A nexus of information, policy,
and resilience
in Eurasia and beyond

Kremlin FIMI networks rapidly absorbed Spain’s snap election into an existing multilingual influence ecosystem. Rather than developing a single election narrative, different actors routed the same political crisis through established themes, including housing, migration, Ukraine, sovereignty, and distrust of electoral institutions.

The events following initial news reports that a laboratory worker in Irkutsk had died of “pneumonic plague” on the night of October 1–2 once again expose a crisis in Russian authorities’ public communications. The Kremlin’s initial silence, followed by persistent denials and the dismissal of all reports as “fake,” has deepened distrust among Russian citizens and foreign governments alike. Although a death from plague has not been publicly confirmed, the suppression and deletion of news reports, together with subsequent personnel and public health measures, point to a much more serious situation than the official account suggests. Events earlier this year have only reinforced suspicions that the Kremlin is concealing a death from plague. In February and March 2026, the authorities forcibly culled livestock on a large scale in Siberia and the Volga region while denying a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak and claiming it was pasteurellosis instead. Even China later officially acknowledged that a new strain of foot-and-mouth disease had entered through its northwestern border, part of which it shares with Russia.

Tax and fee increases announced after the elections could raise up to ₽1.5 tn ($17.7 bn), while defense accounts for 35% of the draft 2027 budget. Public discontent is growing, even among pro-war supporters. Funding for propaganda is set at ₽146 bn ($1.72 bn), up from the previously planned ₽100 bn ($1.18 bn), while spending on social policy, education, health care, and the economy has been cut by 6–7.4%. Budget structure points to preparations for a potentially larger military confrontation as well as a commitment to sustained high military spending.