Putin’s spies plot global chaos with fire, sabotage and deaths, says MI5

Hackers still carry out campaigns against the reputation of key individuals, espionage, theft and information leaks. “Systematic sabotage” still involves the destruction of sensitive data, according to the allied countries’ report.

GRU spies were still in Yemen offering support to the Houthis. The rebel group attacked ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with the Palestinians after the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in October 2023. Russia even supplied weapons to the group in July, according to CNN, to oppose the US, which offers long-range missiles reach to Ukraine. Collaboration between Russians and Houthis was halted after opposition from Saudi Arabia.

Russia is “most active foreign threat to elections” in the US. The phrase is from Avril Haines, director of American national intelligence. “Moscow likely sees these operations as a means of ousting the United States as its perceived main adversary, allowing Russia to promote itself as a great power,” he declared in May.

American intelligence agencies reported in July that they had identified Russian actions that targeted specific demographic groups of American voters. The aim was to promote divisive narratives and defame specific politicians.

In September, the US Department of Justice accused two employees of RT, a Kremlin-controlled media outlet, of making a $10 million payment to an unidentified media company in Tennessee. RT is known for promoting conspiracy theories. Its American partner was named by the magazine as Tenet Media, which posted almost two thousand videos on TikTok, Instagram, X and YouTube, but whose commentators deny irregularities. 32 internet domains controlled by the Kremlin, created to imitate legitimate news sites, were also seized.

Russians already use ChatGPT to rewrite news. They use the CopyCop network of websites to modify articles to adopt conservative tones, or criticize the domestic and foreign policy of the US and other NATO members. The strategy has already been used to criticize the Macron government in France, which collaborates with Ukraine.