Operation "elections": Russian toolkit to derail the representative democracy

At the annual Unlock Fest 2026, organised by the Prague Civil Society Forum, a BROD partner Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) joined voices from Moldova, Armenia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the four targets of Russian influence operations across the 2024-2026 electoral cycles, to discuss Russia’s FIMI tactics and paths forward for building democratic resilience.

Drawing on key findings from its monitoring of Bulgaria's April parliamentary elections, conducted as part of BROD’s research component, CSD underscored the central role that local amplification networks play in mainstreaming pro-Russian narratives within the information space, a vulnerability that Kremlin-aligned actors and media continue to exploit. The electoral period was marked by the mobilisation of event-responsive content-flooding infrastructure and the cross-platform amplification of known pro-Russian media outlets, Telegram channels, and the Pravda network. The importance of sanctions enforcement was particularly stressed, as it remains the key measure for disrupting the channels through which pro-Kremlin outlets systematically republish and launder content originating from Russian state media.

As the panel moved across national cases, the experience of Moldova demonstrated how Russian operations increasingly rely on opaque, crypto-funded financing; Bosnia and Herzegovina pointed to the value of a whole-of-society response, particularly in a post-conflict setting where existing social divisions are the easiest to exploit; the case of Armenia highlighted the importance of civic resilience in actively countering attempts of interference.

Taken together, the discussion underscored that FIMI operations take root where conditions already favour them – democratic deficits, constrained media freedom, and entrenched polarisation that corrodes trust in institutions and local communities.