Russian think-tank drew up plan to sway 2016 election, U.S. officials say

A Russian government think-tank controlled by Vladimir Putin developed a plan to swing the2016 U.S. presidential election to Donald Trump and underminevoters'faith in the American electoral system, three currentand four former U.S. officials told Reuters.

They described two confidential documents from the think-tank as providing the framework and rationale for what U.S.intelligence agencies have concluded was an intensive effort byRussia to interfere with the Nov. 8 election. U.S. intelligenceofficials acquired the documents, which were prepared by theMoscow-based Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISS), after the election.

Putinhad the objective in mind all along. Unnamed former U.S. intelligence official

The institute is run by retired senior Russian foreignintelligence officials appointed by Putin's office.

The first Russian institute document was a strategy paper written last June that circulated at the highest levels of the Russian government but was not addressed to any specific individuals.

It recommended the Kremlin launch a propaganda campaign onsocial media and Russian state-backed global news outlets toencourage U.S. voters to elect a president who would take asofter line toward Russia than the administration ofthen-PresidentBarackObama, the seven officials said.

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A second institute document, drafted in October anddistributed in the same way, warned that Democratic presidentialcandidate Hillary Clinton was likely to win the election. Forthat reason, it argued, it was better for Russia to end itspro-Trump propaganda and instead intensify its messaging aboutvoter fraud to undermine the U.S. electoral system's legitimacyand damage Clinton's reputation in an effort to undermine herpresidency, the seven officials said.

The current and former U.S. officials spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the Russian documents' classified status. They declined to discuss how the United States obtained them. U.S. intelligence agencies also declined to comment on them.

Sevenanonymous sources are not worth one real one. KremlinspokespersonDmitryPeskov

Putinhas denied interfering in the U.S. election. Both the Kremlin and the RISSsay the report is false.

"It seems, that in their conspiratorial consciousness theauthors of this conceit did not weigh reality against theircoveted fantasies, in order to once again draw attention to thetheme of Russia's 'participation' in the pre-electioncampaign in the United States," RISS Director MikhailFradkov said Thursday.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said people should not pay attention to reports based on anonymous sources.

"I don't know anything about this, I can only say that sevenanonymous sources are not worth one real one."

'Pack of lies'

The documents were central to the Obama administration'sconclusion that Russia mounted a "fake news"campaign andlaunched cyber attacks against Democratic Party groups andClinton's campaign, the current and former officials said.

"Putin had the objective in mind all along, and he asked theinstitute to draw him a road map,"said one of the sources, aformer senior U.S. intelligence official.

Trump has said Russia's activities had no impact on theoutcome of the race. Ongoing congressional and FBIinvestigations into Russian interference have so far produced nopublic evidence that Trump associates colluded with the Russianeffort to change the outcome of the election.

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Four of the officials said the approach outlined in the Junestrategy paper was a broadening of an effort the Putinadministration launched in March 2016. That month the Kremlininstructed state-backed media outlets, including internationalplatforms Russia Today and Sputnik news agency, to startproducing positive reports on Trump's quest for the U.S.presidency, the officials said.

Russia Today did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Sputnik dismissed the assertions by the U.S. officials that it participated in a Kremlin campaign as an "absolute pack of lies."

"And by the way, it's not the firstpack of lies we're hearing from 'sources in U.S. officialcircles'," the spokesperson said in an email.

'Unfair coverage'

Russia Today and Sputnik published anti-Clinton storieswhile pro-Kremlin bloggers prepared a Twitter campaign callinginto question the fairness of an anticipated Clinton victory,according to a report by U.S. intelligence agencies on Russianinterference in the election made public in January.

Russia Today's most popular Clinton video "How 100% of the2015 Clintons''charity'went to ... themselves" accumulated ninemillions views on social media, according to the January report.

The report said Russia Today and Sputnik "consistently castpresident elect-Trump as the target of unfair coverage fromtraditional media outlets."

The report said the agencies did not assess whether Moscow'seffort had swung the outcome of the race in Trump's favour,because American intelligence agencies do not "analyze U.S.political processes or U.S. public opinion."

'Expert appraisals'

Neither of the Russian institute documents mentioned therelease of hacked Democratic Party emails to interfere with theU.S. election, according to four of the officials. The officialssaid the hacking was a covert intelligence operation runseparately out of the Kremlin.

The overt propaganda and covert hacking efforts reinforcedeach other, according to the officials. Both Russia Today andSputnik heavily promoted the release of the hacked DemocraticParty emails, which often contained embarrassing details.

Five of the U.S. officials described the institute as theKremlin's in-house foreign policy think-tank.

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The institute's director when the documents were written, Leonid Reshetnikov, rose to the rank of lieutenant-general during a 33-year-career in Russia's foreign intelligence service, according to the institute's website. After Reshetnikov retired from the institute in January, Putin named Fradkov as his replacement. The institute says he served as the director of Russia's foreign intelligence service from 2007 to 2016.

Reuters was unable to determine if either man was directlyinvolved in the drafting of the documents. Reshetnikov's officereferred questions to the Russian institute.

On its website, the Russian institute describes itself asproviding "expert appraisals," "recommendations," and "analytical materials" to the Russian president's office,cabinet, National Security Council, ministries and parliament.

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On Jan. 31, the websites of Putin's office and the institute posted a picture andtranscript of Reshetnikov and his successor Fradkov meeting withPutin in the Kremlin. Putin thanked Reshetnikov for his serviceand told Fradkov he wanted the institute to provide objectiveinformation and analysis.

"We did our best for nearly eight years to implement yourforeign policy concept," Reshetnikov told Putin. "The policyof Russia and the policy of the President of Russia have beenthe cornerstone of our operation."