The Russian Foreign Ministry calls Washington’s plan to counter “Kremlin influence” a “voice from the Cold War era” aiming to harvest European markets while planting “vicious anti-Russia propaganda.”

On Friday, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) presented a strategy called the ‘Countering Malign Kremlin Influence (CMKI) Development Framework.’ It humbly aims to free Europe from Russia’s alleged meddling and aggression, while injecting American companies into the local market.

In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry questioned the sanity of those who came up with the doctrine which “tries to terrify the rest of the world with the threat of Russia allegedly trying to undermine democracy everywhere.”

“The very name of the framework testifies to the fact that the USAID is not working to establish an atmosphere of cooperation and that in fact it is a tool of ideological warfare and brainwashing."

The plan has a number of goals: to help European countries protect their political systems from outside interference, to counter disinformation, and reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian energy and trade. The Russian Foreign Ministry sees the plan as an “aggressive offensive approach” in disguise, aimed at making commercial profit under the pretense of helping allies.

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“The concept is frankly aimed at planting Russophobia in the world, especially in our neighboring states,” as well as “the desire to subordinate them to US influence, turn against Russia, including to force Europe to buy expensive American liquefied gas.”

The Foreign Ministry also noted that the announced “action plan” is completely out of tune with recent comments regarding the future of Russia-US bilateral relations made by the heads of the two states at the G20 summit in Osaka.

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Washington officials are doing “their best to thwart the normalization of Russia-US relations and to further damage them,” the ministry said.

“We have often reasserted our openness in building constructive cooperation with the United States on the basis of equality and consideration for each other’s interests. Meanwhile, the vicious anti-Russia propaganda from Washington eager for global domination nullifies these efforts.”

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