While the world’s attention has been focused on Russia’s military operation in Ukraine over the past two years, Moscow has continued its attempts to use other, nonmilitary tools to pursue its aggressive foreign policy objectives. Western democracies have been an important target of Russian malign influence. Particularly as both the European Union and the United States gear up for key elections later this year, there is mounting evidence of the Kremlin’s efforts to elevate pro-Russian talking points, politicians, and political parties. What lies behind these attempts to undermine Western democracy, and how concerned should we be about Russia’s chances of success? To discuss all of this and more, David Salvo and Brady Hills Join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend on this week’s episode of Brussels Sprouts.  

David Salvo is a senior fellow and managing director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund. An expert in Russian affairs, Salvo has been analyzing the Kremlin’s authoritarian toolkit to undermine democracy at home and abroad throughout his career. 

Brady Hills is a senior analysis and the Head of the Brussels Office of the International Republican Institute (IRI). As a member of IRI’s Beacon Project team, he focuses on countering hybrid threats to democracy, outreach to European policymakers, and discussing support for Ukraine, and EU and NATO enlargement.