Kathrine Frich
Western governments have accused Russia of deploying hybrid tactic to destabilise rivals.
From election interference allegations to influence operations across Europe, Moscow has been repeatedly tied to these non-military tools of pressure.
Yet this week the script flipped dramatically: Russia claimed it is now the victim of a hybrid offensive launched by European states.
Those accusations surfaced just as a leaked phone call between senior advisers to Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin caused political shockwaves, threatening to overshadow sensitive talks on a possible peace plan for Ukraine.
Russia hits back
According to Reuters, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said European governments were manipulating parts of the media to wage “a hybrid information war” aimed at damaging Moscow’s ties with Washington.
His comments followed Bloomberg’s release of a transcript of an Oct. 14 call between Putin adviser Yuri Ushakov and US envoy Steve Witkoff.
News.ro reported that Bloomberg reviewed the recording but did not disclose how it obtained access to a conversation involving officials from two nuclear powers.
The Kremlin called the leak “an unacceptable attempt to undermine” ongoing diplomatic efforts.
Ushakov told Russian reporters the exchange was never intended for publication.
He argued to Kommersant that such secure conversations are rarely exposed unless someone deliberately seeks to do so.
Leak triggers anger
Ushakov admitted that parts of his communication with Witkoff had taken place on WhatsApp and could technically have been intercepted.
But he ruled out either participant as the source and said he would raise the issue directly with the envoy.
Kirill Dmitriev, who heads the Russian Direct Investment Fund, labelled Bloomberg’s reporting on a second October call “fake.”
He accused what he described as a “malignant, well-funded and well-organized media machine” of spreading false narratives for political effect.
The Kommersant journalist who interviewed Ushakov framed the uproar with the headline: “Who set this up for Steve Witkoff?”
Trump defends his envoy
Speaking to reporters, Donald Trump said he had not heard the audio but insisted Witkoff was doing “what a negotiator does” by trying to “sell” a peace framework to both Kyiv and Moscow.
The BBC reported him calling the brief exchange “a very standard form of negotiation.”
The uproar emerged days after a 28-point US proposal was criticised across Kyiv and European capitals for aligning too closely with Russian demands, including territorial concessions in the east.
Negotiators have since revised the document to reflect Ukraine’s position and the expectations of European partners.
Sources: HotNews.ro, Reuters, BBC, News.ro, Bloomberg
