Jeffrey Silverman is one of the sources frequently referred to by Russian pro-governmental media outlets against the Lugar Laboratory. Russia’s Channel One calls him a military expert and Russia 24 refers to him as Georgia-based American journalist, who accused the Lugar Laboratory of testing biological weapon that led to his beating in Tbilisi and later questioning by Georgian intelligence.
Presently, Silverman is Georgian Bureau Chief for Russia-affiliated Veterans Today. In 2013, Veterans Today established cooperation with Russian geopolitical journal New Eastern Outlook (NEO). The journal is released by the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. On the one hand, Veterans Today posts the journal materials on its website, and on the other, its Chief Editor, Jim W. Dean writes articles for the journal headlined “Ukraine’s Ku Klux Klan – NATO’s New Ally”, “Western Coup in Ukraine an Ongoing Disaster,” etc. The editor of Veterans Today and the author of Russian geopolitical journal hailed the cooperation between the two publications as “a marriage made in heaven.” The journal has posted a number of articles on its website about the Lugar Laboratory and conspiracy theories against it, with Jeffrey Silverman again acting as the main respondent.
In its articles, Veterans Today frequently refers to Strategic Culture Foundation as its source. The Foundation’s English-language website does not provide any information about the organization’s founders or contact persons. Another Russian-language website fondsk.ru – Фонд стратегической культуры uses an organization logo and font design that is identical to the English-language website of the Foundation. This similarity creates a perception that these two organizations are identical.
The Strategic Culture Foundation is based in Moscow and it is led by Yuri Prokofiev, former head of the Moscow Communist Party and member of the Soviet Political Bureau. Vladimir Maksimenko serves as the chief editor. Simultaneously, he works for the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Moreover, the materials of a website South Front are frequently posted on Veterans Today. The website is managed from Russia and it voices the Kremlin’s agenda. In its About Us section, South Front slams CNN and BBC for staging fake news, claiming that “they create a false image of a fictitious enemy, steer public opinion, and engineer the consent of people in different countries by controlling the narrative of events.” “A perfect example of this is what occurred in the Ukraine, when thousands of misinformed people took to the streets, fed with disinformation and empty promises, and destroyed the stable institutions of the nation,” according to South Front.
Gordon Duff of Veterans Today said in an audio interview in 2012 that about 30% of what’s written on Veterans Today is patently false. The recording was kept by the Internet Archive (archive.org).
Gordon Duff, head of Veterans Today: “About 30% of what’s written on Veterans Today is patently false. About 40% of what I write is at least purposely, partially false, because if I didn’t write false information I wouldn’t be alive. I simply have to do that. I write…anything I write I write between the lines.”
According to Southern Poverty Law Center, Veterans Today is an anti-Semitic publication, which promotes an anti-Israel agenda. “But start reading the posts and you’ll find something else entirely: myriad claims that there was a conspiracy behind 9/11 (Israel orchestrated it, in cahoots with the American government), that the American government is a puppet (of Israel), that the Holocaust never happened or was greatly exaggerated (Jews made it up to manipulate non-Jews),” according to the Center.
According to Politico Magazine, with Veterans Today, the Kremlin targets the U.S. military and veterans.
Jeffrey Silverman lives in Georgia since 1991. In the interview with Human Rights Center, Silverman notes that his American passport and nationality were revoked in 2004. Speaking with New Eastern Outlook, Silverman notes that only when Donald Trump became President, he managed to become a full-fledged U.S. citizen again.