The Kremlin’s arsenal of adversarial tools for power projection is a burgeoning source of hybrid threats which despite being below the threshold of actual warfare can have far-reaching pernicious implications for victim states. To date, Bulgaria remains among the EU Member States that are most vulnerable to Russian malign influence. Enhancing the resilience of public and civil society sectors to foreign subversive activities requires a comprehensive approach underpinned by heightened societal sensitivity toward hybrid threats and sustained effort to promote trust-based policy-making.

On 15 June 2022, the Center for the Study of Democracy held an interdisciplinary workshop which examined the complexity of hybrid threats by focusing on targeted assassinations using unconventional weapons and disinformation as instruments of foreign malign influence. This event brought together policy-makers, representatives of law enforcement and security sectors, and academic experts to facilitate discussion on the challenges that pro-Kremlin disinformation poses and the possible policy responses that can be implemented to counter its effects.