Title 22, Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-110

§10710 Reports on Russian and Chinese Malign Influence Operations and Campaigns in the Western Balkans

Title 22 › CHAPTER 114 — WESTERN BALKANS DEMOCRACY AND PROSPERITY › § 10710

Last updated Sep 23, 2026|Official source

Summary

Within 180 days after December 18, 2025, and every two years after that, the Secretary of State must send a report to certain Congressional committees, including the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The Secretary works with the Secretary of Defense, the Director of National Intelligence, and other agency leaders. The reports are about Russian and Chinese influence campaigns in Western Balkan countries that try to weaken democracy, cause political instability, or hurt U.S. and NATO interests. Each report must say what Russia and China are trying to do (including affecting elections and the information people see), explain what U.S. agencies are doing to fight this, identify networks, groups, or people helping those campaigns and their roles, list tactics used and likely future tactics, describe effects on U.S. alliances and which Balkan countries were targeted, assess NATO’s and each country’s ability to respond, describe U.S. efforts including the Countering Russian Influence Fund and the Countering People’s Republic of China Malign Influence Fund, and suggest actions to improve U.S. response. Reports must be unclassified but can have a classified annex.

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §10710

Foreign Relations and Intercourse, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Reports required

Not later than 180 days after December 18, 2025, and every two years thereafter, the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, the Director of National Intelligence, and the heads of other Federal departments or agencies, as appropriate, shall submit a report to the appropriate committees of Congress, the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate, the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives regarding Russian and Chinese malign influence operations and campaigns carried out with respect to Balkan countries that seek—

(1)to undermine democratic institutions;

(2)to promote political instability; and

(3)to harm the interests of the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization member and partner states in the Western Balkans.

(b)Elements

Each report submitted pursuant to subsection (a) shall include—

(1)an assessment of the objectives of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China regarding malign influence operations and campaigns carried out with respect to Western Balkans countries—

(A)to undermine democratic institutions, including the planning and execution of democratic elections;

(B)to promote political instability; and

(C)to manipulate the information environment;

(2)the activities and roles of the Department of State and other relevant Federal agencies in countering Russian and Chinese malign influence operations and campaigns;

(3)an assessment of—

(A)each network, entity and individual, to the extent such information is available, of Russia, China, or any other country with which Russia or China may cooperate, that is supporting such Russian or Chinese malign influence operations or campaigns, including the provision of financial or operational support to activities in a Western Balkans country that may limit freedom of speech or create barriers of access to democratic processes, including exercising the right to vote in a free and fair election; and

(B)the role of each such entity in providing such support;

(4)the identification of the tactics, techniques, and procedures used in Russian or Chinese malign influence operations and campaigns in Western Balkans countries;

(5)an assessment of the effect of previous Russian or Chinese malign influence operations and campaigns that targeted alliances and partnerships of the United States Armed Forces in the Western Balkans, including the effectiveness of such operations and campaigns in achieving the objectives of Russia and China, respectively;

(6)the identification of each Western Balkans country with respect to which Russia or China has conducted or attempted to conduct a malign influence operation or campaign;

(7)an assessment of the capacity and efforts of NATO and of each individual Western Balkans country to counter Russian or Chinese malign influence operations and campaigns carried out with respect to Western Balkans countries;

(8)the efforts by the United States to combat such malign influence operations in the Western Balkans, including through the Countering Russian Influence Fund and the Countering People’s Republic of China Malign Influence Fund;

(9)an assessment of the tactics, techniques, and procedures that the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense, determines are likely to be used in future Russian or Chinese malign influence operations and campaigns carried out with respect to Western Balkans countries; and

(10)activities that the Department of State and other relevant Federal agencies could use to increase the United States Government’s capacity to counter Russian and Chinese malign influence operations and campaigns in Western Balkans countries.

(c)Form

Each report required under subsection (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 10710

Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Sep 23, 2026

Release point: 119-110