Russia’s influence reaches deep into Western Europe. France has a major far-right, Eurosceptic, and openly pro-Russian party that receives funding from the Kremlin. In London, Brexit provides an opportunity for Moscow to gain a toehold in British politics. Germany’s former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder serves as chairman of the Russian-German pipeline Nord Stream. But these examples hardly scratch the surface of Russia’s active involvement in Europe’s three great powers.
There is no single formula for how Russia projects power in Europe, but the goal of its Trojan Horse strategy is the same: to build a web of political leaders, parties, and civil society organizations that will legitimize Russia’s aims to destabilize European unity and undermine European values. In the West, the Russian government cannot rely on a large and highly concentrated Russian-speaking minority as its target of influence and lacks the same historical or cultural links. In this context, the Kremlin’s destabilization tactics have been subtler. These are the conclusions of a new Atlantic Council report, The Kremlin’s Trojan Horses.
