JAKARTA - United States (US) intelligence discovered the possibility of Russian President Vladimir Putin's interference, to influence the results of the 2020 US election and win Donald Trump's victory, in a report issued on Tuesday, March 16 local time.
In a 15-page report issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, several of Trump's close friends are 'playing' with Moscow to substantiate claims made against candidate Joe Biden by Ukrainian figures linked to Russia in the run-up to the November 3 election.
Also, it mentioned new findings regarding Vladimir Putin who supervised or at least approved, to interfere in the US election and win Trump.
"Washington is expected to impose sanctions on Moscow as soon as next week because of these allegations", said three sources, who were not identified, told Reuters.
The findings of Putin's role are likely to receive particular attention from the United States, given the report's conclusion that Russian-backed figures such as Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach enrolled unnamed US political figures in their campaign to tarnish Biden and his son Hunter.
The report identified Derkach, who met Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani in 2019, as someone whose movements Putin had tracked, if not directed.
"Putin has authority over Andriy Derkach's activities", the report said.
"Other senior officials also participated in efforts to influence the Russian elections - including senior national security and intelligence officials who we believe would not act without receiving at least Vladimir Putin's tacit approval", the report continued.
The intelligence report judged with high confidence that Russian leaders would prefer former President Trump to win re-election despite viewing some of his administration's policies as anti-Russian.
Interestingly, the report also highlighted the Kilimnik Constant, which is said to be associated with Russian intelligence. Kilimnik and Derkach are said to have met and provided materials to people connected with Trump to push for a formal investigation.
Meanwhile, Derkach released four audio recordings that attempted to suggest Joe Biden was trying to protect his son Hunter from a corruption probe in Ukraine. Giuliani is among those promoting the claim.
Kilimnik is a colleague of Paul Manafort, who served as chairman of the 2016 Trump campaign. Trump pardoned Manafort last year on criminal charges stemming from the Mueller investigation.
Possible Sanctions
The US intelligence report also found other foreign attempts to sway American voters in 2020, including by Iran to undermine Donald Trump.
As president, Trump pulled the United States out of the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran and imposed new sanctions.
It doesn't stop there, the report also delivers a counter-narrative pushed by Trump's clan, that China is interfering in the US election on behalf of Biden. The report concluded Beijing was not making any attempts to disrupt it.
"China seeks stability in its relationship with the United States, not seeing the election results as favorable enough for China to risk a backlash if caught", the report said.
"US officials say they also see the efforts of Cuba, Venezuela, and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to influence the election, although in general, we judge that the scale is smaller than that of Russia and Iran", the report continued.
Russian agents also tried to hack into a subsidiary of the Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, "possibly in an attempt to gather information relating to President Biden's family", he said. Hunter Biden has served on the Burisma board.
The Russian, Chinese and Cuban embassies in Washington did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Iran's mission to the United Nations and Venezuela's Information Ministry also did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran routinely deny allegations of cyber espionage and electoral interference.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on whether sanctions would be imposed on Russia as early as next week, which was first reported by CNN.
Two sources told Reuters the sanctions could tackle cyber hacks blamed on Russia using US company SolarWinds Corp to penetrate US government networks. As well as reports that Russia offered bounties to militants linked to the Taliban for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan. Moscow denies involvement in the hacking and has dismissed the bounty allegations.
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