Moscow Is Planning to Create Its Own USAID

"For decades, USAID was one of the greatest tools America had to promote democratic values in Russia. The agency extended humanitarian assistance while fostering political reform, and in doing so endeared the United States to Russians even as it undercut the Kremlin's authoritarian ambitions. It was a supreme example of soft power: working "through attraction and persuasion rather than coercion," as the political scientist Joseph S. Nye Jr. defined the term."

"The Trump administration shut down USAID on July 1; one week later, a Russian-government official revealed that the regime planned to establish a development agency modeled on the one Washington had just dismantled. Russia senses an opportunity. Under Donald Trump, America has lost both the will and institutional capacity to counter authoritarianism abroad, and Moscow is already exploiting the vacuum that the president has left behind."

USAID operated as a powerful instrument of American soft power in Russia, providing humanitarian aid while promoting political reform and undercutting Kremlin authoritarianism. The Kremlin expelled USAID in 2012 and now plans a domestic development agency modeled on the U.S. example. The Trump administration's rollback of U.S. development efforts has created a perceived vacuum that Moscow seeks to exploit. Russia has applied soft power for years to centralize authority, sanitize its image, and accelerate imperial aims. Historical U.S. cultural operations during the Cold War were studied and adapted by Moscow as part of this strategy.

Read at The Atlantic