TOP RUSSIAN ADMITS INTERFERENCE IN US MIDTERM ELECTIONS
November 7, 2022 -Durt Fibo
This morning the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, responded to a Bloomberg report that Russia was interfering in the US midterm elections by saying: “I will answer you very subtly, delicately and, I beg your pardon, I will admit a certain ambiguity. Gentlemen, we have interfered, we are interfering and we will continue to interfere. Carefully, accurately, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do. During our pinpoint operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once.”
Prigozhin, questioned by journalists, including representatives of Agence France-Presse, had posted his reply on VKontakte (Вконтакте), a social media and networking platform headquartered in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Subsequent messages by his corporate spokespeople claimed Prigozhin’s words were meant “ironically.”
A fellow billionaire and close collaborator of President Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin has been accused since as far back as 2016 of operating Russia-based “troll farms” such as the Internet Research Agency (IRA). The Bloomberg article reported that social media users allegedly working for Russia are even now trying to influence U.S. politics, mainly with memes. According to the social media analysis firm Graphika Inc., the IRA spreads such memes and other hair-raising posts specifically to tear off chunks of votes that would in other situations go to Democratic candidates. The IRA is also accused of promoting Russian assertions that the Democratic party is destroying the U.S. economy by providing financial aid to Ukraine.