The White House has stated that it is «not surprised» by recent statements by Russian oligarch Yevgeni Prigozhin, close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and founder of the Wagner Group, in which he acknowledged having «interfered» in the past in democratic processes in the United States.
«These comments tell us nothing new or surprising, as we all know. It is well known and well documented publicly that entities associated with Yevgeni Prigozhin have attempted to influence elections around the world, including in the United States,» White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said at her daily press briefing.
Thus, she has stressed that «the United States has worked to expose and confront Russia’s malign influence efforts and we have uncovered them.» «Yevgeni is a known bad actor who has been sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU),» she recalled, before stressing that «part of Russian efforts include promoting narratives aimed at undermining democracy and whipping up division and discord.»
«It is not surprising that Russia is highlighting its attempts and mounting a story about its success on the eve of an election,» he argued, referring to the midterm elections being held this Tuesday in the US, while stressing that the authorities are working to «protect the security and resilience» of the voting process.
In this sense, Jean-Pierre pointed out that «measures have been taken to deal with these types of malign influence, including sanctions (…), travel bans, information delivery, supervision of foreign investment, anti-money laundering operations and expulsions». «We have also worked with allied democracies to address and expose this malign influence abroad,» he concluded.
According to information gathered by the US television network NBC, the FBI has established a command post on electoral security at its headquarters in Washington, as well as command centers in its 56 offices in the country. The central post is largely under the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, which is dedicated to dealing with disinformation, but includes agents from the Criminal Investigations Division, the Cyber Division and the Counterterrorism Division.
In his statements, Prigozhin acknowledged having carried out actions to interfere in past U.S. elections, before stressing that this interference in democratic processes is done «carefully, precisely and surgically». US authorities have previously sanctioned Prigozhin for funding the Internet Research Agency, a notorious Russian ‘troll farm’ accused of meddling in several recent US elections.
