No proof of Russian meddling in Western elections
For weeks and months, the media and governments in the EU have been warning against Russian influence in the elections. Now the elections to the EU Parliament are just around the corner – only we are still waiting for indications of manipulation by the evil Russians.
Despite the EU elections and the drama, there seems to be no trace of any Russian interference. This was also the case with other elections in Europe, the results of which ran counter to the wishes of the political and media establishment. Whenever things went wrong, it was simply the Russians.
Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative that allegations of Russian interference in electoral processes in the EU and in the West are spread by European elites in order to divert attention from the real problems of the EU countries.
Attempts of election meddling by Russia are already well documented. Investigations were conducted by the authorities of various countries, Parliament's committee (UK) , as well as by journalists. Numerous investigations have provided convincing evidence of Russian interference in the Brexit referendum and in elections across Europe and in the US. Thus, in the US, 126 million people were reached on social media by Russia-linked users, 29 million of them have seen the content "directly". See more information here, here and here.
Ahead of the European elections 2019, Microsoft registered cyberattacks targeting think tanks and non-profit organisations working on topics related to democracy, electoral integrity, and public policy, that are often in contact with government officials. Microsoft continues to investigate the source of these attacks, but is confident that many of them originated from a group called Strontium, also known as APT 28 or Fancy Bear – which is believed to be associated with Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU. Read more here.
See here for the list of the reports on Russian efforts to influence elections in various European countries.