The New York Times, in a recent editorial, claimed that Russia was showing influence on residents of the European Union.
Russia’s powerful weapon is to spread false news, the newspaper wrote. According to Western journalists, Moscow targets Europe because the European Union has been losing support among the population as an association.
At the same time, the popularity of right-wing groups in Europe has been growing, and Russia tries to take advantage of the situation to spread ideas about the ineffectiveness of liberal democracy and the inability of European governments to cope with various crises, the publication said.
It was also noted that English-language Russian media showed influence on the outcome of the Brexit vote. In addition, the paper blames Russia for the survey that revealed negative attitude of Czech citizens to the United States and the EU.
The article in the US newspaper also mentions the discussion of Sweden’s entry into NATO. Swedish authorities said that social networks contain “distorted and false information” that confuses people about their attitude to the issue. It is acknowledged that the Swedes have failed to detect the source of “misinformation,” but “many analysts and intelligence experts in the US and Europe point to Russia, the newspaper wrote.