Overview

• President Emmanuel Macron labeled Russia the greatest structural threat to Europeans and said the continent is in a permanent confrontation with Moscow.
• He cited hybrid tactics including cyberattacks, assassinations of opponents, engineered migration pressure, testing of European air defenses, and changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine.
• Macron warned that open societies are vulnerable to disinformation and pointed to viral false reports about a bedbug outbreak in France that officials say were amplified by Russia-linked accounts.
• Germany’s domestic intelligence service identified the Storm‑1516 operation of roughly 100 fake news sites targeting the 2025 Bundestag election, according to reporting by Correctiv.
• Investigations have detailed broader interference efforts, including a U.S. finding that RT sent $10 million to a Tennessee firm before the 2024 election, Moldovan police records of 400-plus vote-buying cases, and Czech exposure of the Russia-funded Voice of Europe network tied to payments to politicians such as AfD MP Petr Bystron.