In the days surrounding Saxony-Anhalt's state election — one that positioned the far-right AfD as a potential governing partner for the first time since World War II — a shadow campaign unfolded across social media, manufacturing the appearance of electoral corruption where none existed. Staged videos, spoofed news logos, and impersonated journalists worked in concert to seed distrust in Germany's democratic institutions, with investigators tracing the operation to Russian military intelligence. It is a pattern as old as propaganda itself: when you cannot stop an election, you can still poison