US agencies warn of Russian disinformation targeting election integrity

ISTANBUL (AA) – US officials have warned of Russian disinformation efforts aimed at undermining trust in the Nov. 5 presidential election.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency made the warning on Friday in a joint statement.

The statement highlighted a recent video falsely depicting an individual in Pennsylvania tearing up ballots marked for former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party nominee, which intelligence officials have attributed to Russian influence operations.

“The IC (intelligence community) assesses that Russian actors manufactured and amplified a recent video that falsely depicted an individual ripping up ballots in Pennsylvania, judging from information available to the IC and prior activities of other Russian influence actors, including videos and other disinformation activities. Local election officials have already debunked the video’s content.

“This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans, as detailed in prior ODNI election updates,” the statement said. “In the lead up to election day and in the weeks and months after, the IC expects Russia to create and release additional media content that seeks to undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans.”

On Sept. 4, accusing Moscow of a campaign to interfere with the US presidential election, the US charged and sanctioned Russian state media officials and restricted Kremlin-linked broadcasters, saying they are pushing a “preferred outcome” in the presidential race.

Since 2016, Russia has been accused by official investigations and congressional committees of seeking to promote the election of Trump.

The US presidential and congressional elections are set for Nov. 5.