Politico: Bulgaria seeks EU support to counter Russian interference in April elections

Bulgaria has asked the European Union for help in combating Russian interference ahead of this month's parliamentary elections. This was reported by the newspaper Politico , referring to the relevant letter.

Last week, Bulgarian officials asked the European External Action Service (EEAS) to help identify – and ultimately stop – campaigns by foreign actors to manipulate public opinion through social media and propaganda sites, using a European approach developed in response to Russian and Chinese threats.

The appeal asked for assistance from the EU's diplomatic service, which coordinates the work of European security services to identify and analyze campaigns by foreign actors to manipulate public opinion – a mechanism most often used to protect neighboring countries, such as Moldova, from interference.

According to the correspondence, Sofia also asked the EU to activate a process called the Rapid Response System under the Digital Services Act (DSA) to negotiate with major platforms like Meta, Google, TikTok and others to identify and stop disinformation campaigns. The Commission confirmed last week that it has started this process.

Bulgaria has asked the EU for support "due to the increased risk of coordinated disinformation campaigns and foreign interference that could undermine the integrity of the electoral process," the letter says.

The unnamed official told reporters that Bulgaria "has always been silent on these issues and denied any interference. Now the Foreign Ministry is much more attentive to this issue and has made it a priority."

Bulgaria's request is part of the government's attempts to combat foreign interference. The country's Foreign Ministry last week set up a temporary unit to coordinate the response to foreign interference and brought in investigative journalist Hristo Grozev, known for his work with the Bellingcat group, to advise the unit. This is a rare move for an EU country.

The government is preparing to intervene ahead of the April 19 parliamentary elections. This is the country's eighth election in five years, in which Bulgaria's center-left former president Rumen Radev , who is leading in the polls, is facing off against veteran center-right party veteran Boyko Borisov.

A recent report by the Bulgarian Center for the Study of Democracy states that Bulgaria "has one of the most favorable information environments in the EU for manipulation by undemocratic forces and one of the least prepared institutional mechanisms to respond."

The European External Action Service uses its toolkit to information from national and European authorities monitoring disinformation and interference, and to coordinate responses.

The EU's diplomatic service said it is ready to support EU member states in the fight against disinformation, "in particular through a rapid alert system for real-time information exchange."

Why it matters. Russia is systematically trying to influence elections in Europe using a combination of information campaigns, cyberattacks, and political influence. In particular, fake news and manipulations are being spread to influence public opinion. The goal of such actions is to weaken EU unity, support forces more loyal to Russia, and create distrust in democratic processes.

Previously LIGA.net described in detail how Russia tried to influence the elections in Moldova and Romania .