Russia’s top spymaster falsely claims Kremlin does not interfere in other countries’ affairs

Russian one-time spy chief Nikolay Patrushev made multiple false and misleading comments in a late-July interview with the official state-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

Patrushev began by repeating the Kremlin’s long-debunked justification for the war in Ukraine, namely that Ukraine’s government is a “neo-Nazi regime” led by an “illegitimate” president.

Patrushev then fallaciously called the Sea of Azov “Russia’s internal waters” and said neither Ukraine nor any other nation can sail it without Moscow’s permission.

The world’s shallowest sea bordering Ukraine and Russia, connected with the Black Sea via the Kerch Strait, the Sea of Azov is an internal body of water governed by an agreement between Russia and Ukraine that was ratified in 2003. Russia claimed ownership over the Kerch Strait and the Sea of Azov only after illegally annexing the Crimean Peninsula and occupying Ukraine’s coastal territories.

No international body recognizes Russia’s claims over the occupied territories.

The U.S. and other nations condemn Moscow’s aggression and demand that Russia withdraw its troops from Ukraine.

Patrushev then commented on the U.S. presidential elections, claiming Moscow does not interfere in the political life of other countries.

“The presidential elections in the United States are an internal affair of the United States. ... Russia does not interfere in the internal political life of other states.”

This is false.

Interference in the internal political affairs of foreign nations is a deeply rooted key part of Russia’s foreign policy. To project influence, Moscow habitually goes beyond diplomacy, using malicious hybrid strategies and, in many instances, war.

Just a few widely reported, comprehensively documented examples of Russian meddling in the affairs of foreign nations:

• In Georgia, where Russia remains engaged in a decades-long effort to alter the democratic trajectory of its pro-Western government by using hybrid warfare tactics.

• In Moldova, where Moscow feeds anti-Chisinau sentiments and maintains pro-Russian agency in Transnistria and Gagauzia.

• In Ukraine, where Russia’s 2022 invasion followed a decades-long hybrid campaign to install Kremlin-controlled leadership via propaganda-fueled efforts to manipulate public opinion, hacking and the covert 2014 annexation of Crimea.

• In Europe, where Russia has been bankrolling far-right groups and parties as part of efforts to sabotage trust in public leadership by perpetrating campaigns of disinformation amid physical attacks on infrastructure, and assassinations.

• In Africa, where Russia has been using diplomacy, illicit finance, disinformation and a state-funded private army to perpetrate widespread atrocities and appropriation of natural resources.

• In the United States, where the Kremlin habitually seeks to undermine the American way of life and democratic values. Russia’s campaigns in the U.S. include hacking attacks aimed at sabotaging critical infrastructure, often carried out by active service members of Russia’s military intelligence. Russia targeted elections in 2016, 2020, and 2024 with propaganda and disinformation about socioeconomic issues as part of efforts to exploit social disunity on controversial topics and sow distrust among the American electorate.

In 2024, Russia's interference tactics have become more sophisticated, involving the use of AI to operate fake social media accounts, accelerating the cycle, reducing the cost and removing limits of Russia’s ability to boost and spread propaganda and disinformation. Russian state agencies have been involved in multiple campaigns using artificial intelligence to create believable video fakes designed to discredit the governments the Kremlin perceives as adversarial.