Disinformation: Washington is interfering in Vilnius

In the corridors of the Radisson Blu in Vilnius, white stickers had been hastily stuck over the posters for Disinfo2026, the annual conference organised by the NGO EU DisinfoLab, which brought together several hundred researchers, diplomats, journalists and entrepreneurs from 6 to 8 October. A few days before the event began, three institutional sponsors asked to be removed from the list of supporters, despite their financial contributions: the Lithuanian and Canadian foreign ministries, as well as the European External Action Service (EEAS).

The issue centred on the titles of two panel discussions which referred to the United States as a source of disinformation and interference – a reality widely acknowledged by experts. The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry considered that several elements of the programme contradicted its official position, whilst the EEAS, which claims to support free debate, criticised the organisers for a framing that was “not aligned with the positions of the European Union”. Ottawa cited changes to the way the debates were presented, whilst online archives show that the titles had not changed since they were announced in early summer.

What has changed is Washington’s focus. According to Le Monde, the State Department contacted several sponsors in the week of 28 September to express its disagreement, and subsequently thanked its Lithuanian counterparts for their withdrawal, according to a document seen by The Guardian. A US spokesperson said it was “not surprising” that countries had distanced themselves from an event that described the United States as a threat – a term he said was reserved for adversaries.

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which remained the sole institutional sponsor, insists it was not subjected to any pressure and points out that it has no say over the programme of a civil society conference. The episode is particularly embarrassing for European diplomacy, which launched a “European Democracy Shield” at the end of 2025, promising emergency aid and long-term funding to organisations working to combat interference. MEP Nathalie Loiseau, who chairs the special committee on this shield, points out that there is “no such thing as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ interference”, and that the EU’s diplomatic service should apply the same approach to all countries. Le Monde

🇷🇺 Russia - 🇺🇦 Ukraine • Russian strikes on two buses in Kramatorsk, in the Donbas, killed at least 33 people yesterday, the day after a barrage of missiles had already claimed dozens of lives across the country. An air strike left one person dead and two injured on Friday in Zaporizhzhia, whilst a Ukrainian strike killed two people in the Russian region of Belgorod, according to the Tass news agency. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Washington of ill will, criticising the US for seeking to re-establish economic ties with Moscow, and is calling for expanded access to Starlink to better target Russian launchers.

🇨🇳 China - 🇪🇺 European Union • Beijing and Brussels reached an agreement today on trade in hybrid vehicles, following two days of negotiations between European Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and Chinese Minister Wang Wentao, described as “pragmatic and productive” by the Chinese side. The EU, which considers a trade deficit of around one billion euros a day with China to be “unsustainable”, had been threatening to introduce protective measures. Meanwhile, the Commission announced its support for 46 additional projects in the rare-earths sector to reduce Europe’s dependence.

🇪🇸 Spain • The People’s Party (right) and Vox (far right) are projected to win a combined total of between 198 and 200 seats in the snap general election on 29 November, exceeding the majority threshold of 176 seats, according to two polls published on Friday by El País and El Confidencial. Pedro Sánchez called this election after MPs rejected his measures to tackle the housing crisis.

🇩🇪 Germany – 🇷🇺 Russia • Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder took part in the celebrations for Vladimir Putin’s 74th birthday, the Kremlin said yesterday, describing him as an “old friend” of the president. The former chancellor has drawn criticism from Berlin.

🇲🇪 Montenegro • The authorities have arrested an influential Russian military blogger, sending a clear message: “no one will jeopardise our European future”. This Balkan country, with a population of 620,000, hopes to conclude its negotiations on accession to the European Union by the end of the year and join the EU in 2028.

🇪🇺 European Union • EU gas stocks are at a “historically low” level, but European transmission networks should be able to meet winter demand, according to their operators. Provided, however, that liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies are maintained throughout the winter, to avoid destabilising the system.

🇪🇺 European Union • Eurozone finance ministers have launched the process to replace Isabel Schnabel on the ECB’s Executive Board, which she will leave on 3 January to join the IMF, with a call for applications open until 28 October. With the announced departures of Philip Lane and Christine Lagarde, this replacement is expected to form part of a broader political agreement between Germany, Spain, France and the Netherlands.

🇺🇸 United States • The Pentagon wants to broadcast live the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, the former military psychiatrist who killed 13 people in 2009 at Fort Hood in Texas, scheduled for 3 December. Announced by Defence Minister Pete Hegseth, this unprecedented plan has sparked outrage: the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights views it as a form of “torture”, and politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties have condemned the execution being turned into a spectacle. It would be the first military execution since 1961, and the first by firing squad since 1945.

🇺🇸 United States • Christa Pike, who survived her lethal injection execution in Tennessee last week, was able to get up and walk around her hospital room, according to her lawyer, who nevertheless described her as “somewhat confused”. Following this unprecedented fiasco, Governor Bill Lee has suspended executions in the state and ordered an independent inquiry.

🇧🇷 Brazil • Flavio Bolsonaro, who came top in the first round of the presidential election, is set to beat Lula in the second round on 25 October with 51.1 per cent of the vote against 45.7 per cent, according to an AtlasIntel/Bloomberg poll; Datafolha also has him winning with 49 per cent against 45 per cent. The senator has promised to grant a presidential pardon to his father, Jair Bolsonaro, as soon as he takes office; Jair is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence under house arrest for attempting a coup.

🇮🇳 India • More than 20,000 police officers and paramilitary personnel have been deployed in New Delhi, where metro stations have been closed and mobile internet cut off, on the eve of an opposition protest against an electoral reform that has led to the removal of more than 130 million voters from the electoral roll. The Congress Party and the “cockroaches” student movement – which claims that thousands of young people have been detained as a preventive measure – are calling for the resignation of the Election Commission chairman, Gyanesh Kumar.

🇵🇭 Philippines • The International Criminal Court has ruled that former President Rodrigo Duterte, 81, is fit to stand trial for crimes against humanity in connection with his war on drugs, despite the memory problems cited by his defence. Based on the opinion of a group of independent experts, the court is proceeding with a trial on 30 November, which will make him the first former Asian head of state to stand trial in The Hague.

🇯🇵 Japan • The Japan Meteorological Agency announced on Friday that the El Niño phenomenon had reached its most intense level on record in September, with Pacific surface waters 4 °C above normal – a record since records began in 1949.

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia - 🇾🇪 Yemen • Three Saudis, including a Saudia pilot, were killed yesterday in two attacks claimed by the Houthis on Riyadh airport, where at least one airliner was severely damaged, bringing the death toll from strikes on Saudi airports over the past few days to six. Debris from an intercepted missile also damaged a nursery school and a medical complex, prompting diplomats to seek shelter and companies to send their staff home. Riyadh has ruled out any ceasefire until Yemeni government forces have recaptured the lost territories, and Operation ‘Dawn of Yemen’, launched on Monday with the support of the Saudi air force, has already claimed more than 400 lives, including at least 83 yesterday alone. A major offensive is underway to retake the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, with limited gains, and the fighting has displaced more than 200,000 people.

🇺🇸 United States – 🇮🇷 Iran • Donald Trump assured on Thursday that the United States would not attack Iran before the mid-term elections on 3 November, citing “productive” discussions with Tehran, following press reports of strike options that had sent Brent crude prices soaring. The blockade of Iranian ports remains in place, and attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz peaked last week.

🇵🇸 Palestine • Almost all of Gaza’s approximately two million inhabitants still need shelter one year after the ceasefire was announced. Humanitarian stocks cover barely 17 per cent of winter needs; 8,600 emergency shelter kits have not been allowed to enter by Israel; and around 1.8 million displaced people are living in sites vulnerable to flooding.

🇪🇷 Eritrea – 🇪🇹 Ethiopia • Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of “blatant aggression” following the deployment of 5,000 to 8,000 Eritrean soldiers in Tigray, who were targeted by federal army drones in Adigrat, whilst Asmara retorts that its neighbour has been waging a “war of aggression” against it for more than three years. The risk of an all-out war between the two countries is growing.

🇿🇦 South Africa - 🇺🇸 United States • The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday to the South African lawyer Navi Pillay, 85, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former judge at the ICC and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, “for her efforts to promote peace and international law”. In particular, she chaired the UN commission of inquiry which concluded in 2025 that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, and the Israeli government strongly condemned this decision, with Benjamin Netanyahu describing her as a “sectarian” figure.