For many of us Americans, understanding of Russian interference
in the US begins with hacked emails and fake Facebook accounts,
and ends with the election of Donald Trump in 2016.
But that’s not the whole picture.
As we now know, these efforts stretched back years (even decades)
and included coordination with some of the most heinous, regressive groups currently in the U.S.
One of those groups is the World Congress of Families, or WCF.
You’ve probably never heard of the WCF. But over the past decade,
they’ve become the leading international organization dedicated
to rolling back rights for LGBT individuals across the world.
And, coincidentally, WCF has allowed Russian oligarchs, close to Putin,
easy access to America’s Evangelical community via their events.
In September 2018, the WCF hosted sanctioned Russian politicians
and American Religious Right figures
for their annual conference in Moldova,
with wonderful panels called things like
”The Challenges Facing the Sanctity of Life”
and “Gender Ideology -- The Latest Attack on the Family.”
Not only have these events let these sanctioned oligarchs build their own relationships
with America’s Religious Right,
but they’ve helped convince American Evangelicals that Russian interference is actually not that big of a deal
and that Russia is the Religious Right’s ally against so-called “godless liberals” in the U.S.,
even if it means subverting democracy here in the U.S.
The WCF got its start in a small Moscow apartment, just over 20 years ago.
An American named Allan Carlson traveled to Moscow,
and met with a couple Russian sociologists to plot out how Americans and Russians
could organize a group dedicated to restore quote-unquote “tradition” to their societies.
Just like that, the WCF was born.
As Carlson wrote in his diary, which he sent to me, he quote
“went to sleep content with the world.”
For years, the WCF kind of hung around on the fringe.
Holding conferences dedicated to opposing abortion, same-sex marriage, and to supposedly protecting children.
It became popular in certain circles, and ended up reportedly funded by people like Russian oligarch Vladimir Yakunin,
who is one of Putin’s oldest confidants, and who’s now sanctioned by the U.S.
By the early 2010s, though,
the group took on a new role.
By then, relations between Russia and the West had soured.
Russians were suddenly rising up against Putin,
who was returning to the presidency in 2012 on the back of a fraudulent election.
And in Ukraine, pro-democracy protesters toppled their thuggish president,
which led to Russia invading southern Ukraine, claiming Crimea,
and backing so-called “separatists” in eastern Ukraine.
Now, America led the efforts to sanction Russia --
freezing assets, and banning people like Yakunin from traveling to the U.S.,
citing them as the key players in Russia’s attempt to upend the post-Cold War order.
Suddenly, the Kremlin was looking for ways to influence American policy –
and to work with sympathetic Americans.
Enter, the WCF.
Yakunin, the US sanctioned oligarch, was soon joined by another sanctioned Russian oligarch,
Konstantin Malofeev, whose nickname is “God’s oligarch.”
Both of them reportedly started funding WCF activities.
Along the way, the WCF started becoming more involved in crafting anti-abortion, anti-gay policies in Russia –
the group even took credit for crafting quote “the first package of anti-abortion laws in Russia” since the Soviet collapse.
Thanks to the WCF’s work, American Evangelicals started noticing Russia.
Some began claiming that Putin was the quote “lion of Christianity,”
while others like Pat Buchanan began suggesting that God was on Russia’s side.
And in 21014 for the first time,
the WCF announced it would be hosting its annual conference in Russia proper –
bringing the heavy-hitters of America’s Religious Right to Russia, to see with their own eyes
how the Kremlin had supposedly become God’s messenger on earth.
Thanks to Crimea, that conference fell through –
there was just enough pressure in the U.S. to get the WCF to say the conference was canceled.
But that didn’t mean the WCF was done with Russia.
The conference actually still went on, just without any official WCF branding.
It was, as one analyst said, the moment that Russia quote “took on the mantle of leadership of global social conservatism.”
It gave “Russia the chance to say, ‘We’re the leaders here.’”
And so, as the U.S. continued sanctions against key Russian figures,
Moscow tried to convince its American allies to rally to its defense --
which the WCF was only too happy to do.
One of the WCF’s leaders, a guy named Larry Jacobs,
described Russia as the quote “hope for the world” --
which in turn helped convince other American Evangelicals like Franklin Graham
that Putin wasn’t all that bad.
Thanks to the WCF, it was Russia --
not the U.S. --
that was suddenly leading the fight for the global Christian Right.
And it wasn’t long thereafter that Donald Trump decided to throw his hat in the presidential ring.
We all know the Russian interference that came: email hacks, Wikileaks, fake Twitter accounts, the whole 9 yards.
But one thing we’re still learning about is how the WCF bridged the gap between Russia and America’s Religious Right.
Thanks to the efforts of the WCF,
the Religious Right didn’t really seem to care about Russia’s assault on American democracy.
They didn’t care that Russia had tried to tip the election against Hillary Clinton.
They didn’t care that Russia had tried to get someone like Donald Trump into the White House.
How’s that for hypocrisy?
And guess what?
They still don’t care.
There’s a reason, after all, why those helping Russian interference efforts
used things like the National Prayer Breakfast to wine and dine
with those on the American right.
It’s for much the same reason that Evangelicals support Trump himself.
They see Trump -- and Russia --
as a means to an end: as a way to help roll back decades of progress,
whether it comes to abortion or same-sex legislation,
or even when it comes to basic individual rights.
For them, there’s no one -- and no country -- they won’t support,
as long as it means getting what they want.
Meanwhile, the WCF continues to host conferences
bringing together American Evangelicals
and US sanctioned Russian officials.
Over in Moldova a couple months ago.
It was still one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen.
There were dancing babies, and fake French princes,
and children singing for the crowd.
But there were also US sanctioned Russian oligarchs there,
railing against progressivism -- alongside American social conservatives,
saying the exact same thing.
The current WCF head, a prominent US Evangelical named Brian Brown,
said he wanted to create quote “friendships of trust” with the US sanctioned Russians involved.
The Americans there didn’t care that their conference comrades are part of the Kremlin’s dictatorship,
nor that they’re members of the group that made history by interfering in American democracy.
And that’s why this all matters.
These people, who are just a few steps away from those in the White House,
want more than anything to continue building an alliance with Russia --
and to do what they can to unwind American democracy, using whatever help they can get.
They wanted to continue helping these sanctioned Russian officials
gain access to the American Religious Right,
and to help these Russian billionaires continue looting their own populations,
and to help the Kremlin continue to spread its brand of kleptocratic dictatorship far and wide.
As the conference showed, these networks haven’t gone anywhere.
And these networks haven’t stopped working together for a world where abortion is illegal,
where the LGBT community lives in fear,
and where Russia and the U.S. are partners in theocracy, no matter the cost.
[MUSIC]
Hi folks, I’m Casey filling in for Versha this week she’s my wife.
Thanks so much for watching this episode of Russia Desk.
Don’t forget to share this video if you liked it! Bye!