Trained in Cold War tradecraft and forged in the turmoil of the Soviet Union’s collapse, Vladimir Putin spent decades rebuilding his power—now experts warn that his KGB-era tactics of disinformation, division, and democratic sabotage are echoing across American politics.
MOSCOW | When the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991, a young intelligence officer named Vladimir Putin watched from the front row—not as a politician, but as a career KGB operative stationed in East Germany, witnessing a superpower’s collapse from inside its own security apparatus. That experience, former colleagues say, would shape not only his worldview but the strategies he would later deploy to rebuild Russia’s influence—and undermine Western democracy.
For Putin, the fall of the USSR was not just a political crisis. It was, in his own words, “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.” The chaos, corruption, and national humiliation that followed fueled his determination to restore Moscow’s power—by any means necessary.
From KGB Officer to Political Operator
Analysts widely agree: Putin never left the mindset of a KGB officer—he simply expanded the operations to a national and international scale.
The KGB Playbook and the New American Crisis
Today, as political turbulence rises in the United States, national-security experts point to troubling parallels between current events and long-documented Russian active-measures strategies—strategies Putin mastered during his intelligence career.
Among them:
- Disinformation campaigns
- Election interference
- Amplification of internal divisions
- Undermining trust in institutions
- Creating chaos to weaken democracy
These are not new tactics; they are pillars of Cold War intelligence doctrine. What is new, experts say, is their penetration into American domestic discourse—often through targeted propaganda, online influence networks, and political opportunism.
The Trump Era and Moscow’s Strategic Openings
With Donald Trump in office, critics argue that Putin has enjoyed an unprecedented geopolitical advantage. U.S. intelligence agencies have repeatedly warned that Russian influence operations remain active and increasingly sophisticated. From election-related disinformation to coordinated digital propaganda, the fingerprints of Kremlin strategy are visible across multiple platforms.
“Everything the United States is experiencing today—from deep polarization to widespread distrust in elections—can be traced back to methods straight out of the KGB handbook,” said one former intelligence official.
Russia’s Goal: The Weakening of American Democracy
While Russia lacks the economic power of global rivals, its strategic objective has been consistent for decades: fracture Western democracies, weaken the United States, and restore Moscow’s geopolitical relevance.
A divided America, national-security analysts warn, is a strategic victory for the Kremlin. Few outcomes would please Putin more than a diminished, destabilized, or internally conflicted United States—mirroring the fragmentation Russia endured in the 1990s.
As the U.S. moves deeper into a contentious political era, the shadow of the Soviet Union’s collapse—and the intelligence officer who rose from its ruins—looms larger than ever.
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-- By James W. Thomas and Andre Leday
Frank Atkinson contributed to this article
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