Russia's President Vladimir Putin is personally directing his country's international disinformation campaign against Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden and trying to get President Donald Trump reelected, according to the Central Intelligence Agency, the U.S. foreign intelligence service of the federal government.
The CIA's assessment was first reported by The Washington Post. Putin's personal hand in meddling with another U.S. presidential election was troubling, the CIA said. It claimed Putin directed a 2016 operation that might have damaged Hillary Clinton and helped Trump win the presidency then.
The CIA report said Putin was likely directing Andriy Derkach, a member of the Ukraine Parliament, to disseminate false and damaging information about Biden through Republican lobbyists, Republican members of Congress, conservative news media and people close to Trump.
"We assess that President Vladimir Putin and the senior-most Russian officials are aware of and probably directing Russia's influence operations aimed at denigrating the former U.S. vice president, supporting the U.S. president and fueling public discord ahead of the U.S. election in November," the secret CIA document said according to the Post.
Derkach was identified as a Russian agent Aug. 7 by William Evanina, director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center. Evanina said Derkach was a participant in Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2020 presidential election on behalf of Trump. He asserted Biden was Derkach's main target.
On Sept. 10, the U.S. Department of the Treasury levied sanctions on Derkach. It called Derkach an "active Russian agent for over a decade, maintaining close connections with the Russian Intelligence Services."
The Treasury said Derkach "waged a covert influence campaign centered on cultivating false and unsubstantiated narratives concerning U.S. officials in the upcoming 2020 Presidential Election." Derkach did this by releasing "edited audio tapes and other unsupported information with the intent to discredit U.S. officials."
Both the Treasury and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence have identified Derkach as a Russian agent.
Last week, Federal Bureau of Investigation director Christopher Wray quoted Evanina's statement in testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee. He said the FBI was tracking "very active efforts" by Russia "to both sow divisiveness and discord, and I think the intelligence community has assessed this publicly, primarily to denigrate (former) vice president Biden."
