Moscow’s “influence activities” are expected to intensify and become more sophisticated, a threat assessment has claimed
Russia is using a variety of entities, including RT, to shape public opinion and stoke division in the US, an American intelligence report has claimed.
The allegation was made in the 2025 Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community, which was made available to the public on Tuesday. The document is said to reflect “the collective insights” of the country’s spy agencies.
The authors claimed that Moscow “uses influence activities to counter threats, including by stoking political discord in the West, sowing doubt in democratic processes and US global leadership, degrading Western support for Ukraine, and amplifying preferred Russian narratives.”
Russia employs so-called ‘troll farms’, which spread information through fake accounts, and “state media outlet RT in its efforts to covertly shape public opinion in the US, amplify and stoke domestic divisions, and discreetly engage Americans, while hiding Russia’s hand,” the report alleged.
The document reiterated accusations of Russian meddling in US elections – which Moscow has consistently denied – claiming that Russia “probably believes [such] information operations efforts… are advantageous, regardless of whether they affect election outcomes, because reinforcing doubt in the integrity of the US electoral system achieves one of its core objectives.”
“Moscow’s malign influence activities will continue for the foreseeable future and will almost certainly increase in sophistication and volume,” the paper suggested.
The threat assessment was released amid efforts by Russia and the administration of US President Donald Trump to find a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine conflict and normalize relations between Moscow and Washington.
On Monday, Russian and US experts held 12-hour talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, agreeing to revive the defunct Black Sea Grain Initiative, which envisioned the safe passage of Ukrainian agricultural products in exchange for the West lifting sanctions on Russian grain and fertilizer exports.
Last September, the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden announced a new raft of curbs targeting several Russian media outlets, accusing them of attempting to “undermine democracy” and interfere in US elections. Then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken alleged that RT was “functioning as a de facto arm of [Russian] intelligence.”
Moscow has condemned the restrictions, saying that Washington had “declared war on freedom of speech.”
Earlier this month, American journalist Ben Swann, who previously headed RT’s operations in the US, urged the Trump administration to lift the curbs, arguing that they were unconstitutional and violated “rights of freedom of speech and press.”
