Networks, usually of accounts on social media or sites, that appear to be acting in coordination to artificially influence discourse. CIB can be detected by, among other things, the presence of strong similarities between accounts (such as similar profile pictures, creation dates, and usernames) or similar patterns in the timing and/or content of posts.

A network of sites and social media accounts that spread claims made by the influence campaign Storm-1516 (see below). The sites within CopyCop often mimic news outlets, either using the logo of a real outlet or creating an outlet that presents as authentic. The network has been attributed to John Mark Dougan (see below).

A Kremlin-backed disinformation campaign that targets Western countries and Ukraine by cloning legitimate news outlets to spread pro-Kremlin narratives in inauthentic articles. The campaign was orchestrated by the Russian state funded Social Design Agency and its partner firm Structura. (See below).

A self-styled Russian human-rights organization that frequently advances false claims about Ukraine and international politics. The organization was founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin (see below) and is connected to Storm-1516 (see below.) The Foundation is linked to Russian intelligence, according to a 2024 Scripps News report.

A prolific influence campaign named after the Russian word for a nesting doll, which creates approximately seven phony news reports a day that hijack real logos and invent quotes from real celebrities and subject experts, to create false claims often targeting Ukraine, France, and Germany and their leaders.

A synonym for Matryoshka (see above).

A synonym for Pravda Network (see below).

A large-scale Russian influence operation that has targeted the U.S., EU, and Ukraine since at least 2014. The operation was funded and directed by the late Russian oligarch Evgeny Prigozhin (see below) and two companies he controlled, Concord Management and Consulting LLC, and Concord Catering.

A pro-Kremlin site and Telegram channel that is recognized by U.S. security agencies as an influence campaign in its own right. Rybar.ru has been found to try to inflame sensitive political issues, such as immigration and Western aid sent to Ukraine, using inauthentic X accounts disguised as grassroots accounts, particularly in the U.S. Rybar initially received some funding from Yevgeny Prigozhin (see below), and has since relied on funding from Russian state-owned defense corporation Rostec, according to the U.K. government.

An influence operation that frequently mimics real news outlets, journalists, and organizations to spread false claims. Its campaigns typically start with a fake news article that is spread through a network of X accounts, often gaining tens of millions of views. The most common targets for Storm-1516 claims are Ukraine, Armenia, and France. Storm-1516 narratives have been advanced on websites administered by John Mark Dougan (see below), a former U.S. Marine and Florida deputy sheriff who fled to Russia as a fugitive. The EU has sanctioned various entities and individuals that have been found to support Storm-1516, including The Foundation to Battle Injustice (see above) and Dougan.

A confidential directive issued by the Russian government to the Russian media, instructing them on how to cover events and which narratives to advance. Every day, the Kremlin provides a list of talking points in a closely guarded document, known as the “temnik,” which dictates which issues or people to cover positively or negatively, according to credible news sources. Meduza, a Russian news site, reported in August 2022 that it obtained a Kremlin temnik instructing outlets to frame the invasion of Ukraine as a fight against “godless people” who “do not believe in anything.”

A managed collection of internet users who spread content in a coordinated manner from inauthentic accounts, with the aim of interfering in political discourse. For example, troll farms often write large volumes of comments below social media posts related to recent news events, in an effort to sway public opinion in a way that benefits Russia.

The practice of creating inauthentic articles on fake sites that mimic real sites by using similar URLs. For example, bad actors created an inauthentic article and placed it on bogus site Spiegel.eu, so that it appeared to be published on Der Spiegel’s website, which is in fact Spiegel.de.

A former U.S. Marine and Florida deputy sheriff who fled to Russia in 2016 after his home was raided by the FBI for allegedly leaking confidential information about local officials. Dougan runs a network of approximately 300 websites with Russian ties that have published dozens of false claims about Ukraine, and he has been sanctioned by the EU for spreading disinformation. NewsGuard named Dougan “Disinformer of the Year” in 2024 for his role in advancing false narratives that generated tens of millions of views.

A Russian political theorist with the Moscow-based institute the Center for Geopolitical Expertise (see below), which is under Western sanctions for its involvement in disinformation and cyberwarfare against the West. Dugin himself has been under U.S. sanctions since 2015 for allegedly recruiting people to fight on behalf of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, a Russian-backed breakaway region of Ukraine. A March 2015 Treasury Department press release said that Dugin was “responsible for or complicit in actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, stability, or sovereignty or territorial integrity of Ukraine.”  Ukraine and Japan also announced sanctions against Dugin after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine for helping incite the war.

The founder of the Moscow-based Social Design Agency (see below) who was sanctioned by the U.S., EU, and U.K. for his role in disinformation and influence operations.

The Russian First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office, a former Prime Minister, and a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to reports from the U.S. Department of Justice and other government agencies, Kiriyenko has been tasked with overseeing foreign influence operations in countries including the U.S., Ukraine, and Armenia.

A deceased Russian oligarch, best known as the leader of the Russian mercenary Wagner Group and head of the defunct Internet Research Agency (see below), a notorious St. Petersburg-based troll farm. Prigozhin died in a plane crash near Moscow in August 2023, two months after leading a public rebellion against the Russian armed forces and Minister of Defense.

A software engineer born and raised in Crimea. Shevchenko has been sanctioned by the EU for being the owner of Tiger Web (see below), the Crimea-based company that created and operates the 280 sites that make up the Pravda Network (see below). Shevchenko was NewsGuard’s Disinformer of the Year in 2025 for his role in operating the network, whose mass publication of pro-Kremlin content has, in some cases, infected AI models. The same year, NewsGuard found that leading AI chatbots repeated top Russian false claims promoted by the Pravda Network 33 percent of the time.

The long-time editor-in-chief of Russian state news outlet RT (see below). Simonyan frequently appears on Russian TV talk shows and has more than half a million followers on both X and Telegram.

The head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice (see above). In 2020, Mira Terada served two and a half years in prison in Virginia after pleading guilty to money laundering, according to a June 2020 U.S. Department of Justice press release. (Terada was sentenced under the name Oksana Vovk, a name she stopped using in 2017, according to TASS.) The Justice Department said that between June 2014 and November 2016, Vovk’s then-spouse, Naleth Vongsengchanh, trafficked cocaine from Texas to Virginia by car. The Justice Department also said, “Vongsengchanh and his spouse, Oksana Vovk, utilized numerous bank accounts to launder the drug proceeds stemming from the cocaine trafficking.” In a July 2021 statement on FondFBR.ru, Terada said that she was “wrongfully convicted,” and that her experience in the U.S. prison system inspired her to become “an international human rights defender” and to head the Foundation to Battle Injustice.

A Moscow-based think-tank owned by Aleksandr Dugin (see above) sanctioned by the U.S., U.K., and EU in December 2024 for attempting to interfere in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The U.S. Treasury Department said that the CGE “directs and subsidizes the creation and publication of deepfakes” and that its personnel “work directly with a GRU [Russia’s military intelligence service] unit that oversees sabotage, political interference operations, and cyberwarfare targeting the West.”

The Federal Security Service, Russia’s primary intelligence and counter-intelligence body. The FSB “directly operates disinformation outlets,” according to the U.S. Treasury.

The common term for Russia’s Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, responsible for military espionage. The GRU conducts “cyberattacks, election interference, assassinations, and disinformation,” according to a report by U.S. Congress.

An infamous troll farm (see above) that has been involved in large-scale disinformation operations in the U.S., Europe, and Ukraine. The agency, which was owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin (see above), has been sanctioned by Western governments, including the U.K. and U.S. Operations ceased in July 2023, according to Reuters.

A network of 280 pro-Kremlin sites that publish false claims about Ukraine and international politics in 49 languages. NewsGuard found that the network published approximately 6.3 million articles advancing 115 false claims in 2025, flooding the information environment and making it more likely AI models would respond to prompts on topics important to the Russian government by producing Kremlin propaganda. The network is operated by EU-sanctioned Crimea-based web-company Tiger Web (see below), which is owned by Yevgeny Shevchenko (see above).

Websites that present themselves as independent but have ties to state actors and regularly advance Kremlin propaganda, such as News-front.info, Southfront.press, and Orientalreview.org.

A Russian-language news agency owned by the Russian government, established in 1941. The site’s editor is Anna Gavrilova. The site’s parent company, Rossiya Segodnya, is headed by Dmitry Kiselyov, one of the Kremlin’s key propagandists and a well-known face on Russian political talk shows. NewsGuard has found the site often publishes false claims about Ukraine and the Russia-Ukraine war. The outlet was sanctioned by the EU in May 2024.

Formerly known as Russia Today. A Russian state-controlled international media organization. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, RT’s network was banned in Canada, the U.K., and throughout the European Union. RT America ceased production and laid off most of its staff after American TV distributors dropped the network. In February and March 2022, YouTube and X banned RT on their platforms in Europe, and in September 2024, Meta Platforms Inc., owner of Facebook, banned RT content on its platforms. The U.S. government also targeted RT with sanctions, saying in a Sept. 2024, statement that RT has “moved beyond being simply a media outlet and has been an entity with cyber capabilities.”

A Russian state-funded IT company that has been sanctioned by Western governments for its role in disinformation and influence campaigns targeting Ukraine and the West. The company claims to provide “media support,” including analysis of “the Western information field, and the identification of potential threats.”

A Russian state-owned international news organisation that NewsGuard has found to publish false and egregiously misleading information about Ukraine and the West. After Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Sputnik was banned in Canada, the U.K. and EU. In early 2022, YouTube and Twitter blocked Sputnik on their platforms in Europe, and in September 2024, Meta Platforms Inc., owner of Facebook, banned Sputnik content on its platforms.

A Russia-based partner IT firm of the Social Design Agency (see above.) Structura was involved in the Doppelganger influence operation (see above).

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service. SVR plays a “critical” role in propagating disinformation, according to the U.S. Treasury.

A news agency that is owned and funded by the Russian government. TASS was established in 1904 and publishes articles in both Russian and English. NewsGuard has found the site uncritically advances the government’s key narratives, especially about the Russia-Ukraine war. In recent years, senior figures at TASS have been subject to sanctions from the EU, U.K., and Canada.

A Dubai-based messaging platform owned by Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov. Telegram is popular in Russia and other post-Soviet countries. NewsGuard has found that a significant amount of pro-Kremlin disinformation originates on Telegram channels.

An EU-sanctioned Crimea-based web-company that operates the Pravda Network (see above), also known as Portal Kombat.

A Russian state-owned news site with a focus on Ukraine, publishing in Russian.