Authoritarian regimes including Russia and China have spent more than $300 million over the past decade to interfere in political processes of dozens of other countries around the world, according to a new report released Tuesday by the German Marshall Fund think tank.
In addition to cyberattacks and disinformation, these governments and their proxies have exploited legal loopholes to funnel money through straw donors, nonprofits, shell companies, and in-kind campaign contributions to buy influence in at least 33 countries, researchers found.