Russia prefers Trump as election victor, US intelligence official indicates

“We have not observed a shift in Russia’s preferences for the presidential race from past elections, given the role the US is playing with regard to Ukraine and broader policy toward Russia,” said the official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Two of his national security advisers have presented Trump with a plan to end US military aid to Ukraine unless it opened talks with Russia to end the conflict.

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Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin hold talks on SCO sidelines in Kazakhstan

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin hold talks on SCO sidelines in Kazakhstan

The Nato charter obliges members to come to the defence of those who are attacked.

The ODNI official conducted the briefing on condition of anonymity with ODNI colleagues and officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Coordinator for Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience, an agency that conducts cyber defence for the government and works with private industry.

He defined election influence as efforts to shape the outcome of polls or undermine democratic processes, while interference constitutes efforts to disrupt the ability of the US to hold a free and fair vote.

But Russia, he continued, has begun through social media and other means trying to influence specific groups of US voters in battleground states, “promote divisive narratives and denigrate specific politicians” who he did not identify.

“Russia is undertaking a whole of government approach to influence the election, including the presidential, Congress, and public opinion,” he said.

Moscow “determines which candidates they’re willing to support or oppose largely based on their stance toward further US aid to Ukraine and related issues”, said the official. “It’s all the tactics we’ve seen before, primarily through social media efforts” and “using US voices to amplify their narratives”.

Russia recently has been seeking to influence US audiences through “encrypted direct messaging channels”, said the official. He did not elaborate.

China is assessed as currently not planning “to influence the outcome of the presidential race”, the official said.

Beijing is trying to expand its ability to collect and monitor data from social media platforms “probably to better understand and eventually manipulate public opinion”, the official said.

The official called generative artificial intelligence a “malign influence accelerant” being increasingly used to “more convincingly tailor” video and other content ahead of the November vote.