he EU is intensifying its efforts to counter Russia’s disinformation and propaganda campaign, in order to prevent a repeat in Europe of what Russia successfully accomplished in the U.S. in 2016: Helping elect Donald Trump’s the Kremlin’s favored candidate. European officials have been expressing growing fears that Vladimir Putin will seek to influence elections across Europe the he did in the United States. With national elections next year in Germany, France, and the Netherlands in the coming months, extra resources have been made available to the EU’s East Stratcom taskforce, which is seeking to counter Russian attempts to influence votes through misinformation and propaganda. The funding is available over the next six months and comes from a shuffling of the current total budget of the EU’s external action service (EEAS). Senior MEPs say that Russia’s success in helping elect Trump will only encourage similar political interference campaigns on the continent.