From France to the Baltic states, Scandinavian countries and Germany, governments are expressing concern and issuing warnings about Russian on-the-ground attacks and disinformation campaigns, as key elections are held across the Continent this year.

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As major elections in the European Union loom, member states are no longer hiding their concern over Russian interference. In their view, the war waged by Moscow is not confined to the Ukrainian front, but aims to undermine democracies from within. Announcements of destabilization operations have now become a routine part of daily life for the general public. Governments have passed new legislation in response and mobilized their intelligence services. But while EU member states have sounded the alarm, they act on an individual basis, despite the entire continent being the target of these attacks coordinated from Russia.

At an international conference held on August 20 in Stockholm, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur warned his partners: "Sweden will soon be holding elections [on September 13]. Latvia will have theirs just after [on October 3]. We will have ours in March [2027]. That means Russia will be looking for ways to influence our societies and to stoke tensions." Standing alongside him, Polish official Henryka Moscicka-Dendys, undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, "Elections are ideal opportunities to try to sow distrust and to test the resilience of our societies. We must remain vigilant and act to counter this, but we must do it together."

Two days earlier, Sweden, which hosted the conference, was targeted by several fake videos posted on X in less than an hour, featuring the logos of Swedish and German national media outlets. They discredited the upcoming legislative elections by warning of imaginary fraud and accused the prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, of corruption. The group Antibot4navalny, which tracks Russian disinformation on social media, identified the videos. The Russian opposition collective said this campaign is part of the pro-Russian influence operation known as "Matryoshka," which has also been detected elsewhere on the continent.

"We are seeing these kinds of videos all over Europe. The Russians are used to targeting countries that support Ukraine," said the Swedish prime minister. The Swedish Psychological Defense Agency, a state institution based in Stockholm that is responsible for tracking attempts at electoral destabilization, meanwhile assessed that this offensive "does not aim to convince voters of irregularities related to the elections," but to "overload the media with large amounts of disinformation."

Explosives-laden drone

In February, the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment said it had uncovered a group of pro-Russian hackers who attempted to influence the Norwegian elections scheduled for September 2025. The researchers specifically mentioned a cyberattack targeting the conservative Hoyre party. "According to our analysis," said Eskil Grendahl Sivertsen, special adviser at the institute, "this attempt had no impact on the election itself, but it demonstrates an intent to carry out actions directly targeting democratic processes."

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Denmark's three main intelligence services warned of the risks of a pro-Russian disinformation campaign ahead of the latest parliamentary elections, held on March 24, 2026. The aim, they said, was to "promote Russian interests, sow discord and weaken support for Ukraine," but "this could also have repercussions for certain candidates and parties, as well as for their election campaigns." These interference operations targeted both the domestic and foreign policies of countries providing assistance to Kyiv.

As the leading European contributor of aid to Ukraine, Germany has been particularly targeted by attacks on its infrastructure and information systems. Although the country's political leaders almost never explicitly identify Russia as being behind these attacks, they have acknowledged the reality of the threat. "There is not always legally usable evidence to identify who is piloting a drone," admitted Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius in November 2025. "But there are many clues that make it possible to determine who benefits from the flight of such a device in a given location."

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On August 4, Germany was targeted in an attempted attack at Leipzig Airport. Authorities discovered a drone loaded with explosives in the secure cargo operations area, close to several Ukrainian cargo planes. A second device reportedly struck a DHL aircraft a few minutes later, and a third was found in a nearby field 10 days after that. Remaining silent until then, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned on Tuesday, August 25, that Berlin would ensure those behind the attacks "will pay a price for their actions."

In 2025 alone, the Bundeskriminalamt (Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office) recorded more than 320 destabilization attempts in the country – including acts of sabotage, theft, burglary and attacks on critical infrastructure. Russia is suspected of orchestrating most of them. In April, politicians and lawmakers' accounts on Signal, an application known for its security, were targeted by a phishing attack, which was also attributed to Moscow. One of the accounts targeted belonged to president of the Bundestag, Julia Klöckner.

German authorities are also investigating the involvement of a foreign country behind the surge in attacks, some of them deadly and often carried out by foreigners, that took place in the run-up to the February 2025 elections. These incidents shocked public opinion and helped put the issue of immigration at the center of the campaign.

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Political destabilization Latvia is gearing up for its elections, scheduled for October 3. The country has stepped up efforts to detect possible Russian interference. The government's anti-disinformation website, Melns uz balta ("black on white"), has reported a barrage of false or misleading information aimed at dividing the country, particularly targeting Russian-speaking citizens, who make up nearly one third of the population. So far, authorities have not reported any operations specifically targeting the vote.

The explanation for this apparent paradox can be found on Baltnews, a propaganda website that covers regional news from Moscow's perspective, which published an article on July 7 about the Latvian election. While it expressed a preference for the far-right Latvia First party, led by businessman Ainars Slesers, it considered a "reversal" of Riga's pro-European and pro-Ukrainian foreign policy "impossible," "even if Slesers and a conservative coalition were to come to power." The article added: "Latvia's economic and military dependence on Brussels leaves it little room for maneuver."

The aim, then, was not to foster closer ties with Russia by supporting friendly candidates, but to undermine the Latvian state itself, targeting both its current policies and its history. As highlighted by Melns uz balta, the usual channels of Russian propaganda – social media, fake internet sites and broadcasts from the Belarusian state radio, which can be heard in eastern parts of Latvia – were filled with narratives all seeking to portray the Baltic state as a puppet country, whose independence, gained for the second time in 1991 after the period from 1918 to 1940 and five decades of occupation by the USSR, would be illegitimate.

One of the tools of pro-Russian propaganda in the country has been to circulate embellished false memories of the Soviet era to promote the narrative of a failed Latvian state since it left Moscow's sphere of influence. The relative calm surrounding the election campaign is not a sign of easing tensions. Instead, it seems laden with threats – not against the vote itself, but against the very existence of Latvia as an independent state.

France has also faced highly targeted political destabilization operations. In early August, the Paris public prosecutor's office opened an investigation into suspected Russian interference targeting two of Emmanuel Macron's former prime ministers, Gabriel Attal (Renaissance, the centrist party founded by Macron) and Edouard Philippe (center-right Horizons), as well as the Member of the European Parliament Raphaël Glucksmann (center-left Place Publique). All three, who are candidates in the 2027 presidential election, filed complaints after the circulation of deepfakes and fake news reports produced by media outlets alleging they had health problems or had committed acts of corruption. Viginum, the government agency responsible for combating foreign digital interference, lamented the publicity surrounding these operations, which, according to the agency, provides "greater visibility to content that is seen by very few citizens."

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In a rare joint response on July 13, France, the EU and the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on nine Russians and four entities linked to the FSB, Russia's Federal Security Service. British authorities added 24 people to this list, including leaders of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency, and members of Rybar LLC – a Russian disinformation organization targeting Ukraine, known for orchestrating electoral interference across Europe. The announcement echoed comments made by the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas: "Today's wars are not only fought with tanks and drones but with lies and algorithms too. [...] Compared to last year, the use of artificial intelligence tools in FIMI [foreign information manipulations and interference] incidents has increased exponentially. Artificial intelligence is now fully embedded in Russian and Chinese FIMI operations."

While European governments rarely speak with one voice when it comes to tackling foreign interference, their intelligence services are working closely together – secretly, bilaterally, or within the so-called Bern Club, which brings together the UK, Switzerland, Norway and the 27 EU member states, with the exception of Austria. "It's the only multilateral circle that really matters for the continent's collective security," confided one French intelligence leader, speaking on condition of anonymity. This club meets regularly in different European capitals, sometimes in plenary sessions or in smaller groups, depending on the topic and recent developments.

European spies know they have no choice but to cooperate, as Russian political interference targets all of Europe. According to the French Interior Ministry, the deputy chief of staff of the Russian presidential administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, has played a central role in these destabilization campaigns, as part of what Moscow calls directives against "unfriendly countries." "There is a general mandate, and each Russian intelligence structure then implements possible actions according to its access, information or opportunity," the French intelligence source added.

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