Russian disinformation network Storm-1516 is flooding the West with fake stories, and JD Vance repeated one of them — Meduza
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A Russian disinformation network known as Storm-1516 has been operating in the West since 2023, actively spreading fabricated stories and interfering in the political processes of foreign states. The group is believed to include former employees of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s troll factory and has been linked to the GRU. Storm-1516 has been accused of interfering in elections in the United States, Germany, and Hungary. One of the group’s most recent operations involved publishing a fake BBC report claiming that a stolen Paul Cezanne painting had been spotted in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office — which, like everything else Storm-1516 puts out, was a lie. Bloomberg has published a detailed account of the group, calling it Russia’s most powerful weapon in the disinformation war. Meduza summarizes the key findings from the investigation.

Archived version

Storm-1516 spreads fabricated stories accusing politicians in Europe and the United States of corruption, election fraud, sexual violence, and other crimes — using fake videos, counterfeit websites posing as news outlets, and anonymous bloggers with many thousands of followers.

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The videos Storm-1516 produces feature forged documents and false statements from purported witnesses and victims, all following a similar template and frequently presented in the format of a news report. The audio and video are processed using artificial intelligence.

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More than 40 percent of all fabricated stories Storm-1516 has produced target Ukraine, with another third focused on electoral processes in other countries. Many of the fakes concern Zelensky personally: that he had ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein; that Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska spent $1.1 million on jewelry and $4.5 million on a Bugatti sports car; that Zelensky holds a Russian passport and owns an apartment in Moscow; and that Zelensky bought his mother a $3.2 million apartment in the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai — which was then struck by an Iranian drone. Fact-checkers at news organizations have debunked all of these claims. Stories about Zelensky continue to appear every month, and sometimes every week.

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Some of the fakes spread by the Russian disinformation network have since been repeated by prominent politicians. In November 2023, a false report claimed that Zelensky’s associates had purchased two yachts worth $75 million using money stolen from Western military aid. Brokers involved in the yacht sales denied it. Then-Senator JD Vance, now the U.S. vice president, publicly repeated the claim when explaining his opposition to continued U.S. support for Ukraine. Former U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene also shared the story.

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