Democrats' report details Russian meddling in European elections and threats to US campaigns

Russian President Vladimir Putin has systematically attacked democratic institutions across Europe and in his own country for two decades in efforts to undermine elections and other governments, Senate Democrats charged. Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued a 206-page report that said President Trump’s failure to recognize the danger or to challenge Putin means Russia is likely to interfere in the next US presidential race in a repeat of the 2016 campaign. “Never before in American history has so clear a threat to national security been so clearly ignored by a US president,” said the report, which was released by Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), the ranking Democrat on the committee. “President Trump must be clear-eyed about the Russian threat,” Sen Cardin said, and “take action to strengthen our government’s response and our institutions.” The report details Putin’s use of what it called his “asymmetric arsenal” to thwart fragile democratic processes in neighboring Ukraine and Georgia, both former Soviet Republics, as well as efforts to undermine elections in long established democracies in England, Germany and France. Putin has used disinformation, cyberattacks and financial support for fringe political parties and groups, the report says. He honed the strategy at home by repressing civil society, journalists and independent opposition groups while co-opting or manipulating religious and cultural institutions, media, organized crime and others, the report adds.