DISINFO: Accusations of Russian election meddling are absurd

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation claiming that sanctions against Russia have no effect and that there is no evidence of election meddling by Russia. In fact, the sanctions from the US and the EU do not aim to punish Russia or the Russian people but were introduced to send a clear signal to the Russian government after Russia's illegal annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula and the downing of the Malaysian passenger plane MH17. Claims that the sanctions are ineffective are not backed by evidence. In reality, most research supports the view that sanctions, imposed on Russia by the US and EU following the annexation of Crimea and Russian meddling in the US election, have worked as planned, noting the drag they have imposed on Russia’s general economic development since 2014: "This adverse effect most likely operates by depressing both foreign trade and foreign capital flows into Russia. Russia’s own counter-sanctions have also had a clear negative effect on the welfare of the average Russian household." According to the report of the European Parliament, the decline of EU trade with Russia after 2013 can be attributed to a number of factors, most importantly the slump in international oil price which damaged Russian economy and devaluated the ruble. In 2014 Russian GDP growth was as low as 0.7%. It decreased by 2,3% in 2015 and had modest revival afterwards with 0.3%, 1.6%, and 2.3% of growth during 2016-2018, the World Bank data shows. In contrast to Russia, during the same period, the EU's economy did not experience recessions and had annual GDP growth between 1.8% and 2.5%. . See StopFake for further debunking of the pro-Kremlin narrative about ineffective Western sanctions. For more cases on the topic, see here. Electoral interference by Russia has been extensively documented in numerous countries around the world. Elections targeted by Moscow include the Brexit vote, in the 2017 French Presidential elections, in the 2017 German Parliamentary elections, in the 2016 constitutional referendum in Italy and in the Dutch referendum on the EU’s Association Agreement with Ukraine, among many others. For more information, see our Elections page. For related cases, see here.