New findings about Russia’s “Doppelgänger” disinformation campaign, a clandestine operation planned by the Russian government to discredit Ukraine and its Western allies, have been revealed by an investigation conducted by the German nonprofit organization Correctiv.
This Kremlin campaign used phony social media accounts and fake news websites to disseminate disinformation to American and European audiences, particularly targeting election-related topics in the US and the EU.
Correctiv found links between Doppelgänger campaign and Russian defense ministry
Correctiv revealed links between the “Doppelgänger” disinformation campaign and Voentelecom, a telecom provider affiliated with Russia’s military, by tracing an IP address used in the operation to a worker in the Russian defense ministry’s Main Communications Directorate.
The U.S. Justice Department took down a number of websites from Russian disinformation campaigns in September 2024, and seized 32 domains, which disseminated Kremlin propaganda, including material intended to sway the U.S. presidential election. Russia’s Doppelgänger campaign used a German company to register new domains, according to Correctiv.
Russia’s Doppelgänger campaign aimed to weaken support for Ukraine
Managed by Sergei Kiriyenko and other members of Vladimir Putin’s administration, the Doppelgänger campaign employed sophisticated strategies like cybersquatting, AI-generated content, and phony social media identities. It aimed to increase pro-Russian narratives, weaken support for Ukraine, and widen social divisions in Western democracies, as investigations found.
Although Correctiv did not name specific people, The Insider named Vadim Lukyanchenko, a staffer from Russia’s defense ministry, as a key player in a previous probe. The Kremlin’s direct involvement in the campaign is highlighted by Lukyanchenko’s documents, which link him to the defense ministry’s Main Communications Directorate.
The Insider wrote that Lukyanchenko is employed by the Russian defense ministry and that his name can be found in phone books and staff directories for the ministry. Additionally, his personal information is connected to the Main Communications Directorate at Bolshoy Znamenka Lane, Building 21 in Moscow, according to hacked databases.
The role of Russia’s military intelligence’s psychological operations unit
The Doppelgänger campaign disseminated false reports and impersonated reputable media sources to deceive readers and viewers. These publications frequently use fake comments from celebrities to portray them as critical of Western aid to Ukraine. Additionally, the campaign promoted divisive and antisemitic content that targeted audiences in the EU, and the US.
The operation’s reliance on top-notch technological resources further demonstrated its complexity and its need for state-level investments.
Doppelgänger’s affiliations with banned organizations like Rostec and GRU Unit 54777, a psychological operations unit in Russia’s military intelligence, demonstrate how it fits into Kremlin’s broader hybrid warfare, researchers pointed out.
Russia has shown a startling capacity to sway public opinion in the West, undermine trust in democratic institutions, and destabilize Western democratic societies via disinformation campaigns on social media, cloned websites, and friendly local online outlets.
Read more: Russia’s military unit 54777, disinformation and psychological operations abroad
How Babakov Leaks shed light on Russia’s hybrid warfare abroad
In 2023, Ukrainian hacktivists published hacked emails from a prominent Russian politician, Alexander Babakov, which purportedly revealed his involvement in sanction evasion schemes and disinformation campaigns abroad. As shown by Babakov’s letters, Putin’s ally’s primary responsibility is the implementation of Russian hybrid influence overseas at the parliamentary level.
According to the emails’ content, the Russians, particularly Babakov, did it simply: they launched their puppet propaganda media in the targeted countries, dispatched a slew of “experts” and lobbyists, and assaulted social media with bots that somehow relayed Russian narratives. Russian officials, including Alexander Babakov, who handled the Kremlin’s links with the influence network, were involved.
Babakov was instrumental in boosting Russian influence in the world, according to these investigations. The Kremlin leadership has learned to manipulate the opinions of millions of people in the West during decades of disinformation and propaganda campaigns using Russian state media and Kremlin-friendly local news websites.
Read more: How Russian disinformation works in Europe: Babakov’s hacked emails
Russia’s Doppelganger campaign tactics
The goal of the Kremlin’s “Doppelganger” campaign was to disseminate pro-Russian narratives and erode Western support for Ukraine by fabricating official news channels and spreading anti-Ukraine disinformation.
These are main conclusions from court files provided by the FBI in the United States’ eastern district of Pennsylvania, where the case pertaining to this extensive Russian disinformation effort is being investigated.
The investigation claims that Russia established a network of at least 60 phony news websites that imitated numerous well-known Western media sources, including Reuters, Fox News, Bild, Der Spiegel, and The Washington Post.
The research’s main conclusion is that the Kremlin-led effort sought to disseminate narratives that were favorable to Moscow. The study revealed that Russian government officials and tech corporations carried out an operation targeting the US, and many European countries.
Read also: How Russia pushed far-right and anti-Ukraine agenda during European Elections
Sergei Kiriyenko, mentioned here above, the First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russian presidential administration, was among the high-ranking Russian officials who masterminded the Doppelganger campaign, according to the FBI report.
Entities under his control carried out the operation, which has been ongoing since at least May 2022 (a few months after Russia started a full-scale war against Ukraine): ANO Dialogue; Structure National Technology (Structura); Agency of Social Design.
Earlier, leaked documents exposed the true nature of Agency of Social Design (ASD), which is led by Russian political strategist Ilya Gambashidze, sanctioned by the West. Investigations disclosed ASD as a tool of Russian disinformation machine in the Doppelganger campaign.
The analysis identified key areas in ASD’s operations: monitoring, analysis, and creative content generation for Western audiences. Its teams meticulously track over 1,000 influential voices in pro- and anti-Russian circles, analyzing articles and social media posts in six languages to identify opportunities for disinformation operations.
ASD also sought to influence the 2024 European Parliamentary elections, supporting right-wing parties expected to promote pro-Russian narratives. The leaked files from ASD provide an unprecedented look into the scale and sophistication of Russia’s disinformation machine.
Read also: Agency of Social Design disclosed as a tool of Russian disinformation machine
The phony websites carried articles with real journalists’ bylines and images under their names. Then, they used social media bots to spread links to the fake posts. The Russian agents observed responses in real time and targeted specific demographics.
Doppelganger campaign goals
The Doppelganger campaign went much beyond mere news manipulation, as evidenced by the court filings. Multiple goals and objectives were part of the operation, according to court documents:
- Influence the outcome of US elections;
- Force Western nations to reduce support for Ukraine;
- Demonize the current Ukrainian government;
- Incite hostilities between nations;
- Sway public opinion and impact elections overseas;
- Utilize politicians sympathetic to the Kremlin to advocate for policies.
The Doppelganger campaign used customized approaches for various areas, populations, and audiences with tailored narratives.
Pro-Russia narratives, aimed at stoking division and undermining the European Union’s united front against Russian aggression, also targeted Europe. The United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy received special treatment, according to the report.
How to strengthen the fight against Russian disinformation
The campaign demonstrates how the actions of the Kremlin’s Doppelganger campaign are consistent with its larger influence operations directed at Western democracies. As analysts identify and expose these Kremlin-led operations and the governments penalize their key actors, they may temporarily weaken Russia’s disinformation operations and force it to modify its tactics, but it won’t completely stop them.
Moscow’s tactics become more sophisticated. Russia is using “real U.S. voices” on major social media sites to “launder” propaganda and controversial stories that it wants to influence American audiences during the election campaign, the Washington Post reported in September. In our research on the media landscape in Germany, France, Switzerland, and Czechia we revealed pro-Russian websites that share RT content and disseminated pro-Kremlin narratives to local audiences.
Russia Today (RT), the state-controlled Russian multilingual news and media outlet, has faced sanctions across the EU and the US due to its role in spreading Kremlin-backed propaganda and supporting Putin’s war in Ukraine. Despite this, RT has adopted strategies to clone its websites and migrate to new domains to evade these restrictions and continue disseminating disinformation globally.
The efforts in tracking and revealing the Kremlin’s information warfare can be enhanced with more rapid actions from Western decision-makers involving sanctions and wide public awareness campaigns about the disinformation risks emanating from Russia, enabling them to formulate a more comprehensive and effective response.
