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Russian online spooks have sent out millions of bogus social-media posts, sparking fears of Moscow interference in the European elections.

The flood of messages by ­President Vladimir Putin ’s spies began in 2014, a study has found.

The tweets are attempts by Russia to influence public thinking on the Ukraine conflict and to heavily influence Brexit .

Prof Martin Innes, of the Crime and Security Research Institute, which produced the study, said: “Our reports clearly evidence a sustained and wide-ranging interest in European politics from social media accounts covertly run on behalf of the Kremlin.

"It affords urgent insights about future threats to the… democratic process as we approach the ­European Elections.”

In 2016 alone, the Kremlin-controlled Internet Research Agency sent 1.5 million messages.