The EU\u27s Common Foreign Security Policy: The Case of Russia’s Spread of Disinformation and Election Fraud

Within the past ten years, Russian election interference has escalated, affecting multiple countries across Europe as well as in the United States. The European Union’s (EU) Common Foreign Security Policy (CFSP) was created with the intention to promote international peace and security, however in its current state it cannot address the spread of disinformation that is taking place today. Particularly in Eastern Europe, the amount of interference from Russian media that is taking place is a threat to security, both on a national and EU level. In this paper, we seek to determine to what extent Russian disinformation and election interference has affected European security, and to a larger extent, the world. To do this, we examine cases from Eastern, Central, and Western Europe. Based on the study of trends in disinformation campaigns promoted by Russia, the paper provides an analysis of the CFSP and its shortcomings, particularly regarding the increase of disinformation on a global level