Russia, China and Iran face serious "consequences" if they try to interfere in the American elections. This was stated by the Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Robert O'Brien in an interview with the CBS television channel.
“There is no greater concern for us than preserving free and fair elections - the cornerstone of our democracy. And we know that there are those abroad who would like to prevent it - China, Iran, Russia and others. And we plan to fight it, ”said O'Brien.
According to the politician, these states allegedly "carried out hacker, phishing and other types of attacks against the electoral infrastructure" of the United States. Now, according to a Trump adviser, they are "trying to access the websites of state secretaries, collect data on Americans and conduct influence operations."
As O'Brien noted, “There are many people around the world who are dissatisfied with America, and the reason for their discontent is that they do not share the values” of the United States.
“This should not surprise anyone. We will do everything necessary to prevent their interference ... Whoever it is - China, Russia or Iran - we are not going to put up with it. If a country tries to interfere in our free and fair elections, it will face dire consequences, regardless of whether that country supports Joe Biden or Donald Trump. We are Americans. We will not let other countries decide who will be our next president, ”the politician said.
Accusations from all sides
Note that the United States regularly declares the intention of the Russian Federation and a number of other countries to "interfere" in the upcoming elections. The incumbent head of the White House, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, and other politicians also spoke with such theses.
So, according to Trump, voting by mail in the upcoming elections is "fraught with enormous dangers," since Moscow and Beijing can allegedly take advantage of the situation and print "millions of ballots using exactly the same paper and the same printing machines" as the United States.
- US President Donald Trump
- © Joshua Roberts / Reuters
Recall that the ability to vote by mail has become the subject of fierce controversy between Democrats and Republicans. Trump and his supporters regularly criticize this way of expressing will, considering it susceptible to falsification.
At the same time, Joe Biden, who just supports voting by mail, at the end of July "warned" Russia and other countries about the consequences for "meddling" in the elections if he was elected head of state. According to the politician, "the Kremlin has not abandoned its attempts to interfere in the democratic processes" of the United States.
In early August, the director of the US National Center for Counterintelligence and Security, William Evanina, accused Moscow of interfering in the election campaign that is currently taking place in the United States. As the head of the department noted, Russia is taking a number of measures to "blacken" Biden. In addition, Evanina argued that "some Kremlin-related actors are also seeking to improve the position of President Trump's candidacy, using social media and Russian TV channels."
Moscow, in turn, has repeatedly denied such accusations and emphasized that it never interfered in elections in any country in the world, including the United States.
“We do not do it ourselves and do not tolerate when other countries try to interfere in our political affairs,” said Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the Russian President.
"The image of the enemy is supported"
Andrei Sidorov, head of the department of international organizations and world political processes at the Faculty of World Politics at Moscow State University, noted that such statements by American politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties “are needed by these two political forces in order to justify it by Russia's interference in electoral processes in the event of a loss in the elections. USA".
“There will be many more statements of this kind. After all, if Trump, for example, cannot be re-elected, this will be attributed not to the mistakes of his administration, in particular in the fight against the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, but to the notorious Russian intervention, Moscow's pernicious influence on public opinion in the United States, "Sidorov said in a conversation with RT.
In addition, according to him, the US political elite "sins by identifying any assessment that does not necessarily sound from the lips of statesmen and gets on the pages of the American press, as interference in the electoral process."
“In such a simple way, the United States maintains the image of the enemy, which is designed to consolidate a split society. And many Americans take seriously the statements of politicians about threats from Russia and other countries, since this topic has been cultivated for years in the United States and has become, rather, an axiom, "the analyst explained.
A similar point of view is shared by a corresponding member of the Academy of Military Sciences, Americanist Sergei Sudakov. In his opinion, statements about Russia's "interference" in the American elections in 2020 "once again indicate that there is a well-promoted and popular brand in the United States - terrible Russians, hackers from Russia, connected with the Russian government, who are trying to harm the United States." ...
“At the same time, for credibility, any crimes that occur in the cybersphere are painted by the American side in the colors of the Russian flag without any evidence according to the“ highley like ”formula,” the expert noted in an interview with RT.
When it comes to elections, "the promoted topic of Russian" interference "very easily falls on the minds of ordinary Americans," said Sudakov.
“After all, they are constantly being told that Russia has declared a cyber war, which is already underway, and now Washington is allegedly trying to oppose the Russian Federation, to protect the interests of American citizens. Residents of the United States are not interested in how Russia is fighting all these lies, they are only interested in the "truth" that is broadcast by politicians and in the media. Hence the popularity of this topic, which is deliberately fueled all the time, including by the US special services, which form the base of false “evidence,” the expert says.
At the same time, Andrei Sidorov emphasizes that the main threat to the American electoral process is in reality “its archaism”.
“The system has not been worked out and allows a lot of various frauds - from rigging the results to ballot stuffing and using the votes of deceased people. It is no coincidence that the Trump administration fears mail-order voting, as it is difficult to verify. For comparison: in countries that the United States calls "dictatorial", including Russia and China, elections are protected to a much greater extent than in the United States, "the analyst stated.