From troll farms to politicians: Russia’s ‘conquest’ of European minds
Russia is waging a silent war across Europe – not with tanks, but with propaganda, disinformation, AI, and political influence
image by Halfpoint. Licensed by Shutterstock [SD]
In the age of ubiquitous technology where people are bombarded with information through social media, Russia is mastering its leverage of this for its own strategic benefit. Many Europeans fear a ’kinetic’ war with Russia – an invasion with tanks, bombs and artillery. But the question is: what if it does not have to use its conventional military? What if the people of Europe themselves will give Russia what it wants with their own hands?
Tracking Russia’s expanding disinformation campaigns across Europe
Russia is continuing to create propaganda networks spread and misinformation and disinformation targeted at people across Europe. If placed within a timeline of recent activity, it is possible to map several Russian offensive actions in the information domain.
In April 2022, research funded by the UK government revealed that Russian internet trolls based in an old arms factory in St Petersburg are targeting world leaders online and spreading support for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
In February 2024, the French authorities uncovered a Russian disinformation network called ‘Portal Kombat’ that was spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda to influence public opinion in Western countries.
In March 2024, in Europe, a Russian-backed propaganda network was broken up for spreading anti-Ukraine stories and paying unnamed European politicians.
In September 2024, fake news websites were discovered that were registered in the UK and made to resemble trusted British outlets. They were found to be spreading disinformation about western companies operating in Ukraine.
In May 2025, disinformation watchdog, NewsGuard, found that the Russian disinformation network, Pravda, is manipulating Western AI chatbots to spew pro-Kremlin propaganda. NewsGuard reports that massive amounts of Russian propaganda are now incorporated in the outputs of Western AI systems, infecting their responses with false claims and propaganda.
Pro-Russian narratives gain ground through populist movements in Europe
Europe is seeing the rise of right-wing populism which often promotes pro-Russian narratives and talking points.
In the UK, the support for Ukraine is weak among Reform UK supporters. A survey shows that a third (33%) of Reform UK voters think Britain should cut its contributions to Ukraine’s war effort if President Donald Trump reduces US support. Only 13% said they would back increased UK help for Ukraine’s fight in such a case.
Viktor Orban’s government in Hungary is known for its pro-Russian position. Since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine, Hungary has never provided military aid to Ukraine. In February, Hungary refused to support the renewal of the sanctions against Russia, but then agreed to them after four oligarchs were removed from the list.
In a recent interview, despite claims about Ukrainians fighting heroically and that “Russians only understand the language of force”, Orban repeated pro-Russian narratives through emphasising the following positions:
- Being against Ukraine’s membership of the EU and NATO: an attempt to undermine Europe’s support of Ukraine and prevent Ukraine becoming a full participating member in European institutions
- Stating that “We do need to make deals with [Russians]”: appeasement contributes to the continuation of the aggression
- Stating that lifting sanctions should be the first step towards ceasefire and that sanctions hurt Hungarian economy: sanctions are an important tool to impede the funding of the Russian military machine
- Asserting that his government is not worried about a Russian attack on Europe because “they are too weak” and that the greatest threat to Budapest’s freedom was coming from Brussels not Moscow: an attempt to downplay the security threat that Russia poses to Europe and the use of anti-EU rhetoric to undermine the strengthening of Europe and European unity in countering Russian aggression.
Eastern and Central European leaders amplify Kremlin talking points
Robert Fico’s government in Slovakia is also known for its pro-Russian stance. Fico travelled to Moscow to attend the recent Victory Day parade. He got into a dispute with the Ukrainian government over its refusal to transfer Russian gas to Slovakia. He has also claimed that leaving NATO would be good for Slovakia, that Russia had “security reasons” for invading Ukraine and blamed “NATO entanglement”.
In Germany, the parties known for their pro-Russian views are Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance. They blame the United States and NATO for the Russian aggression against Ukraine, with the AfD refusing to condemn the Russian invasion in their election manifesto. They are against military aid to Ukraine and claim they support ‘peace negotiations’. Two AfD members are facing investigations over their connections to Russia.
One of the presidential candidates in Romania was George Simion. During the recent election campaign, he insisted he would not be providing military aid to Ukraine, demanded that Ukraine compensate all military and humanitarian aid provided, and made claims in support for the violations of Ukraine’s and Moldova’s territorial integrity.
Right-wing and left-wing populism, amplified by Russian hybrid warfare campaigns, can appeal many people with the promise of simplistic solutions to often complex problems. Support for these positions risks the dangerous consequences of playing into the Kremlin’s hands, or even more radically, over time turning European countries into Russia’s zones of influence.
Interference in European democracy: elections, destabilisation, division
The most obvious of Russian tactics is election interference. The result of the first round of the presidential election in Romania, which was ‘won’ by another pro-Russian candidate, Calin Georgescu, was annulled by the Romanian constitutional court because of Russian electoral interference. The second round in Romania, and the recent presidential elections in Poland, faced Russian interference too. Russia is using election interference to either destabilise the target country through societal polarisation or to use disinformation to influence people to vote for candidates the Kremlin would be satisfied to see elected.
The most obvious propaganda campaign by Russia in Europe has the aim of turning people against Ukraine. Despite many Europeans understanding that Russia is committing aggression against Ukraine, the aim of the propaganda is to brainwash people into giving up their support for the Ukrainian cause and to express their dissatisfaction with the aid that Europe provides to Ukraine.
Exploiting the rhetoric that the governments should focus on internal problems, that all the aid that it sends to Ukraine should be spent inside the country and that it is wrong to help Ukrainians while people in the country need their government’s help is a typical Russian tactic. It is also accompanied by the rhetoric that ‘Russia does want peace’ – ergo that Ukraine stops existing completely or becomes a Russian colony – and the ‘refusal to negotiate peace’ – ergo capitulate to Russia’s demands – means supporting the continuation of the war.
Destabilisation is another tactic of Russian propaganda. The goal is to create division, turn people against one another and build mistrust and hatred between people. An example is the role of Russian disinformation in last year’s far-right riots in the UK. In 2024, the FBI revealed active Russian psychological warfare campaigns in Europe to sow division.
Russia’s psychological warfare: turning public opinion against Ukraine
This is what constitutes Russia’s ‘conquest’ of Europe through people’s minds – using disinformation and manipulation, particularly through social media to attain what it wants. To cut off Europe’s support to Ukraine. To break the strength and unity in the European alliance. To prevent Europe from getting stronger militarily and economically, and making preparations to face Russian aggression or deter it. To install governments whose policies will be favourable to Russia.
The Russian threat is serious and people in Europe must realise it. To counter the threat, it is essential that people across Europe learn to recognise Russian disinformation and interference in the information space. Only in preventing the dangerous spread of manipulative and misleading beliefs can the most damaging consequences for Europe be avoided.
