Vladimir Putin's Information Warfare, Open Source
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VLADIMIR PUTIN’S INFORMATION WARFARE, OPEN SOURCE INTELLIGENCE OPERATIONS IN WASHINGTON, DC “The speech of the head of Russia Today [MargaritaSimonyan] aroused great professional interest among the audience…Servicemen and information front fighters solve the same tasks, defending the interests of the Motherland.” Red Star. Mar. 2018 “We need stories on all [US/NATO] forces deployments near Russian Borders.” Peter Martinichev, Mg. Editor, Sputnik, Feb. 2017 DeStonndun Analysis Report John “Jeff” Stanton April 2018 [email protected] 703-795-1734 !1 There is an inverse relationship between public access to the Internet and the inability of governments and institutions to control information flow and hence state allegiance, ideology, public opinion, and policy formulation. Increase in public access to the Internet results in an equivalent decrease in government and institutional power. Indeed, after September 11, 2001, Internet traffic statistics show that many millions of Americans have connected to alternative news sources outside the continental United States. The information they consume can be and often is contrary to U.S. government statements and U.S. mainstream media reporting. Recognizing this, terrorists will coordinate their assaults with an adroit use of cyberspace for the purpose of manipulating perceptions, opinion, and the political and socioeconomic direction of many nation-states. Terror in Cyberspace: Terrorists Will Exploit and Widen the Gap Between Governing Structures and the Public, Feb. 1, 2002 !2 Rossiya Segodnya (Parent Company, Moscow) SUBSIDIARY #1 RIA Global, 1627 K Street, NW, 10th Floor) Washington, DC (1 block from Russian Ambassador’s residence) RIA Global Houses Sputnik Newswire, Sputnik Website & Sputnik Radio (Refer to as Sputnik USA) SUBSIDIARY #2 RIA Novosti is Co-located at 1627 K (Refer to as RIA USA) The information environment is the total of individuals, organizations, and systems that collect, process, disseminate, or act on information. The actors include leaders, decision makers, individuals, and organizations. Resources include the materials and systems employed to collect, analyze, apply, or disseminate information. The information environment is where humans and automated systems observe, orient, decide, and act upon information, and is therefore the principal environment of decision making. Even though the information environment is considered distinct, it resides within each of the four domains of air, land, sea, and space. Army Special Operations Forces Unconventional Warfare September 2008 !3 SPUTNIK USA, NEWSWIRE Yuri Bakay, Mg. Director, Helps Russians do Business in USA (Russian?) https://www.mindcruncher.com/en/ Mikhail Safronov, Vice President (Russian) Located on Linkedin Mindia Gaveshali, Bureau Chief (Russian) Located on Linkedin, Quoted in US Media Peter Martinichev, Mg. Editor (Russian) Former writer, Russia Today Anatasia Shevaleva, Sr. Editor (Russian) Byline Sputnik News Wire. Not confirmed: married to Gazprom official Mike Hughes, Editor (US Citizen) https://www.hughesworldnews.com/ (visited Moscow for a Management Meeting) Kristin Dailey, Editor (US Citizen?) Former Mg. Editor, Daily Star in Lebanon (10 yrs) Freelance in Iran (2 yrs) (Not confirmed: husband in Iranian jail) Zlatko Kovach, Editor (US Citizen) Located on Facebook, Speaks 8-10 languages, Tufts University graduate Liuda Chernova, Sr. Reporter Byline for Sputnik News Wire, Travels USA reporting on shootings, consulate closings, STRATCOM, United Nations Cara Rinkoff, White House Reporter Located on Twitter, former Newsroom staffer Martin Seiff, Reporter Former UPI, Washington Times, nominated in past life for Pulitzer Prize Willis Witter, Reporter Former Editor at the Washington Times Kris Rivera, Reporter, (El Paso, Texas) Olesya Manokhina, Reporter & Dimitry Zlodorev, Reporter (both on Linkedin) !4 SPUTNIK USA, WEBSITE Christopher Pyburn, Mg Editor https://www.fara.gov/docs/6524-Exhibit-AB-20180216-2.pdf Listed as mg editor for RIA Global but he sits in and amongst other Sputnik Website staff. Mindia Gaveshali as Burea Chief appears to be Pyburn’s positional superior. Website staff appears to be made up of 8-10 US citizens at any one time. The Sputnik News Wire feeds the website and/or website staff will pick and choose what stories they choose. SPUTNIK USA, RADIO The flagship radio program appears to be Brian Becker’s Loud and Clear. Becker is a key figure in the Party of Socialism and Liberation. https://www.liberationnews.org/ Radio program By Any Means Necessary is hosted by Eugene Puryear the vice presidential nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation in 2018. Radio Program Fault Lines is hosted by Garland Nixon and Lee Stranahan (Breibart) RIA NOVOSTI (RIA USA) Publishes in Russian Alexey Nikolov, Managing Director of RT visited with RIA Novosti staff earlier in 2018. https://www.rt.com/about-us/management/ Mikhail Turgiev, Mg Editor Located on Linkedin Tatiana Kaimykova, Reporter Located on Linkedin Ekaterina Sobol (Katya), Reporter Located on Linkedin Grigory Dubovitsky, Sr Reporter Located on Linkedin Alexey Bogdanovskiy, Reporter Located on Linkedin !5 FINANCING RIA GLOBAL, SPUTNIK USA: A figure of $9,436,900 is listed in RIA Global’s FARA filing which includes equipment, cost per article (by type) and radio program. It is unclear if the $9.4 million number includes the items below. https://www.fara.gov/docs/6524-Exhibit-AB-20180216-2.pdf SPUTNIK RADIO: The FARA filing for Reston Translator’s carry-fee reads: The Client shall pay the Contractor a fee…in the amount of nine hundred thousand (900,000.00) US Dollars and 00 cents… The Parties determined the price for one (1) calendar month of broadcasting of the Client’s Radio Programs amounts to Thirty thousand (30,000.00) US Dollars and 00 cents. https://www.fara.gov/docs/6490-Exhibit-AB-20171115-2.pdf RTTV: Listed a figure of $585,000 per month. https://www.fara.gov/docs/6496-Exhibit-AB-20171211-2.pdf I estimate the salaries range from $125,000 for the top Russians and $40,000 to $60,000 for reporters, web staffers, radio production, etc. With 35-40 onsite employees, some part time (unknown hourly rate), that’s a fair amount of payroll. That number excludes contributions to the menu of health care they offer through the DC exchange. Unknown if the figures include fee to vendors such as, telecommunications, payroll/ accounting, IT services or lease space at a prime K Street location. There appears to be no shortage of funds for desktops, headphones, cable TV boxes. VENDORS Some vendors have few degrees of separation from Russia. For example, the payroll and accounting service http://www.nbaccorp.com/cpa-clients/ is run by Boris Foxman. According to his bio “Foxman serves on the advisory board for the State of Maryland Leningradsky Region Sister State Program, serves on the board for the Montgomery County Sister City Inc, and chairs the board of the American Association for Russian Language, Culture & Education. He served on the Gaithersburg Multicultural Committee, volunteered as a grant reviewer for the United Way, facilitated the Russian Art Project in Washington DC and sponsored the Alley of Russian Poets and Composers. He completed a Certified Financial Planner program at the College for Financial Planning in Denver, CO. Mr. Foxman graduated from the Tomsk Polytechnical Institute with Bachelor of Science in Robotics and completed an individualized program in accounting and economics at the Tomsk State University.” The IT staff that stop by every month or so speak Russian. Software or hardware problems are conducted remotely from Moscow or somewhere in Russia. !6 SPUTNIK NEWS WIRE: WORK ENVIRONMENT Over a 1 year and 10 month period there were 3 firings/releases, including my own, and 2 significant incidents 1. An editor was released for verbally abusing, challenging, chastising the behavior of Cara Rinkoff and Liuda Chernova. Peter Martinichev was the hiring authority. 2. Feinberg: I was not privy to the former White House reporter’s conversations with management on assignments and boundaries. On the day Feinberg was released, he walked into the Sputnik News Wire bullpen and stated, loudly, “I’ve been fired and I don’t know why.” Peter Martinichev was the hiring authority. Cara Rinkoff figured a bit in this firing. 3. John “Jeff” Stanton: I was released on 10 April 2018 in the morning by the office manager Yulia Zalevskaya. Peter Martinichev was the hiring authority but was not present nor was Mindia Gaveshali. I arrived and tried to log in to the computer system but was blocked. I reported to Yulia that I was locked out. Not long after that, she came into the Sputnik News bullpen and asked me to come with her in Gaveshali’s office. I did so. Once inside she handed me a three sentence letter indicating that I was being released. As SPUTNIK USA is an “at will” employer no reason was necessary or given. I asked her if it was “about the reporter”. She said, “It is not about you, a decision was made.” She told me to contact her if I needed COBRA (see The End). 4. Roughly 2-3 months ago Mindia Gaveshali came rushing in to the Sputnik Wire News bullpen and began yelling at staff asking who had said we should not bother covering negative stories about Sputnik USA. Kristin Dailey challenged him on his actions and stood him down. 5. In 2017, Mindia Gaveshali came into the Sputnik News Wire bullpen and yelled at an employee for eating at his desk. I was not in the office at the time but was told of the matter. Workplace friction was the norm day in and say out. Some staff members bickered between themselves over voice levels, volume on the TV, edits I found myself caught up in it on rare occasions. Not once over the 1 year and 10 month period was their ever an all-hands Sputnik News Wire editorial staff meeting. Reporters were Information Harvesters combing the WWW for story ideas.