Russia has launched a covert online influence campaign in the US aimed at discrediting candidates and politicians who support Ukraine. The operation is developing before the midterm elections and includes disinformation targeting both Democrats and Republicans.
According to Politico, the data is included in a secret report on foreign interference in the US elections. Earlier this week, US intelligence agencies handed the document to the offices of Senator Mark Warner and Congressman Jim Himes.
Warner is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Himes is the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
Himees said, describing the Russian information operations. He said their goal is to create “a sense of chaos and anarchy”. The campaigns cover a wide range of topics – from undermining trust in American government institutions to spreading doubts about the reliability of voting machines.
According to Warner, the report describes the use of artificial intelligence tools by which Moscow has accelerated the spread of disinformation and increased its influence on the American public. The lawmakers did not name specific candidates targeted by the operations, but said Russia likely sought to discredit any politician supporting Ukraine, regardless of party affiliation.
No evidence of a breach in election infrastructure
US intelligence has found no evidence of Russian attempts to penetrate US election infrastructure or campaign computer networks. The operation thus established differs from the actions of which Moscow was accused in 2016.
At that time, Russian intelligence officers were linked to cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee and the emails of Hillary Clinton campaign staff. That same year, Moscow also conducted large-scale influence operations targeting her.
Russia has again been accused of spreading disinformation to influence the US elections in 2018 and 2024. “In every election cycle, starting in 2016, Russia has spread disinformation that was targeted at Democrats“, says Warner. Similar accusations have also been made for elections in Georgia, Moldova and France.
Deepfake videos against a Senate candidate
Details of at least one of the operations have become public. Graphika, a company that analyzes information operations, has found that the Russian-linked Storm-1516 group created and posted deepfake videos on the social network X against Texas Senate candidate James Talarico.
The group has been operating since 2023. In the videos, Talarico is accused of sexual assault. The published data describes the content as part of an influence operation, but does not present the allegations against the candidate as proven facts.
Last week, X announced that it had removed more than 13,000 accounts associated with disinformation campaigns by Russia, Iran and China. According to the platform, these accounts were used to influence electoral processes and to discredit candidates and public figures across the political spectrum.
Representatives of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to a request for additional information about the classified report. Warner and Himes report that the document also describes attempts at influence from China and Iran, but the main focus is on Russia because of the scale of its operations.
Sources: ukrinform.ua