E.U. Uses “Russian interference” Claims to Hit Opposition

What’s happening: Major European officials revealed that Russia engaged in election interference by setting up a news organization — “Voice of Europe” (VoE) — which interviewed populist-right politicians. An E.U. Commission member claimed that the Kremlin used the site to “buy covert influence.”

Why it matters: While conservative and populist figures in the United States are delegitimized over accusations of being Russia-friendly, European establishment leaders are using the VoE story to discredit their own rising right-wing.

The platform: The VoE website no longer exists. Its X account has only 182K followers, and YouTube shut down VoE’s platform, which had less than 500 subscribers.The interference operation was relatively small; in an ongoing investigation of VoE, Poland’s government seized about $85,000.

No sale: Despite claims that Russia bought influence, there is little evidence that populist-right politicians took money — or that VoE was influential. A spokesman for former Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who was interviewed by VoE, pointed out that the interview had only 500 views on YouTube.

• Tainted wins: The populist-right is currently set for big gains in upcoming E.U. elections. If they succeed, establishment figures can assert that their success was due to Russian interference.

Flashback: In 2016, Russia utilized similar tactics in the U.S by spending minimal dollars to create a few memes. Democrats were handed a tool to portray Donald Trump’s victory as illegitimate.