"Preparing for defeat": how the US continues to accuse Russia of "meddling" in the elections

The United States authorities are doing everything possible to hold the Russian Federation accountable for attempts to "interfere" in the American elections, Chad Wolfe, acting head of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said in an interview with Axios.

“The current leadership - the Ministry of Homeland Security, the intelligence community, the Ministry of Justice, and others - is doing everything to make Russia accountable for its actions,” he said.

Wolfe argues that, "there is no doubt about the intelligence," the Russian side "tried to intervene" in the 2016 US elections and "has continued to do so for the past four years."

When asked by a journalist whether Moscow had been given to understand that it was unacceptable to interfere in the elections, he replied that the US administration had "repeatedly criticized Russia."

Wolfe also recalled that in recent years, Washington continued to impose sanctions restrictions "against persons from the Russian Federation."

“It seems to me that there is no one else against whom it would still be possible to impose sanctions,” the politician said.

Democrat, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also announced Russia's "interference" in the elections during a video seminar by the Atlantic Council * .

“We will have to deal with continued interference in our elections by Putin and the Kremlin. This is a constant threat to the democratic system - both ours and other countries, ”she said.

According to Clinton, Moscow is allegedly "once again trying to support Donald Trump and help him get re-elected." She referred to “recent reports from the intelligence community,” but did not provide specific evidence.

• Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
• Reuters
• © Mario Anzuoni

“This problem requires a firm and final decision in order to prevent its aggravation,” the representative of the Democratic Party said.

In her opinion, one of Moscow's tactics during the 2016 presidential campaign in the United States was an alleged attempt to sow racial hatred in the country.

“Russia has always tried to highlight racial strife and inequality in the United States,” Clinton said.

The palette of accusations

It is worth noting that the topic of "Russian intervention" is often raised by American politicians, as well as by the United States authorities.

So, on August 9, the Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Robert O'Brien made threats to the Russian Federation, saying that the country would face "serious consequences" if it tried to interfere in the American elections. He announced this in an interview with SBS TV channel. Moscow is already making such attempts, O'Brien said.

A few days earlier, the director of the US National Center for Counterintelligence and Security, William Evanina, accused Russia of allegedly "interfering" in the election campaign in the US. According to him, the Russian Federation is taking a number of measures to "denigrate" the Democratic Party's presidential candidate Joe Biden. This is stated in a statement by Evanina, published on the agency's website. He also talked about the desire of "some Kremlin-related actors" to improve Trump's position using social media and Russian TV channels.

In late July, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden argued that the Kremlin allegedly "did not abandon its attempts to interfere with the democratic processes" of the United States, and threatened Russia with consequences for such "malicious actions." This was reported in a statement by Biden posted on his Medium page. 

The head of the White House, Donald Trump, did not rule out Russian "interference" in voting by mail during the presidential elections, speaking to voters in late June.

After that, American senators, Democrat Chris Van Hollen and Republican Marco Rubio, proposed imposing sanctions against Russia for "interfering" in the 2020 elections. Such an initiative was indicated in an amendment prepared by them to the draft US defense budget.

• US Primaries, Louisville, June 23, 2020
• Reuters
• © Bryan Woolston

Let us recall that Russia has repeatedly denied such accusations. So, on July 21, the press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, said that Moscow "never interfered in the electoral processes 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,” he said.

"There are no specific arguments"

According to political scientist Alexander Asafov, both Democrats and Republicans are "playing the card of Russian intervention" because they doubt their success.

“They are looking in advance for a basis for revising the voting results or canceling them. Neither have any concrete arguments. But this is such a preparation for defeat: neither side feels like a possible winner, "Asafov said in an interview with RT.

At the same time, Vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies, believes that the parties do not provide evidence of the "interference" of the Russian Federation in the elections, since they "control both the legal and media agenda."

“In this situation, they do not need any evidence of Russia's guilt in the notorious 'interference'. It is now beneficial for American politicians to shift the attention of voters from the domestic agenda to the international one. Indeed, in this case, we can say that Russia has initially negative intentions towards the United States. And the States will punish her for that, ”the analyst said in a conversation with RT.

According to Asafov, the American audience "is already tired of the topic of Russian interference."

“Not all Americans perceive this kind of information, since it has been feeding the US public for the past several years. But this is being done, among other things, to justify Washington's sanctions policy against Moscow, ”the expert explained.

Asafov predicts that closer to the elections, the politicians of the United States "will increase the intensity" of passions around the topic of Russian "interference".

“This is part of a PR strategy - first of all, of the Democrats. They will invest money and efforts into it, attract new speakers, ”the analyst said.

At the same time, Bruter does not exclude that after the vote, the topic of "interference" of the Russian Federation in the elections may be "both updated and postponed," however, in general, the agenda with respect to Russia will not change, regardless of the outcome of the electoral process.

“There will always be accusations against Moscow. If they decide to forget about “interference” for a while, then other attacks will surely appear, ”the expert is sure.

• White House
• AFP
• © Saul Loeb

As Bruter notes, if in the United States, in addition to Democrats and Republicans, there were another party participating in the elections, then it would also accuse Russia of "interference."

“It is absolutely clear that the United States artificially appointed Russia to be guilty - without regard to who really interfered in the electoral process or the election campaign, and whether or not at all. Russia's guilt is an issue that is not discussed in the United States. It is rather an axiom of American politics, ”the analyst concluded.

* "Atlantic Council" (Atlantic Council of the United States) - an organization whose activities are recognized as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation by the decision of the Prosecutor General's Office of 25.07.2019.