As the FBI investigates Russia’s possible role in false bomb threats against polling places in five swing states, Moscow is already accused of orchestrating bomb threats against polling places during elections in Europe.
Germany yesterday accused Russia of trying to prevent Moldovans abroad from voting in last week’s presidential election through bomb threats and other forms of voter intimidation.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Russia had led a “massive and coordinated attempt” in Moldova to interfere in the elections against a pro-Western candidate.
Bomb threats targeted several polling stations in Germany, including Hamburg, Frankfurt, Kaiserslautern and Berlin, where expatriate Moldovans were expected to vote, German officials said.
Despite Russian interference efforts, which included a massive disinformation campaign, Moldova’s pro-Western president, Maia Sandu, won a second term.
“It’s not completely clear yet, but there seems to be a guide here,” said Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund.
Schafer co-wrote a analysis released this morning, warning that Moscow could try the same approach on US election day as it did in Moldova.
“The Kremlin is known for testing its disinformation strategies in its ‘backyard’ before implementing them globally,” the report said.
Russia has denied trying to interfere in the US and Moldovan elections.
The FBI said it was aware of false bomb threats targeting polling places and election offices in five battleground states and that the threats in four of those states came from Russian email domains.
The emails and threats were similar in language and structure, according to a senior FBI official and a senior law enforcement official.
If it turns out to have been committed by Moscow, the wave of bomb threats would represent a major escalation in Russia’s efforts to interfere in the United States elections, far beyond its previous spreading false claims about election fraud, experts said.