russia investigations
American
Lobbyist
Helped Trump write his first foreign policy speech
Russian
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
"Personal assistant" to Alexander Torshin, she claims to have started several gun rights organizations in Russia
American
Media Outlet
Originally broke the story of the Steele dossier and published what of it they had.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
One of the 13 Russians indicted by Robert Mueller's Special Counsel in February 2018, Bystrov was General Director -- the organization's highest-ranking position -- by April 2014.
British
Company
Data analytics company that worked for the Trump campaign and has been indicted in the UK for data theft.
American
Unregistered Foreign Agent
Member of Trump's campaign team, in charge of communications for New York. Left the campaign after voicing approval of the installation of Paul Manafort, replacing Corey Lewandowski as Trump's campaign manager.
American
Company
Cloud computing company that hosted the Trump Organization and may have information on the Alfa Bank link during the campaign
French
French right-wing group that hosted a Trump trip to Paris during the home stretch of the campaign
American
Media Personality
Alt-Right personality in the U.S. who lives in Orange County, CA
American
Media Personality
Bowing out of politics after announcing a move to Fox and whining about the cost of living as a Senator
Lawyer
Russian prosecutor general
American
Intelligence Community
Director of National Intelligence under Obama; one of the 3 who brief Trump and Obama about the Russian attack on Election 2016
American
Politician
American
Politician
American
Intelligence Community
Director of National Intelligence who testified that there is no doubt Russia sees its 2016 efforts as having been successful.
American
Lawyer
Trump's personal lawyer. Convicted of various federal crimes including campaign finance violations; sentenced to 3 years in prison.
American
Lawyer
Trump's mentor and ruthless, vicious lawyer
American
Politician
Senator from Maine who has been a voice of moderation within the Republican-controlled Senate, siding several times with the Democrats and voting against her own party.
American
Intelligence Community
Being fired by Donald Trump as the FBI Director
American
Intelligence Community
new leader of the House Intelligence Committee's Russia probe after the recusal of Devin Nunes
Russian
Company
Company owned by Yevgeniy Prigozhin, known to be nicknamed "Putin's Chef" and inside the Russian president's inner circle.
American
Company
provided data management services to the Trump campaign, and an investor in VizSense -- a social media company who worked reportedly for the campaign and for Michael Flynn
American
Politician
Leader of the House Intelligence Committee, one of the Congressional committees investigating the Russia scandal
American
Lawyer
Husband of Kellyanne Conway, a lawyer who has represented a corporation accused of bribing Russian officials
American
Oligarch
American
Politician
Criticized the firing of Sally Yates: "If dedicated government officials deem [Trump's] directives to be unlawful and unconstitutional, he will simply fire them as if government is a reality show."
Lobbyist
Managing director of ACU Strategic Partners, a firm Mike Flynn was consulting for regarding building nuclear power plants in the Middle East.
American
Media Personality
Intermediary between Roger Stone and Wikileaks, an arm of the Russian intelligence apparatus
American
New York Republican Party Chairman and son-in-law of Richard Nixon who recommends Carter Page to the Trump campaign
Roger Stone's publicly identified intermediary between himself and Julian Assange of Wikileaks. When subpoena'd by Congress, he pled the Fifth.
Russian
Company
Real estate developmenr firm owned by the Agalarovs, that secured the Moscow location for Trump's 2013 Miss Universe pageant
American
Company
One of the US private security contractors who implicated the Russians in the hack of the DNC servers.
American
Media Personality
The reigning Miss Universe at the time of the 2013 Moscow pageant (and former Miss USA, and noted Trump favorite)
American
Politician
ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, one of the first to request an investigation into Michael Flynn
American
Intelligence Community
White House director of cybersecurity
American
American
Company
Political consulting company created by Paul Manafort in 2005.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
A cutout of the GRU, this account directly released and coordinated with Wikileaks to release more widely the stolen emails from Clinton, the DNC, and the DCCC
American
American
Lobbyist
GOP strategy firm hired by Facebook to besmirch its rivals and tar them with accusations of being tied to George Soros
Oligarch
Ex-wife of Rupert Murdoch, friend of Ivanka Trump, and friend of Russian oligarhcs + Putin (rumored to be Putins' girlfriend)
American
American
Government agency
Russian
Oligarch
Russian billionaire and Kremlin insider barred from the US due to organized crime links [contact w/Paul Manafort]
German
Bank
Both the Risk Division's Goup Risk Office and Credit Risk Management teams are under scrutiny from House Democrats at the HPSCI for due diligence on Trump transactions that have anything to do with the bank's own confirmed history of laundering Russian money.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
Chief executive of the state-run Russian Direct Investment Fund, their sovereign wealth fund, who met with Erik Prince at a bar in the Seychelles, with George Nader present.
Company started by Paul Manafort in 2011 to consult, lobby, and do PR for Ukranian dictator Victor Yanukovich, whom Manafort helped get elected in 2010 until fleeing the country in 2014.
FSB handler of Russian DNC hacker
Ukranian
Territory
Area of Ukraine where a counter-revolution emerged after students ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and overthrew the government.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
An IRA-controlled Facebook group with more than 250,000 followers by the time it was deactivated in mid-2017
American
Tech tycoon
Co-founder and CEO of Twitter and Square
Top Australian diplomat in Britain, who had drinks with George Papadopolous in London the night he blabbed about the Russians having dirt on Hillary Clinton.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
Hacker group
Russian
Russia's most well-known neo-fascist ideologue, & Kremlin confidant
Russian
Founder of the successful VKontakte social network website, often described as Russiaβs Facebook. Durov said he had been forced out of the company over his refusal to co-operate with the security services, and that his company was now under the βfull controlβ of Kremlin-friendly figures
American
Civil servant
Obama White House press secretary in 2016
Oligarch
MMA star, former Trump business partner, and friend of Putin
Company
One of Oleg Deripaska's companies whose sanctions were lifted by the Trump administration.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
Hacker group connected to the Kremlin
American
Unregistered Foreign Agent
Attempted to set up a backchannel between the NRA and the Russian government during the Trump campaign.
Foreign Intelligence
ex-KGB chief linked to helping the Christopher Steele dossier on Trump, reportedly found dead in the back of his car in Moscow on Boxing Day
Lobbyist
NGO entity created by Manafort and Gates in Belgium in 2012 to serve as an "arm's length" front for their work with Yanukovich.
Russian
Company
One of Oleg Deripaska's companies whose sanctions were lifted by the Trump administration.
American
Company
Russian
Principal actor
Fictional corporate twin entity to the IRA (indicted by Mueller) that is suing Facebook on First Amendment grounds... surely to go up to a COTUS tipped by Kavangaugh, as all such hyper-controversial cases are liable to be?!?!
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
Hacked Democratic Party emails during the 2016 US presidential election; also hacked MAcros campaign emails in France.
British
Politician
Former UKIP leader now under investigation for ties to WikiLeaks and Julian Assange
American
Intelligence Community
Investigation of domestic terror units and criminal cells, as well as foreign criminal groups within the U.S.
Russian
Russian Parliament
American
Politician
Overseeing the process generally of national and state elections
American
Politician
US Senator from California who published Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS's transcript of testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
American
Company
Security firm
Ukranian
Oligarch
Ukranian oligarch and nagural gas magnate who got sweetheart deals within Putin's inner circle
American
Civil servant
John Kerry's chief of staff
Icelandic
Company
Icelandic hedge fund with ties to Putin, that invested in Trump Soho via FBI informant and convicted felon Sal Lauria
American
Intelligence Community
As the new NSA director he advocated military intervention in the Middle East and an alliance with Russia; later it turned out he'd accepted undisclosed payments from the Rurkish government and lied about undisclosed meetings with the Russian Ambassador, ξ€Sergey Kislyak
American
Company
Company
Hosted the meeting in the Seychelles between Erik Prince and Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund
American
Media Outlet
American
Media Outlet
see: Washington Free Beacon
Russian
Oligarch
invested $200m in Uber (?)
American
Company
Erik Prince's company, who has ignored document requests from Congress relating to the meeting in the Seychelles with Kirill Dmitriev
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
the Russian Federal Security Service
American
Political research firm hired first by conservative billionaire, later by the Clinton campaign, that ultimately led to the Steele dossier.
Russian
Principal actor
Worked at the Internet Research Agency before being employed at Facebook
Intelligence Community
American
Intelligence Community
American
Lobbyist
Paul Manafort's right hand man, indicted along with the former Trump campaign manager for a number of federal crimes from money laundering to illegal foreign lobbying and tax evasion.
Russian
Media Outlet
Russian
Company
Russia's energy monopolgy and largest gas company
American
Georgian
Nation-state
Former Soviet state
Russian
Military
Russian General who wrote seminal asymmetric warfare doc
Journalist
Journalist and author who has lived extensively in Russia and studied the rise of Putin
Russian
Activist
Leader of the Ukranian pro-Russian separatists in Donbas, he is alleged to have been connected to the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17
American
Politician
Publicly "predicted" the Comey "re-opening" of Clinton's emails when the Anthony Weiner laptop was found
Russian
Russian Mafia
Former Boris Berezovsky associate turned up murdered in the UK, 8 days after the poisoning and attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal in London.
Russian Mafia
Publicist of Russian-Azerbaijani singer Emin Agalarov who set up the June 9 meeting between Don Jr, Kushner, Manafort, and the Russians
American
Company
Online search company whose system was gamed, hacked, or perhaps simply used intentionally to sow disinformation to some of the most vulnerable citizen targets, as identified by stolen and purchased predictive user data.
Russian
Politician
Glasnost
Hungarian
Media Personality
Former counterterrorism analyst for Fox News who joined the administration as an adviser; his ties to the Hungarian right had come increasingly under scrutiny before his departure from the White House. Prior to immigrating to the United States, Gorka had mounted an unsuccessful political career in Hungary and, in doing so, once expressed support for a far-right militia in the country.
American
A watchdog organization for financial and other high-profile crimes within the U.S.
American
Politician
(R-SC) Chair of the House Oversight Committee
American
Politician
(R-IA)
Russian
Intelligence Community
Soviety military intelligence services
American
Government agency
Has been asserted by TFA that documents were "unlawfully" given to the Special Counsel's Office by this agency, including parts susceptible to privilege.
Russian
Hacker
A cutout of the GRU, this account directly released and coordinated with Wikileaks to release more widely the stolen emails from Clinton, the DNC, and the DCCC
American
Civil servant
Hillary for America IT chief
American
Intelligence Community
Testified before the House Intelligence Committee on the probable ability of the Russians to hack an election
American
Media Personality
Made claims on his show that the Steele dossier launched the Russia probe, which isn't accurate.
European
Politician
Informal name given to the set of former European politicians whom Paul Manafort and Rick Gates paid to espouse pro-Yanukovich talking points.
American
Lawyer
Representing Trump in the Stormy Daniels case; also represented Terry Bolea in the Gawker trial
American
Politician
Member of the House Intelligence Committee, one of the Congressional committees investigating the Russia scandal
The investment fund client of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who uncovered a $230 million money laundering scheme through New York real estate via Prevezon, a Russian holding company.
American
Principal actor
Yet another former White House Communications Director, she resigned the day after giving 9 hours of testimony on the Hill to the House Intelligence Committee. Til then she had been the longest-running current member of the Trump campaign.
American
American
Civil servant
US Ambassador to Russia
American
Lawyer
Paul Erickson's lawyer
Tied to VizSense Inc. and White Canvas Group, 2 firms that did business with Michael Flynn
Russian
Christian fascist philosopher who inspired much of Vladimir Putin's political philosophy
American
Company
Platform used by the Russian disinformation campaign that House Democrats want to subpoena
American
Company
Platform used by the Russian disinformation campaign that House Democrats want to subpoena the transition team for records of
Russian
Principal actor
Well-known troll farm with ties to the Kremlin, funded and run by Russian oligarch and "Putin's Chef" Yevgeniy Prigozhin (who also oversees private mercenary military forces in Syria and Ukraine.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
Media Outlet
The main Bolshevik newspaper in the early 20th century
American
Politician
Russian
One of Putin's closest allies, he's the head of anti-narcotics in Russia; has spoken out against marijuana legalization in the US (!)
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
IRA-controlled Twitter account claiming to be a Virginian Trump supporter with 70,000 followers
Russian
Politician
Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader, who is thought to be behind the murder of Putin critic and opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. Kadyrov received a medal from Putin the month after Nemtsov's murder.
Russian, American
Foreign Intelligence
Former KGB agent who became a U.S. citizen and grew critical of Putin's regime.
Russian
Oligarch
Sole shareholder of Prevezon, implicated in the $230m theft of Russian taxpayer dollars
Russian
Russian Mafia
8th person at Don Jr's June 9 meeting; VP at Crocus Group, owned by Aras Agalarov β a lawyer for the Russian real estate firm, he has been identified by the Government Accountability Office as part of a large ring of Russian money-laundering operations.
American
Lawyer
Mike Flynn's lawyer
American
Politician
Georgia secretary of state who bristled at the idea of DHS's warning about the election integrity and attempts to hack voter registration
American
Politician
Secretary of State under Obama from 2013 to 2018
American
Company
Western PR firm that helps place pro-Russian op-eds in Western media (like Putin's in NYTimes on 9/11/13)
Russian
Intelligence Community
The Soviet secret service, renowned for ruthlessness and duplicity
Russian
Daughter of a Russian oligarch, married to Alex van der Zwaan -- the first to go to prison in the Mueller investigation.
Russian
Oligarch
Russian oligarch billionaire, principal of Alfa Bank (Russia's largest privste bank) and the father-in-law of Alex van der Zwaan who has pleaded guilty to MUeller's team.
Russian
Oligarch
Ex-oil tycoon unexpectedly freed by Putin ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics
Russian
Principal actor
FAN's chief accountant and an indictee under Mueller's Russian investigation
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
Paul Manafort's business associate in the Ukraine
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
Russian Ambassador who spoke with ξ€Mike Flynn [tracker] about lifting sanctions in undisclosed series of meetings
Company
Company formed by Peter Smith to facilitate and manage his question to find Hillary's missing emails.
Russian
Oligarch
Young Russian billionaire who claims to have been instrumental in getting Trump elected.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
Cambridge Analytica researcher who oversaw the harvesting of 50 million Facebook user accounts' info who also moonlighted as a lecturer at St. Petersburg University
Russian
Media Outlet
Long-respected business newspaper purchased by pro-Kremlin oligarch Alisher Usmanov
Russian
Leninist Youth League organization for Communists aged 14 to 28 in the late 80s & early 90s
Russian
Russian
CEO of VTB, one of the largest Russian banks (and under US sanctions)
Hungarian
One of the leaders of Jobbik, Hungary's pro-Putin rightist party, who is accused of being a Russian spy.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
One of the two main suspects in the UK's murder investigation case of former FSB/KGB spy turned informant and expat dissident, Alexander Litvinenko -- killed by polonium-210 poisoning after having tea with the two then-current KGB officers in November, 2006.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
Senior Putin aide who attended the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in lieu of Putin.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
The Dutch intelligence community alerted the DNC way back in 2015 that they had been hacked back in 2014.
Russian
Principal actor
Former Bayrock partner who filed a lawsuit in January, 2017 alleging tax evasion of as much as $250 million in income + Russian money laundering
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
Served as Director and 3rd highest employee within the Internet Research Agency, from at least September 2013. She was one of two employees of the IRA who obtained visas and entered the United States on June 4, 2014.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
Russian diplomat recalled to Russia, fearing his cover would be blown re: heavy involvement in the 2016 election, including the veterans' pensions ruse
American
Oligarch
Father of Jared, the elder Kushner committed campaign fraud, blackmailed his own sister, and spent time in federal prison before re-emerging to help run the family business and, of course, suck at the teat of the Presidency
American
Principal actor
The evil son-in-law so evil he owned a billion dollar building at 666 Fifth Ave. in Manhattan
American
Company
American
Intelligence Community
Former chief of the DOJ's Counterintelligence & Export Control Section
Russian Mafia
FBI informant and convicted felon who brokered a $150 million deal for Sater with FL Group, an Icelandic hedge fund tied to Putin that also invested in the Trump Soho project
Politician
Russian Foreign Minister
French
Politician
head of the French far-Right party
Russian
Hacker
Russian hacker who ran the sprawling Kelihos botnet, a massive spam and scam network; indicted by a US grand jury on 4/21/17
Russian
Russian
Oligarch
Russian "king of diamonds" who was a partner in Prevezon (involved in the Magnistsky-exposed money laundering of $230m in Russian tax dollars) and sold several floors of the NYTimes building in Manhattan to Jared Kushner
Russian
Former police investigator from the Siberian city of Surgut, who left the force after becoming disgusted by the βculture of corruptionβ he had witnessed, and moved to Moscow in 2009. Inspired, like so many others, by the anti-Putin protests of 2011β12, Leviyev, a tattooed 29-year-old, is now one of the countryβs top βsocial media dissidentsβ.
Russian
Oligarch
Russian Canadian CEO of developer Talon (Trump Toronto); had no previous experience in real estate or construction
American
Lobbyist
Donald Trump's first campaign manager; succeeded by Paul Manafort.
Alleged mobster and associate of John Gotti, who is on video with Trump in the 80s at a WrestleMania event
Russian
Oligarch
Russian steel mogul who made $830m in 3 days after the election
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
former Russian FSB agent who informed on Putin's connections to the Russian mafia and was assassinated by polonium-210 poisoning in 2006
Russian
Ties to the Romneys?!
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
One of the two main suspects in the UK's murder investigation case of former FSB/KGB spy turned informant and expat dissident, Alexander Litvinenko -- killed by polonium-210 poisoning after having tea with the two then-current KGB officers in November, 2006. Lugovoy is currently a sitting member of the Russian parliament: deputy of the State Duma.
Russian
Company
Russia's second largest oil company after Rosneft, they contracted with Trump data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica
American
Civil servant
US Attorney General under Barack Obama
American
Journalist
Host of the most popular nighttime news show on MSNBC; she's been following the Russia story aggressively for over a year in meticulously detailed fashion.
Lawyer
lawyer who tried to expose the theft of $230 million of Russian taxpayers' money by Prevezon Holdings (laundered into NYC real estate) before being arrested and allegedly tortured prior to his death in a Moscow prison in 2009; the 2012 Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act is a landmark human rights act named after him.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
Division of the GRU that carried out the second half of the Russian attack on our democracy -- cyber intrusions and hacking of stolen materials from the Clinton campaign, disseminated by WikiLeaks
American
Principal actor
American
Intelligence Community
Head of cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security who confirmed to NBC News that the Russians successfully infiltrated "an exceptionally small number" of voter regidstration rolls in 21 states.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
IRA-controlled accouunt created in May 2016 to promote IRA-organized rallies in support of the Trump Campaign
American
Politician
American
Intelligence Community
Deputy Nartional Security Advisor under Mike Flynn. Asked to step down by HR McMaster.
American
Lawyer
White House counsel from XXXX-XXXX
American
Politician
American
Company
Social media and blogging community frequented by the Russians during their efforts at sowing propaganda and discord during the American 2016 Presidential election.
Russian
Politician
Russian Prime Minister
American
Oligarch
American
Principal actor
Shadowy billionaire Trump backer and donor who also backs Breitbart, Cambridge Analytica, and John Bolton.
Holds Trump debt
British
Foreign Intelligence
British intelligence agency; the rough equivalent of the American CIA.
Director of the London Academy of Diplomacy who meets with George Papadopoulos in Italy.
Oligarch
part owner of Novatek who made $1.9b from the stock pop post-Trump
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
GRU cyberunit dedicated to targeting military, politival, governmental, and non-governmental organizations outside of Russia, including the U.S. Separate from this investigation, Unit 26165 was charged by a grad jury for hacking the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the World Doping Agency, and other international sport associations.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
A GRU unit engaged in cyber operations, including assisting in the release of the documents stolen by Unit 26165, the promotion of those releases, and the publication of anti-Clinton content on social media accounts operated by the GRU. This unit also hacked computers belonging to the stater boards of elections, secretaries of state, and U.S. companies supplying software and other technology related to elections.
American
Principal actor
Aggressively anti-immigrant advisor to Trump, co-writing many of his most vitriolic speeches
Belarusian
Russian Mafia
Trump associate, head of the Russian-American chamber of commerce, and one of the sources of the Steele dossier
Russian
Principal actor
Former worker at the Russian troll factory, the Internet Research Agency, who told the Western press what it was like inside the farm.
Russian
Russian Mafia
Notorious mobster
Emirati
The crown prince of Abu Dhabi.
Lawyer
World's fourth largest offshore law firm, whose files were published as the Panama Papers in a German newspaper
American
Civil servant
Special Counsel at the DOJ, investigating RussiaGate
Ministry of Internal Affairs; supervises all police, prisons, and "public order militias"
American
Lobbyist
Lebanese-American businessman who lobbies for the UAE, and was at the meeting in the Seychelles with Erik Prince and the Russians
Russian
Activist
Putin critic and activist blogger; has been arrested, charged, & sentenced several times (but recognized as a political prisoner by NGOs)
Russian
Politician
Putin critic and opposition politician who was shot dead in Moscow in 2015 by a member of the Chechen security forces
Russian
Company
Restaurant of Yevgeny Prigozhin that became a favorite of Putin's, netting Mr Prigozhin lucrative contracts for shady operations as "Putin's Chef"
Russian
British
Principal actor
CEO of Trump data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
a forerunner to the KGB under Stalin
American
Lobbyist
Hosted a number of conduits between the Trump campaign and Russian nationals, particularly Russian billionaires and oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin.
American
Intelligence Community
American
Civil servant
Former Trump aide who made a series of bizarre statements on cable TV before testifying to Robert Mueller's team
American
Politician
American
Media Outlet
Website owned by Jarek Kushner as part of Observer Media
American
Media Outlet
Media company owned by Jared Kushner.
American
Media Personality
American TV host
Ukrainian
Successor ruling party in Ukraine after Victor Yanukovich fled to Moscow and his Party of Regions toppled.
Hungarian
Politician
President of Hungary, noted for his pro-Putin and anti-refugee beliefs
British
Company
Steele's research firm
dead β Bryan Cohen's father-in-law (brother of Trump's personal lawyer
Russian
Media Outlet
Russia's TV network
Holds Trump debt
American
Principal actor
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
IRA-controlled Twitter account claiming to be a Texan Trump supporter with 70,000 followers
American
Principal actor
Member of the Trump campaign who has pled guilty in the Robert Mueller investigation and flipped to become a cooperating witness. Will serve jail time.
American
Principal actor
Head of the Trump campaign's digital operation
Ukranian
Ukranian political party run by Victor Yanukovych, the pro-Putin dictator ushered into power by Paul Manafort.
American
American
Principal actor
Helped American Media bury stories unfavorable to Trump leading up to the election -- a campaign contribution violation, not to mention a moral violation
American
Principal actor
Vice President of the United States
Russian
Principal actor
Putin's press secretary. Michael Cohen was in touch with him as late at June 2016, during the presidential campaign, in talks over the Trump Tower Moscow deal.
Fox News counterterrorism analyst & one of Trump's 5 initial national security advisors
American
Civil servant
His stolen emails were one of several tronches of stolen documents released by Wikileaks at strategic moments during the 2016 presidential election campaign.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
Russian agent who received intelligence information from American energy consultant Carter Page beginning in January 2013
Russian
Worked for the Internet Research Agency as its head of IT from April 2014 to at least July 2014; he oversaw the buildout of the U.S. infrastructure for the Russian operations.
American
Civil servant
CIA Director who went from praising to condemning Wikileaks
Ukranian
Politician
Ukranian president
Cypriot
Company
a Cyprus company that has invested in Manhattan real estate and which prosecutors allege was the receptacle for some of the $230 million stolen from Russian taxpayers in 2007; part of Hermitage Capital, the investment fund Magnitsky was investigating until his murder in a Moscow prison in 2009.
American
Civil servant
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
"Putin's Chef" -- a former caterer and restauranteur who now runs Vladimir Putin's internet propaganda operations via the Internet Research Agency as well as overseeing mercenary forces operating in Syria and Ukraine.
American
Oligarch
Sec. of Education Betsy DuVoss's brother, who met a Russian oligarch in the Seychelles during the campaign to talk about lifting sanctions. Founded and runs Blackwater, a formidable private security firm often accompanying US military operations as the theater of war becomes increasingly privatized and mercenaries find themselves duking it out in the desert armed with the plausible deniability of being at arm's length from their country's official foreign policy.
American
Media Outlet
Russian
Activist
Russian
Principal actor
American
Politician
Member of the House Intelligence Committee, one of the Congressional committees investigating the Russia scandal
American
Company
Was asked by House Democrats on March 7, 2018 to provide intel on the scope and scale of the Russian disinformation effort on their platforms during the 2016 election
Russian
Company
One of the first private companies or "collectives" formed under Gorbachev's glasnost reforms, it brokered the first proto-Internet within the Soviet Union and first connection to the outside world β playing a key role in thwarting the attempted coup against Gorbachev by the KGB in August, 1991
Russian
Moscow-based entity begun by Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin -- odd, in a country with no gun rights at all.
American
Company
Hosted Donald Trump during his 2013 visit to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant
Russian
extreme nationalist party in Russia c. 2003 that hinted at ethnic cleansing; The Guardian reported it had actually been set up as a prop by Putin & cronies, to draw votes away from the other far-right Communist Party
American
Lobbyist
Hired by Alfa Bank: a former REagan administration official
American
Intelligence Community
Admiral and Director of the National Security Agency under Obama; one of the 3 who briefed Trump and Obama about the Russian attack on Election 2016
American
Politician
Representative (R-CA 48th District) since 2013; dubbed "Putin's favorite Congressman"
Russian
Putin ally implicated in the Panama Papers
Russian
Company
Russia's state oil company
Russian
Media Outlet
Russia's official government newspaper
American
Politician
US Secretary of Commerce and single largest shareholder of the Bank of Cyprus, the famous haven for Russian oligarchs to stash their billions
Russian
CEO of Vornado, a $20 billion real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns 49.5% of Jared Kushner's building at 666 Fifth Avenue; he's also on Trump's economic advisory team
Russian
Media Outlet
Russian state-owned news service
Russian
Media Outlet
The Kremlin's new video news agency
Russian
Company
One of Oleg Deripaska's companies whose sanctions have been lifted by Trump's Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
Russian
Russia's sovereign wealth fund
Russian
part of the far-right coalition within Russia seeking to build an international consensus, this group advocates "Christian Orthodox imperial nationalism"
Russian
Politician
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister
American
Politician
Speaker of the House (R-WI) and a Trump defender and denialist
Russian
Oligarch
the βFertilizer Kingβ β fertilizer billionaire who purchased Trump's Palm Beach mansion for $95 million, but never moved in
American
Oligarch
American
Civil servant
Russian
Russian Mafia
Russian mobster and FBI informant who runs Bayrock, a money-laundering firm designed to hide dirty Russian money in Trump's taxes
Saudi Arabian
Nation-state
Russian
Bank
Russia's largest bank
American
Civil servant
Trump press secretary for all of 10 days
American
Principal actor
Managed the Trump campaign's social media
American
Politician
Top-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee overseeing that chamber's Russia investigation
American
Trump's longtime security chief and confidant
American
Lawyer
New York State Attorney General who has a long history of legal cases with Trump
American
Politician
(D-NY) and Sen. Minority Leader
Russian
Oligarch
President of Rosneft at the time Exxon violated Russian sanctions to help protect his property interest
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
An IRA-controlled Facebook group that bought ads in support of the Trump Campaign, and had over 130,000 followers at the time it was deactivated in mid-2017
American
Lawyer
Trump's personal lawyer
American
Principal actor
Trump's first US Attorney General, before Bill Barr. He has recused himself from the Russia investigation because of his curious, multi-part memory loss of meetings with Russian agents.
Ukranian
Oligarch
Ukrainian steel magnate & partner at Talon International who is managing Trump Toronto hotel as it goes into default
American
President of the Miss Universe Organization, who reported directly to Trump at the time of the 2013 Moscow pageant
Russian
Director of PArtnership Marketing for vKontakte, a Russian social media site, that had communications with the Trump campaign about setting up a profile.
Company
American
Media Outlet
Conservative broadcasting conglomerate gobbling up local TV stations and forcing them to air canned right-wing footage with each segment.
American
Head of research firm Fusion FPS who commissioned the Christopher Steele dossier.
American
Oligarch
Billionaire financier who originally commissioned research firm Fusion GPS to start compiling opposition research on Donald Trump. He abandoned the project after Trump secured the nomination.
Lawyer
Law firm retained by Paul Manafort and Rick Gates to "whitewash" Victor Yanukovich's imprisonment of his political rival, Yulia Tymochenko, in Ukraine.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
An IRA-controlled Facebook account that organized a pro-Trump rally near Trump Tower in mid-2016
Russian
Former Russian official turned British spy who was attacked with his daughter Yulia with nerve gas in southern England, reputedly by agents of the Kremlin.
Russian
Sergei's daughter
American
Civil servant
Head of the State Dept's intelligence bureau under Obama
American
Alleged to have solicited help on the dark web in finding Hillary's "missing" emails from the Russians
American
Company
One of the social networks the Democratic oversight committees want to send document requests to, to request more intel on the scope and scale of the Russian campaign on their platforms
American
Intelligence Community
Controversial former employee for private firms working within the US government who absconded with millions of top secret NSA and other departmental intelligence documents, fled to Hong Kong where he alerted the press, and flew on to Moscow where he lives under the protection of the Kremlin.
Polish
Polish workers' party confronting Communism in the late '80s
Russian
Nuclear non-proliferation expert who briefed Mike Flynn on the ACU's nuclear program and rejoiced that he would be named head of the NSA.
American
Civil servant
Trump's press secretary
Russian
Media Outlet
Russian news wire proffering fake news
Russian
Politician
American
Principal actor
Ex-Facebook security chief
German
Foreign Intelligence
Nickname for the Ministry of State Security in East Germany during the Cold War
British
Foreign Intelligence
Former British MI6 intelligence agent who put together the Steele Dossier on Donald Trump's dealings with Russia
American
Lobbyist
Long-time political advisor best known for being part of Richard Nixon's "Dirty Tricks" crew who perpetuated Watergate among much else; he "predicted" the release of Clinton's hacked emails
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
An IRA-controlled Facebook group
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
An IRA-controlled Facebook group that bought Facebook ads in support of Donald Trump
Media Personality
Works for Sputnik in Russia. Never responded to an official Congressional inquiry.
Russian
Russian
Media Outlet
Russia's largest blogging service via acquisition of LiveJournal from Six Apart
Russian
Principal actor
Putin's disinformation machine
Russian
Intelligence Community
Russian foreign intelligence service
American
Politician
Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee
Company
Russian
Russian Mafia
organized crime ring based in St. Petersburg w/ties to Putin; led by Gennadiy Petrov and Aleksandr Malyshev
Lobbyist
GOP strategy firm hired by Facebook
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
An IRA-controlled Twitter account posing as the Tennessee GOP Party.
American
Trump for America, Inc., the business entity formed to handle the Trump transition
American
Principal actor
U.S. Secretary of State and former CEO of Exxon
Oligarch
23% owner of natural gas company Novatek, who made $1.8b from surges in pro-Russian market following Trump's election
Russian
Program director at the Russian International Affairs Council, a government-funded think tank, who met with George Papadopolous to try to establish a meeting between Trump and Putin.
Russian
Russian Mafia
Nicknamed "The Little Taiwanese," he's one of Russia's most notorious mobsters. At the time of the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, he had been indicted in the U.S. for protecting a high-stakes illegal gambling operation run out of Trump Tower.
Russian
Principal actor
Russian central banker, Putin confidant, NRA whisperer, handler of Maria Butina
Russian
Russian Mafia
Ran a Russian-American gambling crime ring out of Trump Tower. Serving 5 years for racketeering.
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
Department within the IRA dedicated to U.S. operations
American
Principal actor
American
Principal actor
American
American
Principal actor
American
Oligarch
Donald Trump's father, who built the family real estate fortune and handed it off to his son to ruin it
American
Principal actor
Daddy's little girl
American
Principal actor
American
Principal actor
American
Principal actor
Russian
American
Company
Was asked by House Democrats on March 7, 2018 to provide intel on the scope and scale of the Russian disinformation effort on their platforms during the 2016 election
Ukranian
Company
Ukranian state-owned company who was the target of a bribery offer from ACU Strategic Partners -- who Mike Flynn was working with -- to accept a $45 billion contract to build reactors in Saudi Arabia in exchange for supporting the lifting of sanctions levied against Russia by the US and EU.
Turkish
Nation-state
Russian
Media Outlet
Independent Russian broadcaster
American
Company
Ukranian
Politician
Ran against Victor Yanukovich in the 2010 Presidentials elections, and was jailed by him under spurious charges following his Paul Manafort-aided win.
Holds Trump debt
Russian
Foreign Intelligence
An IRA-controlled Facebook account that had over 300,000 followers at the time it was finally deactivated in mid-2017
Russian
Political Party of Russian PResident Vladimir Putin
Russian
Oligarch
Putin-connected oligarch with connections to secretary of commerce ξ€Wilbur Ross [tracker]
Russian
Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin who met with Donald Trump Jr, Paul Manafort, and Kared Kushner at Trump Tower in June 2016 about the dirt Russia had on Hillary Clinton. At the time she was representing Prevezon Holdings in the case the U.S. Justice Department had brought against them for a $230 million money laundering scheme that lawyer Sergei Magnitsky had uncovered.
American
Company
Provided social media services to the Trump campaign and Michael Flynn
Russian
Russian social network; equivalent analog to Facebook
Russian
Bank
Russian state-owned development bank, under investigation for Russian election interference
Company
$20 billion REIT that's an ~equal partner with Jared Kushner in the 666 Fifth Ave. building in Manhattan; Steve Roth, CEO, is an advisor to Trump
Bank
Executive at Deutsche Bank's private wealth unit who helped finance many of Trump's real estate projects after other banks (and the "regular" side of Deutsche Bank) wouldn't deal with him any more, following massive losses
Russian
Bank
Russia's largest commercial bank; under US and EU sanctions for money laundering
American
Politician
(D-VA) β top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee
Media Outlet
American
Media Outlet
venerable local paper purchased by Jeff Bezos in 2013
American
American
American
Politician
American
Principal actor
The House HPSCI committee wants to subpoena them for communication records relating to principals in the Trump campaign
American
Intelligence Community
American
Lobbyist
Undertook Turkey-related work for Michael Flynn
American
Civil servant
Supposed to be a civil servant but often a lobbyist, The White House includes the President and high-level senior staff
Hacker
Global
umbrella term for Russia's movement to unite an international extreme far-right coalition
American
candidate for the next FBI Director, to replace James Comey
American
Whistleblower from Trump data team Cambridge Analytica who revealed the existence of a formerly secret client: Lukoil, Russia's #2 oil and gas company
Ukranian
Politician
Ukraine's former pro-Moscow president; he paid $12.7 million to help influence the Ukranian election his way before being ousted from power in 2013. Paul Manafort made many of the millions he later laundered with Rick Gates via undisclosed lobbying for Mr Yanukovych.
American
Deputy Attorney General under Barack Obama and Acting Attorney General following the inauguration of Donald Trump. She was dismissed by him after 10 days when she instructed the Justice Department not to allow Trump's Muslim ban to be enforced because it violated the law and the Constitution.
American
Russian
Politician
First President of the Russian Federation, after he orchestrated Russia's exit from the USSR (and thus, its downfall, as all the Soviet satellite republics followed suit). He ruled from 1991 to 1999, never quite managing to usher in a true democracy before settling on a successor, an obscure and unknown former KGB officer stationed in East Berlin during the Second World War: Vladimir Putin.
American
Company
Favored propaganda platform for Russian agents used in the cyberattacks against the 2016 election
Russian
"Young Army" β created in 2015 by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to "encourage patriotism among schoolchildren"
American
Oligarch
CEO of Facebook, whose platform was used by the Russians in their influence campaign against the 2016 U.S. elections
Dutch
Dutch lawyer caught lying to the FBI about his law firm Skadden's report on Ukranian dictator Victor Yanukovich's imprisonment of his presidential rival Yulia Tymochenko in Ukraine. Has plead guilty to Robert Mueller's team.
Did Russia hack the 2016 US election? Most certainly. The FBI, CIA, and entire intelligence community is in agreement on this point. Russian information warfare has been infamous the world over for decades — with a recent flare up starting with the Brexit vote as an obvious canary in a larger coalmine, and extending to the proliferation of right-wing movements around the world: particularly in Eastern Europe on Putin’s doorstep.
The following list is an attempt to demystify the language surrounding Russian interference in the election of Donald Trump, and Vladimir Putin’s efforts to undermine the Western order — in retaliation for the fall of the Soviet Union which happened under his watch as a young KGB agent stationed in Dresden, Germany.
See also: the RussiaGate Bestiary which lists the individuals involved in the Russian 2016 election interference investigation of Trump campaign conspiracy and fraud. Please note: both of these resources are works in progress and are being updated frequently.
Term
Definition
4chan
A notorious internet message board with an unruly culture capable of trolling, pranks, and crimes.
8chan
If 4chan isn't raw and lawless enough for you, try the even more right-wing "free speech"-haven 8chan, which is notorious for incubating a large swath of the Gamergate culture.
The Act
Las Vegas nightclub in the Palazzo, owned by Sheldon Adelson, under surveillance by the Nevada Gaming Control Board for obscene performances. Site of the Miss USA pageant party attended by Trump and the Agalarov's in June 2013.
active measures
information warfare aimed at undermining the West
Air Force One
The U.S. presidential plane.
AMS Panel
The GRU's "nerve center" through which they monitored the middle servers that monitored the DNC and DCCC networks. Housed on a leased computer located in Arizona.
art critic in civilian clothing
"joke" used by the KGB to refer to themselves while informing on dissidents under Soviet rule
attorney work product
backdoor
a method, often secret, of bypassing regular login authentication or encryption of a computer or server
Baku
capital of Azerbaijan
banana republic
politically unstable countries whose economies are monocultures controlled by an oligarchy; puppet states
Bank Secrecy Act
Legal statute requiring persons managing funds in excess of $10,000 in foreign banks disclose said accounts to the US Treasury.
bespredel
"limitless and total lack of accountability of the elite oligarchs"
blind trust
A financial trust in which the beneficiaries have no access to the holdings of the trust, or any knowledge of its investments and contents
Bolotnaya Square
The square was the site of the biggest protests in Russia since the Soviet era, in December 2011
Bolshevik
The majority faction within the Marxist revolutionary party led by Vladimir Lenin to power in Russia during the October Revolution of 1917, eventually becoming the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
bolt hole
A type of retreat or refuge for those in the survivalist subculture, to be absconded to in case of disaster or apocalypse.
BND
German foreign intelligence agency
bug-out location (BOL)
Another name for a bolt hole or survivalist refuge location.
Calexit
Movement to split the state of Californnia into East and West states
capital flight
Refers to the massive ongoing exodus of both legitimate and illegitimate funds of Russian oligarchs and their state cronies to "safe havens" in foreign banks and offshore accounts outside of Russia
28 C.F.R. 600.8(c)
"at the conclusion of the Special Counsel's work, he...shall provide the Attorney General a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions the Special Counsel reached"
Charter 77
Informal Czech resistance movement against the communist regime, named after a document that was deemed a political crime to distribute.
Chekism
Loyalty to the concept of an unbroken chain of Russian security services, all the way from Lenin's Cheka to the KGB to the FSB
Chronicle of Current Events
Soviet dissident periodical (samizdat) from 1968 to the early 1980s that reported on the human rights violations in the Soviet Union
Cold War
Color Revolutions
computational propaganda
cooperating witness
CPAC
Conservative Political Action Conference
CPSU
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Crimea
territory in eastern Ukraine invaded and "annexed" by Putin in 2014; unrecognized and condemned by the international community
criminal investigation
Crocus City Hall
7000-seat theater complex in Moscow built by Aras Agalarov; site of the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow
Cuban Missile Crisis
cut out
cyberspies
cyberwarfare
Cyprus
DACA
dacha
country estate
Dark Web
data transfer
deep state
Networks of opposition within governments who undermine the official regime
strategy of easing geopolitical tensions between nations; used in particular to describe attempts to "cool off" antagonism during the Cold War
dezinformatsiya
Russian information warfare
diaspora
directories
The file folder organizational structure on your computer
disinformation
DIOG
The FBI's Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide
document theft
Donbas
Territory in eastern Ukraine where Russian aggression has resumed as of Jan 29, 2017 following two years of Minsk Two ceasefire agreement
Doomsday Clock
doxing
researching and broadcasting personally identifiable information about an individual
Duma
the lower house of the Federal Assembly, Russia's Parliament
Eastern Bloc
Echo Moskvy
Democratic radio station in Moscow seminal is thwarting the KGB-led coup against Gorbachev in 1991
encryption
"Eternal Rome"
ideology positing Russia as a geopolitical bulwark of conservatism against a weak-kneed West (part of Alexander Dugin's reformulation of Eurasianism theory)
Evening Internet
the first blog in Russia, founded by Anton Nossik
executive privilege
exfiltration
The removal or copying of data from one server to another without the knowledge of the owner
fake news
fallout shelter
false flag
covert operations designed to deceive by appearing as though they are carried out by other entities, groups, or nations than those who actually executed them
FAPSI
One of the agencies spun out from the former KGB to head Govt Comms & Info (modeled after the NSA) β this division was instrumental in controlling the unfolding of the Russian internet
Federal Assembly
Russian Parliament
fifth column
fifth world war
non-linear war; the war of all against all
Financial Crimes Enforcement NEtwork (FinCEN)
Department within the Treasury that handles and maiontains FBAR filings from US persons holding in excess of $10,000 in foreign banks.
FISA Court
FISA warrant
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)
Legal statute requiring those persons lobbying on behalf of a foreign government or other entity to register such with the U.S. government.
foreign bank account report (FBAR)
Required disclosure to the US treasury by persons holding in excess of $10,000 in funds in foreign banks.
forensics
FreedomFest
Conservative evangelical event annually in Las Vegas
frozen conflict zones
term for several unrecognized pseudo states within former Soviet territories who have broken away from the national government and are operating as Russian protectorates
FSB
the Russian Federal Security Service
GamerGate
Gazeta.ru
Gazprom
Russia's energy monopolgy and largest gas company
Georgia
Ghost Stories
FBI operation allowing a sleeper cell of 10 KGB spies to operate in the U.S. for 10 years, to reverse engineer their methods. At the end of the sting, FBI Director Robert Mueller rounded them all up and expelled them from the country.
glasnost
"increased government transparency" or openness β a slogan employed by Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet leader in the 1980s
Glavplakat
"global cabal"
euphemism in far-right Russian discourse to refer to a perceived "Jewish conspiracy" behind the international order of institutions like NATO and the EU
globalization
Grand Jury
16 to 23 people impaneled to hear evidence from a legal prosecution, and decide if said prosecution has a caseworthy set of evidence to bring charges.
Grenadines
hashtag
Helsinki Accords
honeypot
hybrid warfare
IC (Intelligence Community)
iMessage
Apple's version of SMS
information warfare
interlocuter
IRC
Iskra
The main Bolshevik newspaper in the early 20th century
JacksonβVanik amendment to the Trade Act of 1974
kakistocracy
keylogging
Technique that enabled the GRU to record passwords, internal communications, banking info, and sensitive personal info from compromised DCCC and DNC employees
KGB
The Soviet secret service, renowned for ruthlessness and duplicity
kleptocracy
form of government in which the leaders harbor organized crime rings and often participate in or lead them; the police, military, civil government, and other governmental agencies may routinely participate in illicit activities and enterprises.
Kommersant
Long-respected business newspaper purchased by pro-Kremlin oligarch Alisher Usmanov
kompromat
compromising material on a head of state or other important figure; typically used for blackmail purposes
Komsomol
Leninist Youth League organization for Communists aged 14 to 28 in the late 80s & early 90s
The Kremlin
Kuchino
the oldest top-secret research facility of the KGB, 12 miles east of Moscow
Kurchatov Institute
Preeminent Soviet nuclear research facility still in operation today in the far north of Moscow
Latvia
Lenta.ru
liberalism
Political and ethical framework based on individual liberty via human rights and equal protection
Logan Act
lords on the boards
Mafia state
A systematic corruption of government by organized crime syndicates.
Magnitsky Act
Maidan revolution
Student protests that ousted the Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych, that started Nov 21, 2013.
malware
Marxism
maskirovka
war of deception and concealment
Menatep
Menshevik
middle servers
Intermediary sets of servers used by the GRU to communicate with their malware implants in infected U.S. computers and networks -- for an arm's length, plausible deniability strategy
Mimikatz
Piece of malware whose function is a hacker credential harvesting tool
Minsk Two
Colloquial name of the 2015 ceasefire agreement between Russia & Ukraine following the annexation of Crimea
Mitrokhin Archive
Mokhovaya Square
well-known landmark in front of the Kremlin
MSK-IX
The main Internet exchange point in Russia
MVD
Ministry of Internal Affairs; supervises all police, prisons, and "public order militias"
nationalism
National Prayer Breakfast
neutralize
Never-Trump
Newsru.com
NKVD
a forerunner to the KGB under Stalin
non-linear warfare
NotPetya
novichok
military-grade nerve agent developed by Russia and used in the poisoning of former FSB agent turned Putin critic Andrei Skripal and his daughter in Lonson in March, 2018
Novorossia
region of eastern Ukraine occupied by Russian separatists
October Revolution
the Nov 7, 1917 Bolshevik revolution and armed overthrow of the government, leading to the creation of the USSR
October Surprise
oligarchy
one-party state
open source intelligence
operating system
operatives
oppo
short form of opposition research
opposition research
OSINT
open source intelligence
Ostankino
Russia's TV network
Ozero Cooperative
perestroika
policy of restructuring or rebuilding the Soviet government, employed by Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s
plausible deniability
plea deal
plead the Fifth
Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Safe "bolt hole" identified for Eastern European hackers paid by Trump and the Kremlin if things went south
ponyatiya
an unwritten understanding about how things must be done
populism
postmodernism
"post office boxes"
Secret Soviet military and security research facilities, known only to the public by their P.O. Box number
post-truth
power grid intrusions
Prague, Czech Republic
proizvol
Russian word for "arbitrariness"
Project Lakhta
Internal name for the operation that Prigozhin's IRA was running to interfere in elections across the Western world, according to the Mueller indictments.
Project Ripon
propaganda
provokatsiya
rar.exe
A hacker tool used to compile and compress materials for exfiltration to GRU servers from the DNC and DCCC networks
Reddit
American social network inhabited by numerous denizens of the alt-Right and hosting notoriously grotesque subreddits.
refuseniks
Term given during the Soviet era, particularly under Stalin, for Jews who had been denied permission to emigrate
reiding
Relcom
One of the first private companies or "collectives" formed under Gorbachev's glasnost reforms, it brokered the first proto-Internet within the Soviet Union and first connection to the outside world β playing a key role in thwarting the attempted coup against Gorbachev by the KGB in August, 1991
rent-a-peer
retweet
When a Twitter user amplifies the tweet of another, by "retweeting" it out to her or his network
Rodina
extreme nationalist party in Russia c. 2003 that hinted at ethnic cleansing; The Guardian reported it had actually been set up as a prop by Putin & cronies, to draw votes away from the other far-right Communist Party
Rosatom
Russian company building Turkey's first nuclear plant
Rose Revolution
Peaceful protest-driven pro-Western transfer of power in the former Soviet state of Georgia in Nov 2003
Rosneft
Russia's state oil company
Rossiiskaia Gazeta
Russia's official government newspaper
RT.com
state-owned Russian news service
Rublevka
billionaire's row in Moscow
Russian Imperial Movement
part of the far-right coalition within Russia seeking to build an international consensus, this group advocates "Christian Orthodox imperial nationalism"
Russophobia
Popular hysteria against Russia and Russians perceived to be the case by Russia and Russians
samizdat
in the Soviet era, the creation by hand and distribution of copies of literature and other material banned by the state
Sberbank
Russia's largest bank
SDNs (specially designated nationals)
Individuals against whom secondary sanctions have been applied
The Seychelles
shadow profiles
Data that Facebook collects on people who are not members of Facebook, via association with their friends who are
shestidesiatniki
"Sixties' Generation" in the Soviet Union, who shared a lot in common with the American New Left. Advocated for political reform.
Siemens AG
siloviki
Russian term for those who have backgrounds and employment in security services, the military, and police; more specifically a reference to Putin's security cabal
Signal
sistema
Russian term to denote "how the government really works" (as opposed to via formal state institutions)
SJW
Social Justice Warriors, a term which has somehow been wielded as a pejorative by alt-righters and other radical right cadre, energing out of Gamergate culture.
SMS
Aka "texting"
Snow Revolution
popular protests beginning in Moscow in 2011, demanding the reinstatement of free elections & the ability to form opposition parties
sockpuppet accounts
Fake social media accounts used by trolls for deceptive and covert actions, avoiding culpability for abuse, aggression, death threats, doxxing, and other criminal acts against targets.
Solidarity
Polish workers' party confronting Communism in the late '80s
SORM
System of Operative Search Measures β the system in use by the FSB to eavesdrop on the Russian internet
South Stream pipeline
Gazprom project through Balkans and Central Europe
"sovereign democracy"
system in which democratic procedures are retained, but without any actual democratic freedoms; brainchild of Vladislav Surkov
sovereign wealth fund
spasitelnii
Russian word for "redemptive"
spearphishing
An email designed to appear as if from a trusted source, to solicit information that allows the sender to gain access to an account or network, or installs malware that later enables the sender to gain access to an account or network
specialists
Moniker given to the IRA employees assigned to operate the social media accounts in the U.S., including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Tumblr.
Sputnik
Russian news wire proffering fake news
Stasi
Nickname for the Ministry of State Security in East Germany during the Cold War
Steele dossier
stochastic terrorism
Stoleshnikov Lane
pedestrian street in Moscow lined with designer boutiques
St. Petersburg
Location of the headquarters for the IRA, Internet Research Agency, aka Putin's troll farm, at 55 Savushkina Street.
Strana.ru
subpoena
SUP Media
Russia's largest blogging service via acquisition of LiveJournal from Six Apart
SVR
Russian foreign intelligence service
swatting
hoaxed reports to emergency services intended to provoke a SWAT team response at the target's home; a form of Internet-based attack used by Gamergate, the alt-Right, and other groups and individuals
tax returns
The Thaw
Brief period of reform under Nikita Khrushchev between 1956 and 1964, when Khrushchev takes over from Stalin and is replaced by Leonid Brezhnev
tradecraft
"translator project"
trial balloon
Information put out or leaked to the media to gauge public reaction.
Trump Tower Moscow
Then-candidate Trump signed a letter of intent to move forward with this project in 2015, while at the same time denying its existence publicly, repeatedly.
truthiness
Turkish Stream
Proposed gas pipeline allowing Russia to extend its control over Turkey and European energy markets
Ukranian occupation
unmasking
Intelligence protocol redacting American identities from transcripts of foreign intercepts
USPER
Velvet Revolution
vertical of power
reference to the tightly controlled power cabal structure Putin has amassed around himself
vKontakte
Russian social network; equivalent analog to Facebook
vlast
power
VPN
VTB
Russia's largest commercial bank
wag the dog
watering hole
hacker attacks that infect entire websites
whataboutism
Classic debate tactic of old Soviet apologists to deflect criticism of Soviet policy; whenever an American would levy a critique, the response would be, "What about the bad things America does?"
white knights
white nationalism
Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation
World National-Conservatism Movement (WNCM)
umbrella term for Russia's movement to unite an international extreme far-right coalition
X-Agent
Multifunction hacking tool that allowed Russian GRU Military Unit 26165 to log keystrokes, take screenshots, and gather other data about the infected computers
X-Tunnel
Hacking tool creating an encrypted connection between the victim DCCC/DNC computers and the GRU-controlled computers to facilitate a large-scale data transfer
Yes California
Movement to secede from the US entirely, run by Marcus Ruiz Evans, Louis J. Marinelli
Yukos
zakaz
news information that has been paid for by special interest
The FBI took the extraordinary step of initiating a counterintelligence investigation into the President of the United States, based according to the New York Times on the firing of James Comey and Trump’s public actions surrounding that event, in which he linked the firing to the Russia investigation vociferously several times.
Please Note: This is very much a work in progress and much of the timeline hasn’t yet made it from my notes and scribblings into the Timeline.js environment that makes this interactive data visualization possible. Stay tunedβ¦ but for now, at least you can get a bit of a sense how deep this #Russiagate rabbit hole goes.
Dictatorships generally do not foster, or even tolerate, the kind of creative disruption of the status quo necessary to the existence of a dynamic free market. Plus, the economy of the Russian state can best be described as a mafia state, or kleptocracy. Thus Vladimir Putin needs to find other ways to shore up both the national finances and the support of his cronies (much less so, of his people, who are primarily afterthoughts in the Russian power structure).
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the rapid shift to capitalism was done with little oversight and many hands in the cookie jar. The Russian land’s rich stores of minerals, oil and gas, heavy metals, and other natural resources were rapidly privatized and newly-minted oligarchs flexed wealth and power in a way never before dreamed of in the former USSR.
The combination of powerful new gatekeepers who locked up the Russian economy early via capital flight and never let it go overshadowed the capitalistic transition and, in a very real way, hijacked it before it ever really got underway. The result is, some 30 years on, an unpopular creaking kleptocratic regime reviled around the world for its stubborn aggression, subversion of democratic processes around the world particularly in Europe and the United States, support for organized crime, and significant financial crimes on the part of the state itself.
Putin’s autocratic rule from dull to terrifyingly devious has a chilling effect on hope, self-determination, self-governance, and ultimately — on happiness, freedom, and creativity. Totalitarianism is capable of exerting control, but always fails to inspire anything except for eventual revolution against the oppressors.
Here is a granular look at major indicators of the economy of the Russian Federation.
We Americans thought it ended, anyhow — but we were wrong. The revanchism that in some sense was of high potential after the fall of the former Soviet Union indeed came to pass — and later to be accelerated by the rise of Vladimir Putin to power.
Along with that trajectory, a curious development path for the former Soviet state: mostly, a descent into organized crime at the highest echelons of government. In some sense, organized crime is the government.
While we wring our hands in the United States over whether or not such a strategy is even conceivable, the erstwhile President of Russia has been running this playbook out in the open in Ukraine and Eastern Europe for some time. With help from Propagandist-in-Chief Vladislav Surkov, Putin has leveraged the open secrets about the psychology of crowds we learned in the late 19th and early 20th century to stir up emotional antagonisms within the political spectrum — to predictable results.
It’s no accident that fascism is on the march in America. The conditions have been brewing for some time, predominantly since the Conservative movement began breaking away more militantly from democratic principles and towards authoritarian philosophy (elite rule by force: preferably invisible force via economic hegemony for the middle and upper classes, and violent force / the carceral state for The Undesirables) in the late 1970s and 1980s. All Putin had to do was make use of available prevailing conditions and tools — the rise of social media in the 2000s counterintuitively blew a gaping wide security hole in the American persuasion landscape that Cold War Soviet operatives of the 1960s would scarcely have believed.
Today, as in parts of Europe between the world wars, the U.S. has partisan gridlock within The Establishment sector of politics; this exacerbates the impatience with and contempt for the status quo (aka the Liberal world order) that in some sense naturally congeals at the far right and far left margins of the political spectrum as a simple consequence of the Normal Distribution (the Median Voter Theorem captures this tendency quite succinctly). Under such conditions, an influence campaign like the one Russia wielded against the United States during the 2016 election season was tasked merely with tilting the playing field a little further — a task that platforms like Facebook and Twitter were in some sense fundamentally engineered to accomplish, in exchange for ad revenue.
New World Order? Be careful what we wish for
“Both Italian and German fascists had done their best to make democracy work badly. But the deadlock of liberal constitutions was not something the fascists alone had brought about. ‘The collapse of the Liberal state,’ says Roberto Vivarelli, ‘occurred independently of fascism.’ At the time it was tempting to see the malfunction of democratic government after 1918 as a systemic crisis marking the historic terminus of liberalism. Since the revival of constitutional democracy since World War II, it has seemed more plausible to see it as a circumstantial crisis growing out of the strains of World War I, a sudden enlargement of democracy, and the Bolshevik Revolution. However we interpret the deadlock of democratic government, no fascist movement is likely to reach office without it.”
While multipleΒ formal investigations against the Trump family and administration continue to unfold, and Drumpf supporters weirdly deny the probable cause for concern, Putin’s troll army continues to operate out in the open on Twitter, Facebook, Medium, and other social media networks. The sheerΒ scale of this operation started to become clear to me in the months leading up to Election 2016, having both spent a lot of time on social media both professionally and personally for over a decade as well as a hefty amount of time on political investigation during this presidential cycle: bots on Twitter had taken over.
Whatever your thoughts on the #RussiaGate corruption scandal may be, it should concern any citizen that an enormous group of bad actors is working together toΒ infiltrate American social media, with a specific intent to sway politics. Media literacy is one part of the answer, but we’re going to need new tools to help us identify accounts that are onlyΒ present in bad faith to political discourse: they are not who they claim to be, and their real goals are kept carefullyΒ opaque.
Cold War 2.0
We should consider our nation embroiled in a large international game of psychological warfare, or PsyOps as it is referred to in intelligence circles. The goal is to sow disinformation as widely as possible, such that it becomes very difficult to discern what separates truth from propaganda. A secondary goal is to sow dissent among the citizenry, particularly to rile up the extremist factions within America’s two dominant political parties in an attempt to pull the political sphere apart from the center.Β
We didn’t really need much help in that department as it is, with deep partisan fault lines having been open as gaping wounds on the American political landscape for some decades now — so the dramatically escalated troll army operation has acted as an intense catalyst for further igniting the power kegs being stored up between conservatives and progressives in this country.
Luckily there are some ways to help defray the opposition’s ability to distract and spread disinfo by identifying the signatures given off by suspicious accounts. I’ve developed a few ways to evaluate whether a given account may be a participant in paid propaganda, or at least is likely to be misrepresenting who they say they are, and what their agenda is.Β
Sometimes it’s fun to get embroiled in a heated “tweetoff,” but I’ve noticed how easy it is to feel “triggered” by something someone says online and how the opposition is effectively “hacking” that tendency to drag well-meaning people into pointless back-and-forths designed not to defend a point of view, but simply to waste an activist’s time, demoralize them, and occupy the focus — a focus that could be better spent elsewhere on Real Politics with real citizens who in some way care about their country and their lives.
Bots on Twitter have “Tells”
1) Hyper-patriotism
– Conspicuously hyper-patriotic bio (and often, name) – Posts predominantly anti-Democrat, anti-liberal/libtard, anti-Clinton, anti-Sanders, anti-antifa etc. memes:
2) Hyper-Christianity
– Conspicuously hyper-Christian in bio and/or name of bots on Twitter:Β
3) Abnormally high tweet volume
Seems to tweet &/or RT constantly without breaks — supporting evidence of use of a scheduler tool at minimum, and displaying obviously automated responses from some accounts. The above account, for example, started less than 2 years ago, has tweeted 15,000 more times than I have in over 10 years of frequent use (28K). Most normal people don’t schedule their tweets — but marketers and PR people do.
4) Posts only about politics and one other thing (usually a sport)
– Posts exclusively about politics and potentially one other primary “normie” topic, which is often a sport – May proclaim to be staunchly not “politically correct”:
5) Hates Twitter Lists
– Bots on Twitter have a strange aversion to being added to Lists, or makingΒ Lists of their own:
6) Overuse of hashtags
– Uses hashtags more than normal, non-marketing people usually do:
7) Pushes a one-dimensional message
– Seems ultimately too one-dimensional and predictable to reflect a real personality, and/or too vaguely similar to the formula:
8) Redundant tweets
– Most obviously of all, it retweets the same thing over and over again:
9) Rehashes a familiar set of memes
– Tweets predominantly about a predictable set of memes:
Mismatched location and time zone is another “tell” — and although you can’t get the second piece of data from the public profile, it is available from the Twitter API. If you know Python and/or feel adventurous, I’m sharing an earlier version of the above tool on Github (and need to get around to pushing the latest version…) — and if you know of any other “tells” please share by commenting or tweeting at me. Next bits I want to work on include:
Examining follower & followed networks against a matchlist of usual suspect accounts
Looking at percentage of Cyrillic characters in use
Graphing tweet volume over time to identify “bot” and “cyborg” periods
Looking at “burst velocity” of opposition tweets as bot networks are engaged to boost messages
Digging deeper into the overlap between the far-right and far-left as similar memes are implanted and travel through both “sides” of the networks
Russian aggression is mercurial — itβs getting harder to tell anymore who is being paid to push pro-Russian messages, and who has just been sadly taken in by them. For all this braggadocio (braggadocious, even!) about βbuilding a wallβ to keep supposed Mexican rapists out (although net migration has been falling with our southern neighbor for some time and is now net negative), no matter what the outcome of next Tuesdayβs election, the βbordersβ around the internet will remain difficultβββif not impossibleβββto police for the foreseeable future.
This all makes our breathless, behind-closed-doors hand-wringing over Soviet Communist influence over the population in the 1960s seem like childβs play. No need to train up a double agent over a lifetime and infiltrate the corridors of state power anymoreβββjust fire up Twitter (or Medium).
The Cold War is thawing
It thus probably shouldnβt be as shocking as it has been to find the pro-Russian lovefest coming just as hard from the far-left as it has from the far-right. It stems from a good place (for the most part): a heartfelt desire for peace and the youthful misunderstanding of how difficult (read: impossible) that has been to achieve throughout history. Still, we always want to believe weβve cracked the nutβββthat Mutually Assured Destruction now keeps us safe from all the power-hungry demons of the world.
Unfortunately, the Cold War is thawing. With the Russian economy reportedly in dire straits thanks to fragile over-reliance on oil and gas production combined with the precipitous drop in oil prices over the past 18 months, Putin is in a state. A state of keeping the angry ailing Russian classes distracted by the drums of war, while aiming to keep the pampered, self-absorbed American classes distracted from the drums of war. So far to great successβββat least on the latter front. Itβs hard to speak to the former, although all the paid trolls do seem mighty angry.
Since we can barely pull our heads out of our navels in the U.S. to remember thereβs a whole other world outside of our Big Orange Terror Bubble (which is by turns understandable and deeply concerning), I wanted to record here a timeline of Russian aggression events in the lead-up to where we are today (re-purposed from this post with some additional backstory on the Green Party candidateβs Jill Stein involvement with Putin):
2008 — Putin invades Georgia, an event regarded as the first European war of the 21st century
Perhaps history will one day show that the deepest destruction wrought by globalization was not the disintegration of Americaβs manufacturing sector, nor its incentivization of capital flight, but its damage to the last pillars of an aging democratic architecture slowly corroded by neoliberal economic policies in fashion since the Reagan years.
I still see a lot of denialism on this point about the DNC email hacks from the far-left (or the alt-left, depending on your favored terminology), which is a bit devastating to see as it essentially parrots the pro-Russian ideology of the far-right (both the alt-right and the neo-libertarian flavors). Green Party candidate Jill Stein is an especially pernicious promoter of this myth that Vladimir Putin is a poor, innocent, peaceful world leader who is being bullied by NATO (when in fact, Russia has been the aggressor since its annexation of Crimea in 2014).
DNC email hacks forensic evidence
Two separate Russian-affiliated adversaries were behind the attacks, according to a post-mortem by cyber-security firm CrowdStrike when the news of the intrusion first broke in early June, 2016. This has since been confirmed by other independent security firms including Fidelis, Mandiant, SecureWorks, and ThreatConnect as well as corroborated by analysis from Ars Technica and Edward Snowden.
At this point the US intelligence community is confident enough to formally accuse Russia of involvement in the hacks, and are currently investigating other breaches of voter registration databases in Arizona and Illinois as well as in Floridaβββthe key battleground state from the 2000 election that handed GWB an unfortunate victory. Elsewhere, there is ample evidence of Putinβs extensive disinformation campaign being waged online (including several experiences I have myself witnessed), which is the continuation of a long through line of wielding propaganda as a tool from the former head of the KGB.
A RussiaGate Bestiary: Principal actors and related extras in the 2016 election scandal
The Russian Mafia State: How the former USSR has become a sclerotic kleptocracy under the rule of former KGB agent Vladimir Putin, who vowed revenge on the West after his station in Dresden, East Germany was overrun by angry citizens during the month leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Clinton restored the stature of American diplomacy around the world. Trump asked Russia to find her hacked emails and interfere with the US presidential election.