By JOHN SICILIANO • 1/6/17 6:53 PM
Russia engaged in an anti-fracking campaign to hurt the U.S. energy industry, which has become a huge competitor for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom, according to a declassified U.S. intelligence report released Friday.
The U.S. intelligence community showed that the Russian government made extensive use of its government-controlled media, primarily the cable news channel RT, to broadcast “support for other Russian interests in areas such as foreign and energy policy.”
The report showed that RT ran “anti-fracking programming, highlighting environmental issues and the impacts on public health,” which is “likely reflective of the Russian government’s concern about the impact of fracking and U.S. natural gas production on the global energy market and the potential challenges to Gazprom’s profitability.”
