Russia has reportedly sent at least $300 million in total to political parties and candidates in more than 20 countries since 2014 to exert influence.
Russia has sent at least $300 million to political parties and candidates in more than 20 countries to exert influence since 2014, according to a U.S. intelligence document released Tuesday. The United States “believes that these are minimum estimates and that Russia likely secretly transferred more funds that were not detected,” a senior US official said.
According to 20 Minutes, the American secret service did not name the countries concerned. However, according to a source in the Biden administration familiar with the matter, Russia spent around $500,000 to support a Democratic Party of Albania candidate in a 2017 election.
According to an anonymous source, Moscow is also said to have financed parties or candidates in Montenegro, Bosnia or Madagascar. She said Moscow used Brussels as a center from which many foundations and structures supported far-right candidates. The Russian embassy in Ecuador also received “large sums of money” between 2014 and 2017, apparently with the aim of influencing the outcome of elections, the source added.