"Internet projects of the American special services, such as ... Metal Gear and RuNet Echo are aimed at direct manipulation of the public consciousness, especially among the youth," Deputy Defense Minister Andrei Kartapolov said at a State Duma roundtable.

The popular Metal Gear video game series is actually a weapon used by U.S. intelligence agencies to manipulate the public into protesting against the authorities, Russia’s deputy defense minister has said.

Metal Gear is a popular series of action-adventure games in which the player assumes the role of a special forces operative who searches for the "Metal Gear,” a bipedal tank with the ability to launch nuclear weapons. RuNet Echo is an English-language project that covers trends and news from the Russian-speaking internet.

According to Kartapolov, these innocuous projects are more sinister than they may appear, and are “aimed at encouraging active protest activity and dissatisfaction with the authorities among young people.”

During the same roundtable, Kartapolov said that the U.S. is employing “non-traditional” and “openly hostile” Russian artists, politicians and media personalities in an effort to discredit Russia’s “civilized state, cultural ideology and religious identity,” Interfax quoted him as saying.

He added that Russia is surrounded by a network of centers in NATO countries whose goal is to “discredit Russia, and portray it as an authoritarian country with a barbaric and backward population and government that doesn’t comply with international law.”