Russia Aims to Disrupt Other Western Elections, U.S. Officials Say

wsj.com:

WASHINGTON—A Russian-backed hacking effort that has rocked the presidential campaign may peak on Election Day, but is likely to continue next year and into 2018 as Moscow seeks to influence U.S. politics and key elections in Europe, Obama administration officials warn.

Russian meddling, in fact, may become more potent in Europe than in the U.S., White House officials and other experts say, because Moscow has long courted political figures there, and has forged ties with euroskeptic political parties strengthened by the recent influx of migrants and refugees.

Upcoming contests in Europe include Dutch elections in March, French presidential elections in April and May, and German elections in the fall. Moscow is hoping that gains by Kremlin-friendly parties like France’s National Front could help Russia break free of some of the diplomatic isolation and sanctions imposed on Moscow after its seizure of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014, Kremlin watchers say.

“The German elections, the French elections and other elections in the coming year all have big geopolitical implications for Russia,” saidPasi Eronen, Russia project researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank.

Although large-scale interference from the Kremlin is relatively new to the U.S., Mr. Eronen said Russia has been active in Europe for the past two years with hacking and disinformation campaigns designed to weaken those the Kremlin considers to be political rivals.

Officials say that even if Russia fails to elect its own allies in European elections next year, the sustained meddling in the U.S. and Europe will serve a long-term Kremlin goal—namely, to put Russian President Vladimir Putin’s perceived foes in the West in disarray, making it easier for him to safely reseat himself as Russian president when his country holds elections in 2018.

U.S. and European observers have criticized previous elections under Mr. Putin as rigged and marred by obvious fraud—criticism that Mr. Putin has described as a veiled attempt to overthrow him.

Mr. Putin hopes to inoculate himself against such criticism by sowing so much chaos in U.S. and European elections before then that Western leaders will be too preoccupied with domestic problems to spend much effort criticizing the Russian poll, one senior White House official said.