Russian Attempts to Interfere in the German Election

Research by CORRECTIV, Newsguard and Gnida Project documented how the Russian influence operation Storm-1516 started targeting Germany after the collapse of the traffic light coalition at the end of 2024. 

Within a short period of time, more than a hundred fabricated news sites with German names were registered. Staged or AI-manipulated videos spread on these fabricated news sites, as well as via influencers – an approach typical of this operation. 

The campaign is closely linked to the Russian organization “Foundation to Battle Injustice” (R-FBI) founded in 2021 by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. Before his death in August 2023, Prigozhin was involved in organizing and financing influence operations in Russia and abroad. He founded a troll farm named the “Internet Research Agency“, and it has been reported that some of the people involved in R-FBI previously worked for the Internet Research Agency. R-FBI reportedly portrays itself as a human rights NGO, but is in practice working to generate “legitimacy to Russian propaganda and recruits willing allies”, according to researchers from Clemson University. 

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