Vladimir Putin‘s master plan to stoke “existential fears” across the United States about the war in Ukraine has been exposed.
The spy plot was exposed via a joint investigation by the independent Russian publication The Insider and the German magazine Der Spiegel.
The stunning allegations are based on leaked emails from Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) seemingly revealing details of discussions between top echelons of the service and the Russian Senate.
The plot, dubbed ‘Project Kylo,’ appears to have been drafted in the early stages of the invasion of Ukraine to sow “panic and terror” across the West.
The leaked emails exposed Moscow’s plans to pursue a campaign of disinformation in the US and other NATO members to “stoke existential fears and create animosity to [Ukrainian] refugees fleeing the war”.
One leaked document read: “[The] leitmotif of our cognitive campaign in the [Western] countries is proposed to be the instilling of the strongest emotion in the human psyche—fear.
“It is precisely the fear for the future, uncertainty about tomorrow, the inability to make long-term plans, the unclear fate of children and future generations.
“The cultivation of these triggers floods an individual’s subconscious with panic and terror.”
Instead of proceeding with usual propaganda tactics, one SVR officer suggested Moscow should “deepen internal contradictions between the ruling elites,” including the United States.
Project Kylo allegedly involved the creation of fake advertisements disguised as news headlines as well as fake websites publishing manipulative content that could then be re-shared on social media platforms.
The SVR also seemingly considered hiring individuals to participate in ad hoc protests to have them film footage of the demonstrations and then share clips online.
The investigation found part of the Russian strategy included exploiting comments made by Western politicians suggesting Ukrainian refugees would add extra pressure on their country’s economies to create fake news headlines like: “How Ukrainians are robbing Germany of economic prosperity.”
Despite ongoing attempts to pressure the US and other Western nations into abandoning Ukraine, Russia has so far failed to damage the alliances President Volodymyr Zelensky has been fostering since the start of the war.
After Russia‘s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian forces thwarted their drive to the capital.
Much of the fighting has been focused in Ukraine’s south and east, where Moscow illegally seized four regions, although it doesn’t fully control any of them.
But Ukraine is still struggling to stabilize parts of its front line after desperately needed military assistance from the United States was delayed for months before being approved in April.