The Soviet Union reportedly viewed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as a person that they could exploit to promote their propaganda because of his political views and his positive views of the communist nation.
The New York Times reported on Thursday night that newly discovered documents from Russia showed that Soviet officials sought to “exploit Mr. Sanders’ antiwar agenda for their own propaganda purposes.”
The Times noted that the Russian communists sought to exploit Sanders while he was the mayor of Burlington, Vermont, after he wrote that he wanted the U.S. and the U.S.S.R to “live together as friends.”
“They also show how the Kremlin viewed these sister city relationships as vehicles to sway American public opinion about the Soviet Union,” the Times reported. “Nothing in the documents suggests that Mr. Sanders was the only local American official targeted for propaganda, or even that he was particularly receptive to it, though they do describe him as a socialist. But the documents do show the Soviets’ intensive preparation to use Mr. Sanders’ interest in their country to their advantage.”
A Soviet Foreign Ministry document discovered by the Times stated: “One of the most useful channels, in practice, for actively carrying out information-propaganda efforts has proved to be sister-city contact.” – READ MORE
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