Russian propaganda narratives in the GOP reps’ rhetoric: a sign of the deep Kremlinagents’ penetration in the US politics?

The level of Russian influence on the US 2024 presidential elections is significantly
higher than during the 2016 campaign. Obviously, the Kremlin has made conclusions,
added some adjustments and increased its level of interference in the US election
process. In contrast to the 2016 campaign, we see frequent use of Russian propaganda
narratives by GOP representatives. It may indicate deep penetration of Russian agents of
influence into US political structures.

One of the most striking examples of Russian propaganda is the rhetoric of
congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene. Her talking points about Joe Biden’s links
to the Burisma Company in Ukraine is the matter of serious concern. In an interview with Greg
Kelly of Newsmax, she perpetuated the Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory alleging that Biden
had been bought off by foreign interests. Prior, we emphasized that Russian intelligence was
actively working with the spreading disinformation by using a group of former Ukrainian MPs
who had been sanctioned by US for several years and collaborated with Russian intelligence.

We stated that this information operation is aimed at discrediting the Democratic Party. The
points voiced by Marjorie Taylor Greene repeat the following messages of the Russian
information and psychological operations widely used in 2016:

• US-ISIS connection
• the 9/11 terrorist attack staging conspiracy theory
• Pizzagate conspiracy speculation
  Despite Trump supporters’ embrace of conspiracy theories and QAnon, such a strong
  ‘echo’ of Russian narratives causes rising concerns and alerts.
• The similarity with the theses of Russian propaganda and information operations is unlikely a simple
  coincidence. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene defended the idea of Tucker Carlson
  interviewing Vladimir Putin.
  Republican congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on her candidate
  Facebook page an image of herself holding a gun alongside images of Democratic Reps.
  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib.
  On February 29, 2020, Greene spoke at a gun rights rally in  Villanow  hosted by Silent No
  Longer, a group campaigning to make  Walker County  a  Second Amendment sanctuary . At the
  rally, she held up a banner for American Patriots USA – a far-right group attempting to
  further its influence with Georgia Republicans. These actions parallel to the case of Maria
  Butina, who in fact acted as Russia’s foreign agent within the United States by lobbying
  gun rights expansion. In 2019, we found a connection between Maria Butina, Russian
  military intelligence and Alexander Ionov (conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign
  agent). Ionov coordinated the Anti-Globalist Forum that Moscow used to maintain contact
  with separatists in various countries, including the United States.
  Marjorie Taylor Greene also supported American white supremacist movements. Greene
  posed for photos with Chester Doles, a 5th-generation  Ku Klux Klansman , Grand Klaliff leader,
  and founder of APUSA; Doles has nearly a dozen assault arrests and served two separate
  prison sentences in  Maryland .   The New York Times  detailed Greene’s support for and past ties
  with  extremist militia groups , including the  Three Percenters  and the  Oath Keepers ; both groups
  had members participate in the  2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol .

It bears emphasis that Russia is primarily aiming at disintegrating the United States and
provoking civil clashes in the country. The fact of the exfiltration of Rinaldo Nazzaro, the
founder of the suprematist group The Base, to Russia and the granting of Russian
citizenship to him, proves this goal.
Greene has been critical of NATO. She was one of 18 Republicans to vote against
admitting Sweden and Finland to NATO. It completely coincides with Moscow’s efforts to
conduct special operations in these countries to prevent them from joining NATO.

In March 2021, Greene was one of 14 House Republicans to vote against a measure
condemning the Myanmar coup d’état, for reasons reported to be unclear. The military junta in
Myanmar is actively supported by China and Russia, which supplied the country with weapons.
In September 2021, the Federal Election Commission asked Greene’s 2022 re-election
campaign treasurer, her then-husband, to provide information about $3.5 million of unitemized
campaign contributions from undisclosed donors received in the first half of 2021. By federal
law, only individual contributions under $200 are allowed to be united or have donor identity
withheld. Greene received more donations than any other House Republican in the first three
months of 2021. The origin of these funds is unknown, so one can suggest that these
funds were sent from abroad.
Despite the huge benefit the US defense industry gets from the weapon transfer to Ukraine,
Greene has promoted Russian propaganda and argued against supplying Ukraine with
weapons. She has suggested that Ukraine instigated the invasion by agitating Russia. That was
why former congressman Ken Buck says Marjorie Taylor Greene gets ‘her talking points
from the Kremlin’ when opposing Ukraine aid.

Even leading Republicans say Marjorie Taylor Greene is parroting Putin and Russia’s
disinformation.
Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio), who chairs the House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence, said Sunday that it was “absolutely true” that some Republican members of
Congress were repeating Russian propaganda about the invasion of Ukraine instigated by
Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Some Greene’s statements duplicate the messages of Russian military intelligence information
operations, for example, an suggestion that Palestinian militants were using weapons supplied
by Ukraine. We published an analysis of this Russian operation in October 2023.