Russian disinformation network Storm-1516 targets West

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.