Kompromat

The term {{tlit|ru|kompromat}} is a borrowing of the Russian NKVD slang term {{lang|ru|компромат}} from the Stalin era, which is short for "compromising material" ({{transliteration|ru|komprometiruyushchy material}}). It refers to disparaging information that can be collected, stored, traded, or used strategically across all domains: political, electoral, legal, professional, judicial, media, and business. The origins of the term in Russian trace back to 1930s secret police jargon.{{cite book|last1=Ledeneva|first1=Alena V.|authorlink = Alena V. Ledeneva|title=How Russia Really Works: The Informal Practices That Shaped Post-Soviet Politics and Business|date=30 September 2013|publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=9780801470059 |pages=288 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bf7PAQAAQBAJ|access-date=12 January 2017}}

In the early days, {{tlit|ru|kompromat}} featured doctored photographs, planted drugs, grainy videos of liaisons with prostitutes hired by the KGB, and a wide range of other primitive entrapment techniques. More contemporary forms of {{tlit|ru|kompromat}} appear as a form of cybercrime. One aspect of {{tlit|ru|kompromat}} that stands the test of time is that the compromising information is often sexual in nature.{{cite magazine |last1=Waxman|first1=Olivia B.|title=Document Claims Russia Has Donald Trump 'Kompromat.' What Is That?|url=https://time.com/4632111/kompromat-history-donald-trump/ |magazine=Time |location=New York |access-date=2017-01-12 |date=2017-01-12 |df=dmy-all}}

The use of {{tlit|ru|kompromat}} is part of the political culture in Russia, with many members of the business and political elite having collected and stored potentially compromising material on their political opponents.{{cite magazine |last1=Maher |first1=Richard |title=What is 'kompromat' and how does it work? |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/world/north-america/2017/01/what-kompromat-and-how-does-it-work |magazine=New Statesman |issn= 1364-7431 |location=London |publisher=GlobalData |access-date=12 January 2017|date=12 January 2017 |quote=Kompromat has become a part of the political culture in Russia. Nearly everyone within Russia’s business and political elite has at one time or another collected and stored potentially compromising material on their political opponents for future use. Kompromat can be real or fabricated, and generally involves drugs, prostitutes, sexual escapades, sleazy business deals, illicit financial schemes, or embezzlement.}} {{tlit|ru|Kompromat}} does not necessarily target individuals or groups, but rather collects information that could be useful at a later time.{{cite web |last=Woolf |first=Christopher |title=Moscow's long history of gathering 'kompromat' |url=http://www.pri.org/stories/2017-01-11/moscow-s-long-history-gathering-kompromat |publisher=Public Radio International |location=Minneapolis |access-date=12 January 2017 |date=11 January 2017 |quote='Kompromat,' says David Filipov, 'means "compromising material" that can be used down the road as leverage over somebody. [...] 'This was something former KGB officers were telling us here,' adds Filipov, 'they're not necessarily targeting you. You show up and they say, let’s just see what this guy does. So they’ll record you, they’ll do surveillance, see what you’re up to. Some stuff gets in a file and maybe they can use it, maybe they can’t use it.}} Compromising videos are often produced long in advance of when leverage over people is needed.{{cite magazine |last1=Ioffe |first1=Julia |title=How Blackmail Works in Russia |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/01/kompromat-trump-dossier/512891/ |magazine=The Atlantic |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=11 January 2017|date=11 January 2017}}

Opposition research is conducted in the U.S. to find compromising material on political opponents so that such material may be released to weaken those opponents. Some contend that {{tlit|ru|Kompromat}} differs from opposition research, in that such information is used to exert influence over people rather than to simply win elections.{{cite news |last=Tucker |first=Joshua |title=Everything you need to know about the Russian art of 'kompromat' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/01/12/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-russian-art-of-kompromat/ |url-access=limited |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=12 January 2017 |date=12 January 2017 |issn=0190-8286}} Nevertheless, compromising material uncovered by opposition research need not be used in only legal or ethical ways. It can be used to exert influence over Western leaders just as surely as it can be used to exert influence over Russian leaders.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/swamp-chronicles/a-theory-of-trump-kompromat|title=A Theory of Trump Kompromat|last=Davidson|first=Adam|magazine=The New Yorker|date=2018-07-19|access-date=2019-08-01|language=en|issn=0028-792X}}{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/2263d995e4fa49d7acc917c604ea2ec5|title=Settlements prompt review of New Mexico's settlement system|date=2019-05-23|website=AP NEWS|access-date=2019-08-01}}

In the 1950s, British civil servant John Vassall was a victim of a gay honey trap operation, producing {{tlit|ru|kompromat}} which could be used against him since homosexuality was illegal in Britain at the time.{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Bryony |last2=Mackintosh |first2=Eliza |title=What is Kompromat?|url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/11/politics/what-is-kompromat/|website=CNN|access-date=12 January 2017|date=12 January 2017}} During a 1957 visit to Moscow, American journalist Joseph Alsop also fell victim to a gay honey trap operation conducted by the KGB.{{cite news |last1=Higgins |first1=Andrew |last2=Kramer |first2=Andrew |title=Sexual blackmail, Russia style: a history of 'kompromat' |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/sexual-blackmail-russia-style-a-history-of-kompromat-1.2934451 |newspaper=The Irish Times |location=Dublin |access-date=12 January 2017|date=12 January 2017}}

In 1997, Valentin Kovalyov was removed as the Russian Minister of Justice after photographs of him with prostitutes in a sauna controlled by the Solntsevskaya Bratva crime organization were published in a newspaper. In 1999, a video aired with a man resembling Yury Skuratov in bed with two women that later would lead to his dismissal as Prosecutor General of Russia. It was released after he began looking into charges of corruption by President Boris Yeltsin and his associates.{{cite news |last1=Hodge |first1=Nathan |last2=Grove |first2=Thomas |title=Trump Dossier Spotlights Russian History of 'Kompromat' |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-dossier-spotlights-russian-history-of-kompromat-1484171169 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |location=New York |access-date=2017-01-11 |date=2017-01-11 |df=dmy-all}}

In April 2010, politician Ilya Yashin and comedian Victor Shenderovich were involved in a sex scandal with a woman claimed to have acted as a Kremlin honey trap to discredit opposition figures.{{cite news |last1=Osborn |first1=Andrew |title=Amateur model known as 'Katya' revealed as Russian honey trap bait |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/7639592/Amateur-model-known-as-Katya-revealed-as-Russian-honeytrap-bait.html |newspaper=Daily Telegraph |location=London |date= 2010-04-28 |access-date=2017-01-11 |df=dmy-all}} The video was released only two days before the wedding of Shenderovich's daughter.

In cases of {{tlit|ru|kompromat}} during the early 21st century, Russian operatives have been suspected or accused of placing child pornography on the personal computers of individuals they were attempting to discredit.{{cite news |last1=Higgins |first1=Andrew |title=Foes of Russia Say Child Pornography Is Planted to Ruin Them |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/09/world/europe/vladimir-putin-russia-fake-news-hacking-cybersecurity.html?_r=0 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=2017-01-26 |date=2016-12-09 |df=dmy-all}}{{cite episode |last=Myre |first=Greg |authorlink=Greg Myre |series=All Things Considered |title=A Russian Word Americans Need To Know: 'Kompromat' |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/01/11/509305088/a-russian-word-americans-need-to-know-kompromat |transcript-url=https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/01/11/509305088/a-russian-word-americans-need-to-know-kompromat |transcript=A Russian Word Americans Need To Know: 'Kompromat' |network=National Public Radio |location=Washington D.C. |access-date=2019-01-29 |date=2017-01-11 |df=dmy-all |quote=In other recent cases, Russian operatives have been suspected or accused of placing child pornography on the personal computers of individuals they were attempting to discredit. Russian Vladimir Bukovsky, 73, a longtime critic of Soviet and Russian leaders, now lives in Britain, where he faces charges related to child pornography. But the case was delayed while investigators checked to see whether the images on Bukovsky's computer were placed there by an outside party, The New York Times reported last month, citing other similar cases.}} In 2015, the UK's Crown Prosecution Service announced that it would prosecute Vladimir Bukovsky for "prohibited images" found on his computer;{{cite web |title=Vladimir Bukovsky to be prosecuted over indecent images of children |url=http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/latest_news/vladimir_bukovsky_to_be_prosecuted_over_indecent_images_of_children/ |publisher=Crown Prosecution Service |access-date=2017-01-11 |date=2015-04-27 |df=dmy-all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118121119/http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/latest_news/vladimir_bukovsky_to_be_prosecuted_over_indecent_images_of_children/ |archive-date=18 November 2016 |url-status=dead }} however, the case against Bukovsky was put on hold as investigators tried to determine whether the pornographic images were planted.{{cite news |last1=Higgins |first1=Andrew |title=Foes of Russia Say Child Pornography Is Planted to Ruin Them |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/09/world/europe/vladimir-putin-russia-fake-news-hacking-cybersecurity.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=2017-01-11 |date=2016-12-09 |df=dmy-all}} Bukovsky died in October 2019.Higgins, Andrew. "[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/world/europe/Vladimir-Bukovsky-dead.html Vladimir Bukovsky, Revered Soviet Dissident and Putin Critic, Dies at 76]." New York Times, 28 October 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2020

Ahead of the 2016 Russian legislative election, a sex tape of Mikhail Kasyanov emerged on NTV.

During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, U.S. intelligence agencies were investigating possibly compromising personal and financial information on President-elect Donald Trump, leading to allegations that he and members of his administration might be vulnerable to manipulation by the Russian government.{{cite news |last1=Nelson |first1=Eliot |last2=Young |first2=Jeffrey |title=Kompromat? More Like KomproMAGA! |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/huffpost-hill-kompromat-more-like-kompromaga_us_5875640fe4b05b7a465c3854 |access-date=2017-01-11|website=The Huffington Post |publisher=Oath |date=2017-01-10 |df=dmy-all}}{{cite news |title=Trump says Russian 'kompromat' claims are fake |url=https://www.ft.com/content/2584ebdc-d796-11e6-944b-e7eb37a6aa8e |newspaper=Financial Times |location=London |publisher=Nikkei |date=2017-01-11 |access-date=2017-01-11 |df=dmy-all}}

British Labour Party MP Chris Bryant, an ex-chair of the all-party parliamentary group for Russia, who claims that the Russian government orchestrated a homophobic campaign to remove him from this position, has claimed that the Russian government has acquired {{tlit|ru|kompromat}} on high-profile Conservative Party MPs. This includes Boris Johnson, Liam Fox, Alan Duncan, and David Davis.{{cite news |last1=Townsend |first1=Mark |last2=Smith |first2=David |title=Senior British politicians 'targeted by Kremlin' for smear campaigns |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/14/russia-blackmail-chris-bryant-donald-trump-boris-johnson-liam-fox |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |date=2017-01-14 |access-date=2018-09-16 |df=dmy-all}}

Following a 2016 phone call between incoming-U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, Flynn allegedly lied to the White House on the extent of those contacts placing him in a position vulnerable to blackmail. According to congressional testimony delivered by former Acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates, the Department of Justice believed that "General Flynn was compromised," and placed Flynn in "a situation where the national-security adviser essentially could be blackmailed by the Russians."{{cite web | last=Wright | first=Austin | title=Sally Yates: 'We believed that Gen. Flynn was compromised' |website=Politico | date=2017-05-08 | url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/08/sally-yates-testimony-michael-flynn-238043 |publisher=Capitol News Company |location=Arlington |access-date=2018-02-24}}{{cite magazine |last1=Lizza|first1=Ryan|title=Michael Flynn's Questionable Conduct, and Trump's | magazine=The New Yorker |date=2017-05-09 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/ryan-lizza/michael-flynns-questionable-conduct-and-trumps | access-date=2018-02-24 |df=dmy-all}}

• Active measures
• Character assassination
• Cyberwarfare
• Defamation
• Discrediting tactic
• False evidence
• Ibiza affair
• Jeffrey Epstein
• Negative campaigning
• Opposition research
• Smear campaign
• Steele dossier

{{Reflist}}

• [https://compromat.hk/ Компромат.Ru] (English website)

Category:Public relations

Category:Politics of Russia

Category:Political controversies in Russia

Category:Russian words and phrases

Category:Politics of Ukraine

Category:Political controversies in Ukraine

Category:Election campaigning

Category:Blackmail

Category:Surveillance

Category:Defamation