The Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (Rossiysky Institut Strategicheskikh Issledovaniy, RISS) is a Moscow think tank founded in 1992 by decree of President Boris Yeltsin. It long served as an analytical arm of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and in 2009 was transferred to the Presidential Administration, producing assessments for the Kremlin. From 2009 to 2017 it was headed by Leonid Reshetnikov, a retired SVR lieutenant general, who was replaced in January 2017 by Mikhail Fradkov, former prime minister and former SVR director. In April 2017 Reuters reported, citing current and former U.S. officials, that RISS had prepared documents in 2016 recommending a Kremlin propaganda effort to influence the U.S. presidential election. The child pages profile its two directors.
Sources
- Parker, Ned, Jonathan Landay, and John Walcott. “Putin-linked think tank drew up plan to sway 2016 U.S. election: documents.” Reuters, April 19, 2017.