RUSSIA’S CYBERWAR:
DIRECT ATTACKS ON AMERICAN INFRASTRUCTURE AND POLITICS. 

Russia is attacking American cyberspace and waging informational warfare against our society. It actively subverts America through disinformation, cyberattacks, and covert influence operations designed to turn internal debate into division and, ultimately, violence.

Americans pride themselves on being open, friendly, and free. Russia sees that openness not as a strength, but as a vulnerability to be exploited. Rather than confronting the United States directly, Russia attacks the digital and informational systems that hold American society together.

Russian hackers, operating under state direction, routinely target America’s energy infrastructure and critical systems with cyberattacks. They infect thousands of computers through phishing operations, laying the groundwork for future exploitation, disruption, and illegal financial gain. These attacks are deliberate and ongoing.

At the same time, Russian disinformation narratives seep into America’s mainstream media, on both the right and the left, with the explicit goal of pitting Americans against their neighbors. Russia does not want healthy political debate in the United States. It wants radical factions on the far left and the extreme right to hate each other and, ultimately, to engage in violence.

Russia amplifies this strategy by paying enormous sums to social media influencers to promote disinformation narratives that attack American society while praising Russia. In many cases, these influencers are not even aware that they are repeating Vladimir Putin’s political talking points almost verbatim.

Day after day, Russia works to plant seeds of doubt in the minds of Americans—against the U.S. government, American institutions, shared values, and even against fellow citizens. The goal is not healthy skepticism or democratic accountability. The goal is outright hatred of the American system itself.

As this campaign unfolds, Russia presents its own authoritarian model as “traditional” and stable, contrasting it with a deliberately distorted picture of a failing and divided America. This false comparison is meant to weaken confidence in democracy and normalize authoritarian rule.

Russia is waging an informational war on American society. Most Americans are not even aware that this war is happening, but its effects are being felt across our politics, our communities, and our national security.