Russia has been trying to influence elections in western countries for years. The federal intelligence service apparently assumes that Russian cyber propagandists are increasingly resorting to servers in Switzerland.
Cyber attacks can be used to carry out sensitive attacks remotely.
Whether manipulating information in the Ukraine war or misinformation in connection with elections – politically motivated attacks on the Internet have been part of the arsenal of Russian hackers for years. As early as 2016, the American government officially accused Moscow of manipulation. It is clear that Russia wants to use hacker attacks to influence the American elections. The US intelligence services reported at the time that “only Russia’s highest-ranking government officials could have approved these activities.”
Kremlin wants to split the West
As the “Sonntags-Blick” writes in its latest edition, the Federal Intelligence Service (NDB) assumes that Russia is increasingly resorting to servers located in Switzerland for cyber attacks in Western elections. In a non-public report, the FIS apparently writes that the Kremlin wants to split the West. Swiss infrastructure could be misused for this.
For the Swiss intelligence service, it has been proven that Russia had already tried to manipulate the election results in Germany in 2021 in its favor. Propaganda networks targeted today’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens). Exactly who the hackers are is difficult to prove. According to the NDB report, the attackers are connected to the Russian military intelligence service GRU.
The FIS does not assume that the federal elections of 2023 will also be the target of Russian cyber attacks. However, the activities would undermine Switzerland’s sovereignty. The FIS does not name future goals in its report. In general, however, Russia wants to weaken the western community of states by intervening in elections. As a rule, this influence does not change the outcome of the election. However, it “partially delegitimizes democratic decision-making and thus the liberal-democratic Western model”.
Since relations between Russia and the West will remain tense even after hostilities in Ukraine end, the FIS expects Russian disinformation to continue. The Kremlin will continue to try to manipulate elections. To do this, he will continue to rely on an individually tailored mixture of disinformation and propaganda, cyber attacks, instrumentalized people, groups and institutions and probably also on new means. Interventions in elections are a means for Russia to weaken the western community of states.
The FIS does not comment on the report that has now become public. A spokeswoman told the “Sonntags-Blick” that the FIS generally does not comment on its operational activities and procedures. But one could say that “Switzerland, as a state in Europe and as part of the western community of values, is the target of influencing activities directed against western societies, which portage the Russian narratives”.
“Troll Army” in action for years
Political actors trying to manipulate public opinion is not a new phenomenon. Web-based services and the targeted use of social networks and the associated algorithms open up transnational “media hacking” for state and non-state actors. The targeted manipulation of content on the Internet is a tactic that Moscow has been using systematically for years. At least since the Crimean conflict of 2014, it has been known that Russia maintains a “troll army” – also known as Kremlin bots or web brigades.
At least it cannot be ruled out that Switzerland will become increasingly popular for Russian agents and agitators. Most other western states have expelled Russian diplomats and other embassy personnel. In an interview with the NZZ, Russian Kremlin critic Mikhail Shishkin recently said: “Geneva and Bern are currently teeming with Russian agents.”