Context

The country’s extreme right is prospering ahead of re-run presidential elections despite extensive evidence of continuing Russian subversion.

The 3rd EEAS report provides unique insights into how modern manipulation works. We are launching a series of articles to enhance our collective awareness and understanding.

For years, one of the biggest obsessions of pro-Kremlin disinformation peddlers has been convincing their audiences that any and all protests happening in Russia’s neighbourhood, let alone in Russia itself, are the result of nefarious Western interference.

Producing and airing so-called ‘repentance videos’ – in which political detainees supposedly confess, regret, or denounce their former activities or views – has been a regular practice by the Belarusian regime since 2020.

United States President Donald Trump has moved to shut down a series of prominent US-funded international media outlets including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as he continues efforts to cut government spending and reshape US foreign policy.

From diplomatic deception to puppet master fabrications, the Kremlin manipulation playbook may evolve on the surface but its fundamentals remain unchanged.

On 3 March, the third anniversary of the signing of Moldova’s formal application to join the European Union, Moldovan President Maia Sandu received the President of the European Council, António Costa, for an official visit in Chisinau as part of the country’s path towards the EU.

Pro-Kremlin disinformation operators have tried to smear, delegitimise and humiliate Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy since his election in 2019.

While peace talks may eventually silence the guns, the Kremlin disinformation apparatus is already drafting and pushing narratives to fracture post-war Ukraine.

Russian state-controlled and pro-Kremlin outlets try to divide opponents by spreading rumours, lies, and slander while engaging troll factories, AI bots, and the like.