RFK Jr. Replaces Trump as Russia's Favorite Candidate

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is being "amplified" by Russian state media over Donald Trump because he is echoing its narratives on the war in Ukraine, an expert in Russian disinformation has told Newsweek.

Kyle Walter, head of research at Logically, which combats disinformation online, said Kennedy is "pretty much directly sharing Russian propaganda" about the conflict, in contrast to Trump, who is "primarily focused on looking like a negotiator," which isn't in line with the Russian state position. This is also reflected in higher recent online search interest in Russia for Kennedy.

With Russia's invasion of Ukraine bogged down after nearly 17 months of fighting, Moscow is hoping the 2024 U.S. presidential election could lead to American support for Kyiv being curtailed, or even ended entirely.

Polling currently gives Donald Trump—who has said he could end the war in one day—a strong lead in the Republican primary campaign. Biden is being challenged for the Democratic nomination by Kennedy, an environmental campaigner turned vaccine skeptic and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy.

"If they have either Kennedy or Trump as president, they know support to Ukraine's probably going to be decreased, and that overall U.S. and NATO support for the war is probably going to be pretty limited as well," Walter told Newsweek, referring to how Russian state media is covering the presidential race.

"I do think that in terms of propaganda, disinformation, [and] state media generally, there's been a lot of amplification of RFK recently just because he's pretty much sharing explicit Russian narratives."

A spokesperson for the Kennedy campaign told Newsweek: "Russian state media is probably ignoring the part where Mr. Kennedy said Russia's invasion of Ukraine is brutal and illegal. His criticism of the decades of U.S. foreign policy that provoked the invasion does not excuse the invasion. But it does suggest a new path of deescalation and negotiated settlement that respects the sovereignty of Ukraine and the security concerns of both nations."

There is no suggestion that Kennedy has any direct links to either the Russian government or state media.

"The reason we see RFK being amplified more is because he's pretty much directly sharing Russian propaganda and disinformation narratives, rather than someone like Trump who, I think, is primarily focused on looking like a good negotiator so he's presenting a case which makes more sense in terms of trying to get concessions out of either side. But it doesn't fit perfectly in line with the Russian state position so they're more inclined to amplify things RFK is talking about versus amplifying Trump's talk," Walter said.

There is extensive online interest in Russia for Kennedy, with an analysis of Google Trends data by Newsweek finding his name has received more searches than 'Trump' in the country over the past 30 days. By comparison, over the last year as a whole, Trump received significantly more searches from Russia.

Kennedy has made a number of comments blaming the war in Ukraine on U.S. government policy, and suggesting aid to Kyiv should be reduced.

On July 14, he tweeted: "Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian youth have already died because America's foreign policy establishment manipulated their country into war to fulfill vain + futile geopolitical fantasy. Now, rather than acknowledge failure, Biden admin prepares to sacrifice American lives too."

Three days later, this remark was shared on Twitter by the Russian embassy in South Africa, which attributed it to "U.S. lawyer and politician Robert F. Kennedy Jr."

In response, Eliot Higgins, founder of the investigative journalism outlet Bellingcat, which has covered Russian state activities extensively, commented: "Russian Embassies are now amplifying RFK Jr's disinformation on Ukraine for their own ends."

In May, Kennedy said Americans are "going hungry to fund a war that doesn't serve any vital U.S. interests" and urged the country to "reorder our priorities."

During the same month, Kennedy alleged the Biden administration "wanted war as part of their strategic grand plan to destroy any country such as Russia that resists American imperial expansion."

Referring to the invasion, he said: "They only pretend to think it was unprovoked. They are lying to us, manufacturing consent for war."

In other comments, Kennedy has explicitly condemned the Russian military operation against Ukraine.

During a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, in June, he said: "I abhor Russia's brutal and bloody invasion of that nation [Ukraine].

"But we must understand that our government has also contributed to its circumstances through repeated deliberate provocations of Russia going back to the 1990s."

Some of Kennedy's remarks have been covered extensively by state-controlled media in Russia, including by Vladimir Solovyov, dubbed 'Putin's Voice' for his assertively pro-Kremlin narrative.

According to The Daily Beast columnist Julia Davis, who monitors Russian media, one of Solovyov's shows featured Dmitry Drobnitsky, introduced as an expert in U.S. politics, who claimed: "Kennedy's participation in the elections will enable him to inject his pro-Russian talking points about Ukraine into the mainstream."

Caroline Orr Bueno, an expert in Russian misinformation at the University of Maryland with a PhD in behavioral science, has said that the Russian state broadcasters RT and Sputnik have also been heavily promoting Kennedy.

Writing on her Substack newsletter Weaponized on June 9, approximately two months after Kennedy announced his candidacy, she said that on Sputnik News a search for "Robert F Kennedy" yielded 176 articles, compared with only four previously.

"The articles on Sputnik focus on several central themes, including supposed 'censorship,' criticism of Ukraine and the U.S., and anti-vaccine sentiment," she wrote.

There was a similar pattern on RT, she said, which "published a number of articles featuring Kennedy's agreement with Putin on issues surrounding the war in Ukraine and NATO, and his promise to pardon Assange if elected president—a topic that has been a favorite on Russia propaganda outlets for years now."

These narratives are, in part, a contrast to those voiced by Trump.

Earlier this month, Trump explained his plan to end the war in Ukraine, which could see U.S. weapons supplies to Kyiv increase. Speaking to Fox News on Saturday he said: "I know Zelensky very well, and I know Putin very well, even better.

"And I had a good relationship, very good with both of them. I would tell Zelensky, no more. You got to make a deal. I would tell Putin, if you don't make a deal, we're going to give him a lot. We're going to [give Ukraine] more than they ever got if we have to. I will have the deal done in one day. One day."

Update 7/25/23, 9:15 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with comment from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign.