MAXIM ERISTAVI: Russia Isn’t Just Interfering in Elections Around the World. It’s Doing Something Far Worse.

In recent weeks, I’ve been collecting stories of Russian dissidents who say they fell victim to exchanges of confidential information between European officials and Russian authorities. The leak of one Cyprus prosecutor’s emails in November has exposed a growing trend: in its hunt to track critics, the Kremlin is recruiting allies within Western states’ law enforcement agencies.

The communication leak on the part of Cyprus’ deputy attorney general exposes a much wider exchange of confidential EU information, some of it classified, with Russian authorities.

Take the detention of Nikita Kulachenkov, a prominent young Russian dissident, by Cyprus authorities in 2016 which made worldwide headlines. But what we didn’t know back then is the disturbing chain of email exchanges between Cyprus and Russian officials that led to his persecution and was exposed in November.

From the end of the Cold War until just a few years ago, I’d entertained hopes that Russia could become fully a part of the great Western family of nations. But Western missteps and Russian paranoia (and other attitude problems) have made that all but impossible — at least until they’re forced to come screaming for help against the Chinese.