Nytimes election 2014 full#

Kramer, former US assistant secretary of state-monitored and analyzed different sources of information available in Russian, Ukrainian, and English (including print media, the Internet, and television).

On a daily basis, the task force-under the leadership of David J.

Nytimes election 2014 full#

Working with other Ukrainian institutions-StopFake and the Razumkov Centre-the three partners created a rapid-response team with the ability to monitor, evaluate, and disclose the full range of foreign subversive activities in Ukraine, and to propose suitable responses. Recognizing the high stakes, the Atlantic Council, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, and the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity established the Ukrainian Election Task Force. This desire provided the Kremlin with the opportunity to use the conflict it created to influence both the candidates’ agendas and the voters’ priorities.

Since most of the electorate hardly realized the complexity of the conflict’s roots and dynamics, populists’ simple solutions appealed to many supporters who rightfully desire peace. With ongoing hostilities at the forefront of national discourse, electoral platforms and candidate personalities matter less when voters consider their favored candidate for the presidency. During the election period, a proposed “peace recipe” to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine distracted voters from other pressing issues, such as economic development, cyber defense, and general infrastructural advancements. The ongoing military conflict on Ukrainian soil continues to significantly shape the country’s political agenda. If its allies fail to properly record and analyze the tactics used against Ukraine, nothing will prevent Russia or other foreign entities from replicating these attacks elsewhere. Western democracies have been slow to recognize the grave threats posed by external meddling, but Ukraine has-for five years-been both a target and testing ground for Russian “hybrid” attacks and other external interference. Ukraine is a frontline state and testing ground for Russia’s nefarious activities, and the West has an obligation to support Ukraine against such threats in its pursuit of a democratic, Euro-Atlantic future. The West must help Ukraine defend itself against Russian kinetic, cyber, and disinformation threats, especially with parliamentary elections coming this fall. As a result, during the first and second rounds of the presidential election-despite numerous minor cyber incidents-Ukraine did not suffer a major cyberattack. In contrast to 2014, when Russian cyberattacks compromised the Central Election Commission network, Ukrainian authorities were more prepared for possible attacks in 2019. Heightened vigilance by Ukrainian authorities and civil society helped to reduce its potential impact. Kremlin-backed rhetoric argued that Ukraine could not possibly conduct democratic elections-and Ukrainians disproved this line completely.

Russian disinformation and propaganda sought to discredit the election as illegitimate and rigged, and frame Ukraine as a failed state run by fascists and neo-Nazi sympathizers. Russian interference in the election is part of President Vladimir Putin’s regime’s larger efforts to impede Ukraine’s sovereign right and determination to remain independent and choose its own future and foreign policy orientation. Russia’s war with Ukraine and its occupation of parts of Ukraine’s territory constitute the most blatant interference, including the disenfranchisement of some 16 percent of the electorate living in Crimea and areas around Donetsk and Luhansk. While the interference did not live up to worst fears, numerous examples of it can be found in the kinetic, disinformation, and cyber realms over a period of months. It did so despite clear Russian interference in Ukraine’s election, though the interference was not extensive enough to affect the election’s outcome or the actual voting process. Ukraine conducted its presidential election in accordance with democratic standards, reflected in the assessments of credible international observers.