The Trump campaign is heavily tied to many of Ukraine’s oligarchs, criminals and corrupt politicians that have featured in Russia’s most successful campaigns to weaken Western resolve. This chaos of political disunity is essential to Russia’s kleptocratic and expansionist policy goals. Russia/Trump nexus: Creating chaos in Ukraine These players use their influence to create alternative narratives in a “war of information.” These narratives contribute to a state of chaos that harms Ukrainian and foreign democracy-based institutions’ efforts to clean up Ukraine.Ī cooperative framework of national and international rules of law is considered poisonous by Ukraine’s promoters of criminality and illicitness. They rely on controlling stakes in Ukrainian industrial, energy and media companies and coordinating with shadowy lobbying firms to protect their questionable influence from scrutiny.Īs deeply resourceful influencers, they have become adept at undermining civic institutions and influencing foreign and domestic elections in tandem with Russia’s disinformation campaign, headed by Russia’s Internet Research Agency. Some of these political players have open, direct and active ties to Russian intelligence, politicians and oligarchs. Russian intel at the center of the spider’s web For that reason, the country has provided rich hunting grounds for embezzlement, money-laundering, fraud and for-hire political intrigue for anti-Western interests. The net effect of their self-serving interests and competing loyalties is inhibiting reform and exacerbating corruption in Ukraine. Ukraine is a young democracy with a difficult national history that has not been able to shake off the grip of politicians and oligarchs sympathetic to Moscow. Ukraine is not the first post-USSR country whose Western-looking orientation has been skillfully exploited by the independent Russian Federation’s foreign intelligence successor to the KGB, the GRU.Įngaging in what is known as “hybrid warfare,” Moscow’s long-time goal has been to impede and reverse Western influence - which has been on the rise since the fall of the USSR in 1991.
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