Abuse of administrative resources, bribery, exclusion of some voters from the electoral rolls, limited access to the media, and other forms of electoral violations undermine trust in the process and delegitimize its results. However, there is one type of violation that not only breaches the democratic order of power transfer but also poses a threat to the sovereignty and security of the state in general—foreign interference in elections. The attempts by Russia to influence elections and referenda as part of the Kremlin’s aggressive policy are officially recognised. In its recent Resolution, “Foreign interference: a threat to democratic security in Europe” (2593), released in 2025, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe directly stated the escalation of Russian interference. For Ukraine, whose political environment has long been filled with pro-Russian politicians and parties, the outlined problem is not new. Therefore, OPORA has initiated a legal research devoted to countering foreign financial influence on parties and electoral processes. In this text, we examined the experiences of countries that have recently introduced relevant legal changes.

This is not the first year the OPORA Civil Network has been advocating changes in political finance, as well as engaging in surveys and awareness raising effort in this domain.