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Dupe entry: 'Russia hires US PR firm for world image makeover
From Geostrategy Direct, subscription.
Russia’s government under former KGB officer Vladimir Putin is seeking to increase its public influence operations, according to a U.S. government report.
As opposed to doing something substantive to make things better.
The report issue last week quoted Sergey Yastrzhembskiy, a senior Putin aide, as saying "we need to work on shaping a positive image for our country abroad,” noting that the work will be "painstaking" and "systematic" and not the "desperate cavalry charge of a one-off PR campaign.”
Sounds like KGB talk.
The Russian Foreign Ministry estimates that the image-changing effort will cost $1.5 billion annually and could take up to 20 years.
That's a lot of ads.
The KGB was involved in numerous disinformation campaigns during the Soviet Union period that included spreading false stories that the U.S. government created the AIDS virus.
It was a division of Halliburton.
Other Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov, also have said the program needs to be coordinated, multidirectional and well funded.

To help with the effort, the Kremlin in April signed a multimillion-dollar contract with Ketchum Public Relations and Marketing Communications, a U.S. firm.

The PR effort is aimed at providing a positive image of Russia around the world and to promote themes such as energy security, the fight against infectious disease and education.
And don't forget the ponies, kittens, and baby ducks!
Russia has been under fire in recent months over such heavy-handed actions as threatening to withhold gas from Ukraine and its covert support for both Iran and North Korea. Moscow and Beijing also are promoting an anti-U.S. alliance known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization involving Central Asian states.
Covert? Surely you jest.
The Pentagon has identified Russia as one of the states at the “strategic crossroads” that could emerge as a threatening power and turn away from the democratic West.
Putin has already done that by his actions.
U.S. intelligence officials have said Russian intelligence and espionage efforts have reached Cold War levels.

Another Kremlin vehicle in the image-improvement campaign is the little-known Russian-American Business Cooperation Council (RABCC), which is getting an infusion of funds to try and renew the flagging Russian relations with the United States.

Vice President Dick Cheney sharply criticized Russia in a recent speech in Eastern Europe for its shift away from Western values and freedom.

Russia believes the West is waging “information warfare” against it and that the campaign must be countered, the report states.

Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said during a hearing on Russia last week that Russia under Putin is becoming “increasingly authoritarian.”

“These internal developments, coupled with Russia's increasing pressure on its neighbors, its resistance to resolute international action to the proliferation threat in Iran, and its willingness to use its energy supplies for political leverage have complicated United States-Russian relations,” he said.
Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-07-07
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=158521