Russian authorities are reportedly using propaganda and disinformation to try and exploit the division in America over the Israel-Hamas war.
Russia wants to arouse political tensions within the U.S., portray the Biden administration as supporting the violence in Gaza, and tarnish the U.S.'s image, sources told NBC News.
Artificial intelligence and fake social media accounts are among the ways Moscow is employing its tactic. There also has been a spike in propaganda from Russian state media, according to the report.
In late November, Politico reported that Kremlin-linked Facebook accounts had ramped up their content after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack and massacre in Israel by almost 400%, with the Middle East crisis dominating posts from Russian diplomats, state-backed media, and supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The propaganda campaign also is a way for Russia to divert attention from its invasion of Ukraine.
"It's an opportunity, again, to undermine the West," said Bret Schafer, who tracks foreign propaganda at the German Marshall Fund of the United States' Alliance for Securing Democracy.
"They [the Russians] have pivoted away from trying to message around their own war to focusing on this one."
In recent says, pro-Russia outlets have commented on the anti-Israel protests that have broken out at college campuses across the U.S.
"The threat of deadly police violence against demonstrators looms over the current protests," reported state-run Sputnik, which also mentioned that four students were killed at an anti-war protest during the Vietnam era at Ohio's Kent State University.
Putin waited three days before commenting on Hamas' massacre of Israelis. When he did, he blamed the United States, not the terrorists.
"I think that many will agree with me that this is a clear example of the failed policy in the Middle East of the United States, which tried to monopolize the settlement process," Putin told Iraq's prime minister.
Russian and Western policy experts have said Putin is trying to use Israel's war against Hamas to escalate what he has cast as an existential battle with the West for a new world order that would end U.S. dominance in favor of a multilateral system he believes is already taking shape.
Reuters contributed to this story.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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