The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) is warning of Russian disinformation campaigns in the run-up to the Berlin House of Representatives election in September. “Russia is trying to influence the free formation of opinion and political will,” an official said on Monday during a hearing in the Interior Committee. Information manipulation targets key events such as election dates. As such events approach, these campaigns also intensify. Artificial intelligence could also further exacerbate the issue.

The BfV defines disinformation as “the dissemination of false or misleading information in order to influence individuals, groups or public opinion as a whole.” The campaigns are intended to “change emotions, perceptions and attitudes.”

“The goal is for large numbers of real people in Germany to hold a particular opinion.” - Julia Smirnova, CeMAS

“The goal is for large numbers of real people in Germany to hold a particular opinion,” says Julia Smirnova, who researches the topic at the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (CeMAS). It is “part of the Kremlin‘s hybrid warfare, aimed at destabilisation and subversion.” The disseminatio of official Russian narratives and messages is secondary.

Constitutional Protection Agency: Disinformation aims to divide societies

What this means in practice became clear in Berlin in November 2025. An alleged Islamist-motivated bomb threat against several Berlin schools caused unrest throughout the city. “Disinformation can trigger panic,” Karoline Schwarz told the committee. This had happened, for example, during the Munich shooting in 2016 and after the attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market in December 2024. In both cases, the first false reports about additional perpetrators and attack locations appeared within seconds. Schwarz is also an author who writes about disinformation.

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According to the BfV official, the aim is to undermine trust in political parties and their leading candidates, delegitimise democratic decision-making processes, and deepen divisions within society. Moscow also supports “parties that benefit Russia.” Martin Matz, the SPD parliamentary group‘s spokesperson for internal affairs, described the AfD in this context as “unpatriotic.”

Media literacy: Berlin trains teachers to recognise fake news

“This issue will keep us very busy in the run-up to the elections,” said Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD). In Berlin, however, there is a wide range of media literacy and advisory services. The Berlin State Agency for Civic Education trains teachers and others to recognise fake news. However, the programme is open to everyone, an official from the education administration said during the committee meeting. According to the official, more competence is needed in this area.

Karoline Schwarz expects fake accounts to appear around the September election, including accounts posing as election workers. “They then report, for example, that they had been told to destroy ballot papers.” Authorities, institutions and society as a whole need to become more resilient to this. “We also need programmes that go beyond German and English.” In addition, not only children and young people but increasingly other population groups also need to be addressed. Several tens of thousands of Russian Germans live in Berlin.

This article was originally written and published on the 30th of juin in German. It was translated in English  with the use of Artificial Intelligence.