Winter Olympics - If Russia Can’t Play, No One Can.

In likely revenge for Russia’s ban, Secondary Infektion targeted the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. In the months preceding the games, Secondary Infektion promoted the narrative that the event should be canceled over security concerns relating to geopolitical tension between the US, South Korea, and North Korea. Graphika uncovered a series of stories published between mid-November 2017 and early December 2018, principally on Reddit.[299] The stories were in English, Spanish, German, and Ukrainian, suggesting that the narrative was directed at a non-Russian, international audience. Like most Secondary Infektion narratives, these stories generated no organic traction.

Chronologically, the stories appeared to follow major developments in the Russian doping scandal, which culminated in the sanctioning and eventual complete ban of athletes from Russia. On November 9, 2017, the World Anti-Doping Agency published evidence of state-sanctioned Russian doping in the 2014 Summer Olympics in Sochi. In response, the International Olympics Committee (IOC) banned four Russian athletes and announced it would rule on Russia's participation in the Pyeongchang games in early December. The reaction from Russian officials was overwhelmingly negative, with Putin calling the allegations a "US plot against [the] Russian election." Four days after the ruling, Secondary Infektion began posting about the Winter Olympics.

On November 13, a burner account on Reddit posted a story to r/foreignpolicyanalysis entitled "The USA will reinforce security of diplomatic mission in South Korea with special forces."[300] The full text is unavailable, but this is likely the first story in the operation's targeting of the Olympics.  

Secondary Infektion image

Removed post from Reddit with likely ties to Secondary Infektion’s attack on the Winter Olympics.

On November 15, a likely operative commented on an existing Secondary Infektion asset on Reddit. The original story, "Flowers for Kim Jong-un or Operation White Chrysanthemum," was published to r/korea and r/news on November 10 and alleged a CIA plot to assassinate Kim Jong-un.[301] The comment, published by the burner account, u/realist233, piggybacked off the original asset to express concern about the safety of the upcoming games.[302] In addition to realist223, two other burner accounts, u/olariewood and u/Vicky41, commented on the story at different points following the original posting. If these comments were indeed Secondary Infektion assets, this marks one of the few times the operation went back to engage with one of its stories after posting it. These accounts were likely an attempt at boosting the credibility of the original post by creating artificial engagement.  

Secondary Infektion image

Comments on the story regarding the “assassination” of Kim Jong-un.

On November 29, asset u/MaxKasyan posted a story called to "Зимові Олімпійські ігри 2018 у Південній Кореї і їх безпека" (“2018 South Korean Winter Olympics and Their Security”) to  r/ukraina, a Ukrainian board on Reddit.[303] The story maintained the established narrative of questioning the security of the Olympics in light of geopolitical tensions and quoting officials who had allegedly expressed similar concerns. On the same day, a burner account with a version of the Reddit username posted the article to the Ukrainian blog korrespondent.net.[304] Graphika also found an English translation of the article called "The PyeongChang 2018 and its security,”[305] which was posted anonymously to Homment two weeks earlier. It appears that until December, Secondary Infektion had yet to prioritize its Olympics-related messaging. Additionally, it had yet to directly call for cancellation, preferring instead to hint more broadly at the issue of security concerns.  

On December 5, the IOC reached a verdict, determining that Russia be banned from the Winter Olympics. Individual Russian athletes, upon the approval of the IOC, would be able to participate under the neutral name “Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR),” but Russia's flag, anthem, and officials would be absent from the games. In the weeks following the announcement, Secondary Infektion redoubled its targeting of the Winter Olympics.

On December 21, Secondary Infektion published "Olympische Winterspiele als Deckmantel für den Angriff auf Nordkorea" (“The Winter Olympics as cover for the attack on North Korea”) to Reddit (r/de), homment.com, and meine.stimme.de.[306] In an alarmist tone, the article spoke about potential war between the US and the DPRK and stated that people planning on attending the Olympics should be very concerned. The article included a faked open letter to the German Olympic Sports Confederation from sports officials expressing concerns for the safety of German athletes. Over the next five days, Secondary Infektion published similarly themed articles, all based on the same faked letter, in English on thestudentroom.uk, worthychristianforums.com, and futuretimeline.net,[307] in Spanish on Reddit,[308] and in Ukrainian on buzina.org, obozrevatel.com, and korrespondent.net.[309] In Ukrainian, Secondary Infektion gave the article an exceptionally dramatic title: "XXIII Зимові Олімпійські ігри: В очікуванні трагедії" (“The 23rd Winter Olympics: In Anticipation of a Tragedy”).

Secondary Infektion image

Presumed forged letter from sports officials to the German Olympic Sports Confederation. The letter has not been found on any legitimate news outlet.

On December 29, Secondary Infektion circulated its final Olympics-related article, which reported on a Change.org petition to either relocate or cancel the PyeongChang Games due to impending war between the US and DPRK. The English article was published on allkpop.com, quora.com, raidforums.com, and homment.com.[310] Over the next two weeks, the article and accompanying petition appeared in Spanish on Reddit and vandal.espanol.com[311] and in Ukrainian on obozrevatel.com and buzina.org.[312] The petition itself is still up online and is a likely SI asset. In addition to the trademark language errors, the petition reiterated some of the same points from previous SI stories. For example, both the petition and the previous story about German sports officials cited joint military exercises between the USA and South Korea and the claim that China was building refugee camps alongs its border with the DPRK in preparation for war. Additionally, the petition was just as unsuccessful as most SI assets, garnering only four supporters.  

Secondary Infektion image

Change.org petition calling on the IOC to either relocate or cancel the Winter Olympics.

Secondary Infektion's coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympics is significant for a number of reasons. Most importantly, it reinforces operational attribution to Russia. Few actors apart from Russia would have an incentive to target the Winter Olympics in a similar manner. Russia was the only nation to be banned from participation that year. Also, this case speaks to the vindictiveness of the actors behind Secondary Infektion. Spreading disinformation around the doping allegations themselves is one thing - Russian efforts to this end are well documented. However, working toward the disruption and cancellation of the Olympics, albeit ineffectively, reflects an extraordinary degree of pettiness. According to Secondary Infektion, “If Russia can’t play, no one can.”

Sweden, Fakes, and Fake Fakes

One of Secondary Infektion’s more complex efforts targeted Sweden in 2017-2018, when the operation had been running for over three years. By this time, its tradecraft had settled on the dominant use of burner accounts across a stable set of websites in different languages; these were consistent enough to form a recognizable pattern.

On July 24, 2017, single-use burner accounts published a forged letter attributed to the NATO Strategic Communications (StratCom) Center of Excellence in Riga, Latvia, on a number of regular Secondary Infektion websites, including Medium, Topbuzz.com, homment.com,[313] livejournal.com, and politiko.ua.[314] The forged letter alleged that the anti-migrant Sweden Democrats party had invited Russian hackers to interfere in the country’s general election, set for September 2018.

The unidiomatic English (“NATO Strategic Communications Centre . . . has brought to light series of cybercrimes with the involvement of the Russian hackers acting on the order of Swedish Democrats party”), the use of single-use burner accounts on those  platforms, and the use of a forged letter[315] all mark this as the likely work of Secondary Infektion. However, the content was strange for the operation, and counter-intuitive. Why would Secondary Infektion forge a letter warning about Russian interference in Sweden?

For over a year, the operation avoided the topic. Then, on August 21, 2018, burner personas published a second “leak” on sites including Medium, Reddit, indybay.org,[316] politiko.ua, and livejournal.com.[317] This time, the leak featured letters from no lesser figures than US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen. The Pompeo letter warned of Russian cooperation with the Sweden Democrats; the Le Pen letter pledged assistance to the same party.

Again, the tradecraft was identical with other Secondary Infektion pieces of that vintage: the same sites, the same sorts of burner accounts, the same styles of forgery and language error. But again, the messaging was at odds with Secondary Infektion’s known style, which was to ridicule and play down Russian interference, rather than fake it.

The explanation became apparent on August 30, 2018, just before the election. That day, yet another set of burner personas - Nadine Kinstry in English,[318] Gustavo Salcedo Mejía in Spanish,[319] and Laurent Lavial in French[320] - posted yet another “leak” to the standard Secondary Infektion sites.

This time, the leak purportedly came from the Ukrainian Prime Minister’s office. Addressed to the Ministry for Information Policy, the three-page document ordered the ministry to “develop a plan of measures aimed at supporting the Swedish government in confronting the hybrid war, being carried out by Russia related to the oncoming elections to the Swedish parliament on September 9.” Precise instructions followed, including to invoke the danger of cooperation with the French far right and referencing the StratCom leak, which it called the Ministry’s “previous information campaign.”

The English-language article then continued:

Information dummied up on instructions from the Ukrainian Prime Minister, which concerned protection of The Sweden Democrats by the leader of the National Front Marine Le Pen (. . .) is being actively reproduced on various European Internet platforms. A forged letter from the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Jacek Czaputowicz features in these publications, too.

There are two options here. One is that the Ukrainian Prime Minister’s letter was genuine, and the Ukrainian Information Ministry was skilled enough to identify and mimic Secondary Infektion’s exact tradecraft almost two years before it was exposed in public, but not skilled enough to keep an explosive internal document secret. The other is that the entire year-long cycle was an operation run by Secondary Infektion to discredit Ukraine by making it look like the Kiev government, not the Kremlin, was interfering in Sweden’s election.

Bond, but on BuzzFeed

Another long-running Secondary Infektion creation came in January 2017, immediately after Donald Trump’s election victory in the United States, and after the US intelligence community reported that Russia had interfered in the election.[321] 

Two weeks after the intelligence report, Secondary Infektion posted an alleged “interview with an MI6 agent” on the BuzzFeed Community[322] - almost certainly because BuzzFeed had earlier published an unverified report on Trump’s relationship with Russia. Headlined “MI6 operative on anti-Trump campaign,” the interview featured an alleged former agent who confessed that MI6 had created a range of fake evidence designed to compomise Trump, implicitly including the Steele dossier.

The idea was James Bond, but the use of language was Shakespeare: “I remember the election day full well” and “His commitment to the European Union was just a peacockery,” for example. The intent appears to have been twofold: to deflect or diminish the accusation that Russia had interfered in the US election and to create tensions between London and Washington.

Subsequent events made that argument explicit. In typical Secondary Infektion style, the story reappeared in French,[323] German,[324] and even a small post in Swedish in the following days.[325] Both the French and German versions headlined that BuzzFeed itself had attributed its “anti-Trump dossier” to MI6, effectively disowning it.

Secondary Infektion image

Headlines in French and German posted by Secondary Infektion. In each case, the headline claims that BuzzFeed ascribed the “fake compromising report” on Trump to MI6.

As so often, this story does not appear to have gained traction. Two weeks later, as Theresa May became the first world leader to visit Trump, Secondary Infektion ran another story on multiple websites using burner accounts: Quora, Reddit, indybay.org, and ozpolitic.com, an Australian forum.[326] 

This article appeared to be an attempt to stir up the tensions that the first article had failed to raise. It portrayed May’s visit as an act of desperation and an attempt to “save face” and linked to the BuzzFeed “MI6 interview” as its only source for the claim of MI6 “spying on Trump”:

MI6 has not only been spying on Trump for quite a while, it has been also collecting and creating damaging information that could harm him, in fact the spooks continue their work even now. Obviously, Donald Trump is well informed about this, and the visit of Theresa May merely confirms that the British Prime Minister does her best to keep the lights on.

Secondary Infektion image

The beginning of the Quora post on May’s visit to Washington, DC, after Trump’s inauguration.

This article left too few leads to reliably identify variants in other languages, so it is unclear how far Secondary Infektion tried to spread it. There is no indication that it gained traction.

In March 2017, as debate over Russian interference continued to rage in the United States, the operation tried again. This time, a persona called “Thomas Cooke” - not to be confused with the travel agent Thomas Cook - posted an article on the “Evolution of relations between Donald Trump and Her Majesty’s secret service” on websites including Medium, homment, and articlesreader.com.[327] 

This article again referenced the original Steele dossier and the fake “MI6 interview” to claim that the United Kingdom had interfered in the American election. Once more, it was couched in language that foreshadowed a split between the US and UK: “it is pretty obvious that Donald Trump and British intelligence fell out with each other, which may trigger major problems in relations of the two countries.” Once more, it was translated into German[328] and Swedish,[329] and this time a Russian translation followed as well.[330] 

Secondary Infektion image

Headlines of the German and Russian versions of the story; note the identical imagery as well as the identical meaning of the headlines, “Evolution of the relationship between Donald Trump and Her Majesty’s secret services.”

Finally, in July, the operation tried one last time. Showing its ability to react to even the smallest stimuli, Secondary Infektion built its story around a tweet that Trump had posted about a “major Trade Deal with the United Kingdom.”[331] Harking back to its narrative of a breakdown in relations between the UK and the United States, the operation spun this as the moment when Trump “forgave” Britain for its “interference”[332] : “Such a surprising thaw in relations between the two countries looks odd taking into account the mean tricks of her Majesty's subjects during the US presidential race. It's a no secret that Great Britain at the moment was interested in Hillary Clinton's victory.”

Rather than abandoning the theme of international tensions, however, the operation shifted to another target: tensions between the UK and EU over Brexit:

There was speculation that Clinton even has a deal with Britain's political elite that secured for London a special status of a privileged trade partner during its painful breakup with the EU and afterwards (. . .) the US and British political elites had a bargain and incumbent President of the United States took up the matter ignoring the harm that the trade deal between America and England would bring to the already strained relations with the European Union.

The case of the MI6 agent who never was is a valuable example of Secondary Infektion’s approach. It started by posting a fake story that would, if believed, have defended the Kremlin against the (correct) charge that it had interfered in the US election. This was almost certainly its primary purpose, but the operation also used it to insinuate tensions between the United States and United Kingdom. When those passed, the operation pointed toward further tensions between the UK and EU.

Secondary Infektion was not a high-impact campaign, but sometimes it made up for the lack of effect with persistence.

Drunk Dmitry

One of Secondary Infektion’s most intriguing productions was the series of attacks it launched on Russia’s then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in August and September 2018. This was a remarkable incident, because all of Secondary Infektion’s other output had targeted victims outside the Russian government. However, the tradecraft overlapped so closely with other high-confidence parts of the operation that we conclude that the Medvedev mini-campaign was the work of Secondary Infektion, presumably as part of an internal power dynamic.

The campaign started on August 30, 2018, with a Russian-language post across what had, by then, become Secondary Infektion’s standard list of blogging sites, including korrespondent.net[333] and blog.i.ua.[334] Headlined “Kremlin False Dmitry’s Work Injury,” the blog was written as if by an Ukrainian. It accused Medvedev of unexplained work absences, weakness, and unreliability and insinuated that he was an alcoholic but argued that this would be good for Ukraine, as it would make it easier to regain Crimea if Medvedev became president. Despite the apparent identity, the tradecraft was identical with Secondary Infektion.

An English-language translation followed the next day from burner personas on Medium, thestudentroom.co.uk, and cssforum.com.pk,[335] a distinctive combination of blog sites that was, so far as we know, unique to Secondary Infektion at that period. This took the insinuation of alcoholism much further by posting a series of memes to accompany the text.

Secondary Infektion image

Sample meme mocking Medvedev, from the English-language post. We have aligned the meme horizontally; the original was aligned vertically.

The next day, a Spanish translation appeared with the same memes on the standard Secondary Infektion set of forums: globedia.com, burbuja.info, and foroexplayate.com.[336] As before, it was posted by single-use burner accounts.

Unlike the Swedish effort described above, this campaign moved quickly. On September 3, a single-use burner account on YouTube posted a Ukrainian-language video called “Майбутнє України” (“The Future of Ukraine”, now removed).[337] It was attributed to a Ukrainian student collective, but the tradecraft was that of Secondary Infektion. This video urged Ukrainians to take Russian citizenship and vote for Medvedev as president in 2024, calling him the “future of Ukraine” and mocking his alleged drinking habits and imperial ambitions.

Secondary Infektion image

Stills from the “Future of Ukraine” video. On the left, “He will return Crimea to us and wreck Russia;” on the right, “His excessive ambitions” (the sentence started with, “He will repent.”)

Also unlike the Swedish-focused story, which was running in parallel, this effort did not seek to use the video and memes posts to accuse Ukraine of interference. Instead, in a series of Russian-language articles on September 4,[338] the operation claimed that the video and memes were the work of Ukrainian and Western internet users. It commented, “A joke’s a joke, but there’s something to think about here . . . The fact that Medvedev overnight became the presidential candidate for Russia from Ukraine (especially given our neighbors’ political preferences in recent years) says a lot right now.”

Finally, on September 11-12, an article from single-use burner accounts emerged on forums including politicaldiscussion.net (in English),[339] Reddit (in Spanish),[340] and ask1.org (in German).[341] The Russian translation followed on September 13, the eve of Medvedev’s birthday.[342] 

This article was based on a series of “screenshots” from the Guardian; a Google[343] search[344] confirms that no such Guardian writing ever existed. As well as repeating the earlier accusations of alcoholism, the alleged article accused Medvedev of planning to strip money from Russian pension funds to pay for his election campaign.

Secondary Infektion image

The alleged Guardian “screenshots” and the results of targeted Google searches for key phrases in them. The red underlining was the work of Secondary Infektion.

This story, like so many others, does not appear to have gained traction. It is of interest for what it suggests about internal Kremlin dynamics a year and a half before Putin dismissed Medvedev and his government in a surprise move. Without a firm attribution of the operation as a whole, more cannot be deduced at this stage.

Infektion on Infections

“Secondary Infektion” was named after the Soviet-era “Operation INFEKTION” that accused the United States of creating the AIDS virus. On a few occasions, Secondary Infektion appears to have paid tribute to that legendary past by accusing the United States of creating or spreading a range of deadly diseases - including an apparent Russian-language attempt on the novel coronavirus, Covid-19.

These attempts were too sporadic to constitute a fully fledged theme: rather, they seemed one of many pathways that the operation took toward the broader goal of discrediting the United States and its presence in other countries. Nevertheless, they began early: as we have seen, one of the Blue Man’s very first posts reported a non-existent Ebola outbreak in Ukraine.

Similar stories recurred throughout the operation. In September 2016, Secondary Infektion ran an article headlined, “NATO: Biological terrorism traditions from Vietnam to Ukraine.”[345] This originally appeared in English, then in Russian, under the byline of the Blue Man persona.[346] The article summarized earlier claims that the United States had leaked anthrax from the Dugway Proving Ground, Utah and African swine fever from the Richard Lugar Central Reference Public Health Laboratory near Tbilisi, Georgia. It then went on to claim that the United States had shifted to using Ukraine as a testing ground for biological weapons:

Americans have found perfect guinea pigs for committing their biological tests without attracting a lot of attention of the world community. Thus 51 Ukrainian citizen and 26 Ukrainian militaries died of swine flu at the occupied territory of Donbas this January. This is pretty standard for the country with a deep crisis of its health care. No one would notice Zika virus importation until the neighbor EU countries or Russia would start raising red flags. Even then it would be impossible to locate the source of contagion. It occurs that the USA puts in the crossfire its own NATO allies just for conducting its illegal research.

The article did not provide any evidence - not even a forged letter - to substantiate its claims.

By contrast, a probable Secondary Infektion effort in May 2019 was based on an embedded letter that was mainly shared by single-use burner accounts.[347] The letter ostensibly came from the head of the Kazakh Scientific Center for Quarantine and Zoonotic Diseases and was addressed to the deputy director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The letter painted the precursors of a public health disaster.[348] It portrayed the Kazakh director as asking for “additional samples of pathogenic bioactive substances (especially those like anthrax and Q fever)” and then confessing to safety breaches at his laboratory that could only be fixed with an injection of new funding and the temporary transfer of the most dangerous substances to a different location. Secondary Infektion’s summary was damning:

It is possible to assert with high confidence that Almaty is home to an extraordinarily dangerous laboratory which is not yet fully equipped in terms of security but is already at work, not under the control of the authorities, and posing a direct threat to the population, since at least one extreme event with the leak of dangerous biomaterials already happened there.

Despite the explosive nature of the letter, reverse searches with Google, Yandex, and TinEye failed to show any examples of its use online other than in verbatim copies of the article posted by burner accounts to Secondary Infektion’s standard portfolio of blogs. This makes it likely that the article and letter were Secondary Infektion’s work. However, searches also failed to show versions of this story in languages other than Russian, leaving the resemblance incomplete. We therefore classify this as a probable Secondary Infektion story, but with lower confidence.

The same applies to an article that the Daily Beast originally reported in April 2020.[349] This was the first suspected Secondary Infektion article to focus on the novel coronavirus, Covid-19.[350] Like the May 2019 effort, it  began with a post on Kazakh forum yvision.kz, since deleted, that focused on the Central Reference Laboratory in Almaty. This time, rather than a “leaked” document, it cited “Anonymous Kazakhstan” to claim that the Almaty lab had developed Covid-19 as part of a global US program. Single-use burner accounts then spread the story across a range of Russian-language blogs that Secondary Infektion often used, and also on Reddit. On the latter platform, the accounts that amplified the story were created, used, and abandoned in less than an hour, in typical Seconday Infektion style.

Secondary Infektion image

The life of Reddit user u/ivaparsh, whose one post amplified the coronavirus story. Analysis conducted with redective.com.

Secondary Infektion image

The life of Reddit user u/boltandy, whose one post amplified the coronavirus story. Analysis conducted with redective.com.

The lack of other language variants makes this a lower confidence attribution. The evidence indicates that it was either Secondary Infektion or a Russian-speaking actor mimicking its techniques, but there is insufficient evidence to determine conclusively between the two.

[1] As the identity of the operator is currently unknown, it is commonly referred to by the nickname of the operation itself. “Secondary Infektion” is named after the Soviet-era “Operation Infektion,” which planted the false story that the United States had made the AIDS virus in many publications around the world. See David Robert Grimes, “Russian fake news is not new: Soviet Aids propaganda cost countless lives,” The Guardian, June 14, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2017/jun/14/russian-fake-news-is-not-new-soviet-aids-propaganda-cost-countless-lives.

[2] Nathaniel Gleicher, “Removing more coordinated inauthentic behavior from Russia,” Facebook, May 6, 2019, https://about.fb.com/news/2019/05/more-cib-from-russia/. This is not the longest running network known: an Iranian network that Facebook exposed in May 2020 operated sporadically from 2011 to 2020. See Graphika’s report, “Iran’s Broadcaster: Inauthentic Behavior,” Graphika, May 5, 2020, https://graphika.com/reports/irans-broadcaster-inauthentic-behavior/.

[3] Ben Nimmo, Graham Brookie et al., “Operation Secondary Infektion,” Atlantic Council, June 22, 2019, https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Operation-Secondary-Infektion_English.pdf.

This is the report which gave the operation its popular name, “Secondary Infektion”.

[4] Adam Rawnsley, “Russian Trolls Hype Coronavirus and Giuliani Conspiracies,” The Daily Beast, April 9, 2020, https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-trolls-hype-coronavirus-and-giuliani-conspiracies.

[5] Secondary Infektion targeted sectarian tensions in Northern Ireland, among other issues. To avoid confusion, this report refers to the Irish Republican Army as the “IRA,” the Real Irish Republican Army as the “Real IRA,” and the Internet Research Agency as the “Russian IRA.”

[6] For the Russian IRA’s election interference, see Indictment 1:18-cr-00032-DLF, “United States of America v. Internet Research Agency LLC et al.,” US Department of Justice, February 16, 2018, https://www.justice.gov/file/1035477/download. For the GRU, see indictment 1:18-cr-00215-ABJ, “United States of America v. Viktor Borisovich Netyshko et al.,” US Department of Justice, July 13, 2018, https://www.justice.gov/file/1080281/download.

[7] See, for example, the article by the Secondary Infektion persona “Lukas Esmerald,” “Hillary Clinton, a killer (proclaimed) above the law,” in homment.com, October 31, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418154348/https://homment.com/Hillary-Clinton-a-killer-proclaimed-above-the-law.  

[8] For example, persona “DreuxVachon,” “Emmanuel Macron: a new hope of migrants in Europe?”, Medium, March 16, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418160806/https://medium.com/@DreuxVachon/emmanuel-macron-a-new-hope-of-migrants-in-europe-b6d07e0a111b. We are grateful to Quora for bringing this post to our attention.

[9] See for example the article by persona “kinstry,” “Ukraine ‘drowns’ The Sweden Democrats?”, defendingthetruth.com, August 30, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200421092045/https://defendingthetruth.com/threads/ukraine-drowns-the-sweden-democrats.102944/.

[10] Rid, Thomas. Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare. United Kingdom: Profile, 2020.

[11] Persona “Chris Woods,” “UK's GCHQ to support Democrats during the 2018 midterms,” ozpolitic.com, August 3, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200521201759/http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1533288024/10. The same persona posted it to cssforum.com.pk, a forum for the Pakistan civil service, on the same day: https://web.archive.org/web/20200521202026/http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-compulsory-subjects/current-affairs/120717-uks-gchq-support-democrats-during-2018-midterms.html.

[12] Among others, by persona “Ari Pellms,” “Will American senators support Fethullah Gulen in his dispute with Turkey?”, Medium, February 18, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20200513231939/https://medium.com/@AriPellms/will-american-senators-support-fethullah-gulen-in-his-dispute-with-turkey-479c44b7519b.

[13] Among others, by persona “Иннокентий Ньюсовский” (“Innocent Newsovsky”), “Американские сенаторы поддержат Фетхуллаха Гюлена в споре с Турцией” (“American senators will support Fethullah Gulen in his dispute with Turkey”), mirtesen.ru, February 20, 2016, https://ino-news.mirtesen.ru/blog/43222494738/Amerikanskie-senatoryi-podderzhat-Fethullaha-Gyulena-v-spore-s-T?utm_referrer=mirtesen.ru.

[14] Persona “Norman Mogano,” “En Suecia proponen crear su propia ‘Comisión de Mueller’” (“Proposal in Sweden to create their own ‘Mueller Commission’”), globedia.com, November 16, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418192247/http://globedia.com/suecia-proponen-crear-propia-comision-mueller.  

[15] Carl Bildt, “Ny dramatik i syriska tragedin” (“New drama in the Syrian tragedy”), carlbildt.wordpress.com, April 9, 2918, https://carlbildt.wordpress.com/2018/04/09/ny-dramatik-i-syriska-tragedian/.

[16] Persona “Chloe Rebelish,” “Radioactive Rain Over Europe (Greenpeace)”, YouTube, July 22, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Mu1tvyfD-U&t=2s.

[17] Persona “EnniLowre,” “Corruption in international sports supervisory authorities. Ban of meldonium is due to unfair competition between pharmaceutical companies,” topix.com, April 15, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20170802165139/http://www.topix.com/forum/sports/T5KD8MKFTICE78AT7.

[18]See Ben Nimmo, “UK Trade Leaks,” Graphika, December 2, 2019, https://graphika.com/reports/UK-trade-leaks/.

[20] See the Graphika team, “Iran’s Broadcaster: Inauthentic Behavior,” Graphika, May 5, 2020, https://graphika.com/reports/irans-broadcaster-inauthentic-behavior/.

[21] Twitter Safety, “Information operations directed at Hong Kong,” Twitter, August 19, 2019, https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2019/information_operations_directed_at_Hong_Kong.html.

[22] For example Nathaniel Gleicher, “Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior in Spain,” Facebook, September 20, 2019, https://about.fb.com/news/2019/09/removing-coordinated-inauthentic-behavior-in-spain/.

[23] See page 8 and footnote 17.

[24] For examples of previous targeting of the White Helmets by the GRU, see for instance: “From Russia With Blogs,” Graphika, Feb. 12th 2020, https://www.graphika.com/reports/from-russia-with-blogs/. For targeting by the IRA, see: io-archive.org. For broader context, see: Starbird, Kate, et al. "Ecosystem or echo-system? exploring content sharing across alternative media domains." Twelfth International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media. 2018.

[25] Nika Aleksejeva, “Secondary Infektion redux?  Suspected Russian intelligence operation targets Greenland,” DFRLab, November 13, 2019, https://medium.com/dfrlab/secondary-infektion-redux-suspected-russian-intelligence-operation-targets-greenland-c4e04deb27c5.

[26] Nika Aleksejeva, “Lingering Infektion: Latvian operation mimicked Secondary Infektion tactics,” DFRLab, December 10, 2019, https://medium.com/dfrlab/lingering-infektion-latvian-operation-mimicked-secondary-infektion-tactics-bc0bb62eacaa.

[27] u/worstnerd, “Suspected campaign from Russia on Reddit,” Reddit, December 6, 2019, https://www.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/e74nml/suspected_campaign_from_russia_on_reddit/.

[28] Ben Nimmo, “UK Trade Leaks,” Graphika, December 2, 2019, updated December 8, 2019, https://graphika.com/reports/UK-trade-leaks/.

[29] Insikt Group, “Intent to Infekt: ‘Operation Pinball’ Tactics Reminiscent of ‘Operation Secondary Infektion’,” Recorded Future, April 8, 2020, https://www.recordedfuture.com/operation-pinball-tactics/.

[30] Adam Rawnsley, “Russian Trolls Hype Coronavirus and Giuliani Conspiracies,” Daily Beast, April 9, 2020, https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-trolls-hype-coronavirus-and-giuliani-conspiracies?ref=author.

[31] For a rapid overview of attribution methods, see: www.attribution.news.

[32] Nathaniel Gleicher, “Removing More Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior From Russia,” Facebook, May 6, 2019, https://about.fb.com/news/2019/05/more-cib-from-russia/.

[33] User “worstnerd,” “Suspected campaign from Russia on Reddit,” Reddit, December 6, 2019, https://www.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/e74nml/suspected_campaign_from_russia_on_reddit/.

[34] Tulay Karadeniz and Maria Kiselyova, “Turkey downs Russian warplane near Syria border, Putin warns of 'serious consequences',” Reuters, November 25, 2015, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-turkey/turkey-downs-russian-warplane-near-syria-border-putin-warns-of-serious-consequences-idUSKBN0TD0IR20151125.

[35] Persona “Steven Laack,” “Red Alert: Advice against all travel. Or why would anyone go to Turkey these days?”, blogspot.com, December 1, 2015, https://doubtingsteven.blogspot.com/2015/12/red-alert-advice-against-all-travel-or.html.

[36] Persona “pormatt,” “Spain's Intel: Remainers Plan to Assassinate Boris Johnson,” politicaldiscussion.net, August 13, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418172422/https://politicaldiscussion.net/threads/spains-intel-remainers-plan-to-assassinate-boris-johnson.254/ .

[37] Unattributed post, “United States to nominate Ukrainian President Poroshenko for a Nobel Peace Prize,” homment.com, 27 May, 2015, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418140715/https://homment.com/ukrainenobel.

[38] Persona “vicmilosh,” “Банальный закат Европы” (“Europe’s banal sunset”), stena.ee, November 18, 2019, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418202116/https://www.stena.ee/blog/banalnyj-zakat-evropy.  

[39] Persona “demonmanz,” “Chancellor of Germany and female alcoholism,” Reddit, April 10, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418161123/https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/64ig7s/chancellor_of_germany_and_female_alcoholism/.  

[40] Persona “Josef Hashever,” “Kaczynski's FRAXA threatens Europe! Why the truth is concealed?”, beforeitsnews.com, April 13, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418150138/https://beforeitsnews.com/eu/2016/04/kaczynskis-fraxa-threatens-europe-why-the-truth-is-concealed-2602086.html.

[41] Persona “Joe Lane,” “The EU Puts Off the Pan-European Recognition of Armenian Genocide Because of Turkey,” Medium, 22 October 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418183806/https://medium.com/@lanejo/the-eu-puts-off-the-pan-european-recognition-of-armenian-genocide-because-of-turkey-87b3479b5af3.

[42] Persona “robeharty,” “IRE enlists Muslim militants!”, Reddit, April 22, 2019, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418195148/https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/bfzfbb/ira_enlists_muslim_militants/.

[43] For example persona “Josef Hashever,” “‘Polish Auschwitz and Treblinka’ surpass Volhynia, Ukrainian official says,” beforeitsnews.com, Juy 11, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418203351/https://beforeitsnews.com/opinion/2016/07/polish-auschwitz-and-treblinka-surpass-volhynia-ukrainian-official-says-2456706.html.

[44] Persona “Fellow Citizen”, “  German police: migrants threaten to assault women on St. Valentine’s Day,” Medium, February 3, 2016,  https://web.archive.org/web/20200422230722/https://medium.com/@FellowCitizen/german-police-migrants-threaten-to-assault-women-on-st-valentine-s-day-8784af3049e2.

[45] Guest user, “What does Trump's support of Scottish nationalists portend for the EU?”, homment.com, June 7, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418170800/https://homment.com/kkj0jm76phAHWgoYSjgx.

[46] Persona “Leaky Leak,” “Being friendly American way. The USA was spying on the British Royal Family,” indymedia.org.uk, April 5, 2026,  http://web.archive.org/web/20200418145314/https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2016/04/524701.html.

[47] Persona “Steven Laack,” “Jewish exodus from Ukraine,” blogspot.com, May 15, 2015, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418140311/https://doubtingsteven.blogspot.com/2015/05/jewish-exodus-from-ukraine.html.

[48] Persona “Albert Fulop,” “Ukraine after presidential elections. Radicals threaten national minorities,” Medium, May 28, 2019, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418195707/https://medium.com/@fulopalb/ukraine-after-presidential-elections-radicals-threaten-national-minorities-352267d3c428.  

[49] Persona “MilDavid,” “Ukraine puts Donald Trump on blacklist,” homment.com, June 20, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200422232829/https://homment.com/yiPdDhuIJ2S44Lx0YEkX; persona ”AdkinsJan,” “Ukraine started supplying Kurds with Javelins,” homment.com, June 25, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418171255/https://homment.com/evApUNhtKfRrYuS6aAjX.

[50] Persona “ArmanRivar,” “USA and UK: policy of the biggest fraud,” Reddit, April 11, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418170322/https://www.reddit.com/r/Nigeria/comments/8bhn5i/usa_and_uk_policy_of_the_biggest_fraud/.  

[51] Persona “Cory MIller,” “What does Trump’s support of Scottish nationalists portend for the EU?”, indybay.org, June 7, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200404071417/https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/06/07/18815543.php.  

[52] Persona “Josef Hashever,” “Caspian littoral states staying in expectation of ‘colored’ revolutions,” beforeitsnews.com, July 22, 2015, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418142131/https://beforeitsnews.com/protests-demonstrations/2015/07/caspian-littoral-states-staying-in-expectation-of-colored-revolutions-2455918.html.

[53] Persona “Military Observer,” “Flowers for Kim Jong-Un or Operation White Chrysanthemum,” Quora, November 10, 2017, https://archive.vn/wip/Y1q9C.

[54] Persona “Sam Alonso,” “EU provides support to Catalan separatists,” September 29, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418164035/https://defendingthetruth.com/threads/eu-provides-support-to-catalan-separatists.62578/.  

[55] Persona “Joe Lane,” “The EU Puts Off the Pan-European Recognition of Armenian Genocide Because of Turkey,” Medium, October 22, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418183806/https://medium.com/@lanejo/the-eu-puts-off-the-pan-european-recognition-of-armenian-genocide-because-of-turkey-87b3479b5af3.

[56] Persona “Steven Lang,” “US and Poland promote the UNSC resolution on reparations from Germany,” Medium, May 24, 2019, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418195630/https://medium.com/@langste/us-and-poland-promote-the-unsc-resolution-on-reparations-from-germany-efd02b778c86.

[57] Unattributed article, “Hillary Clinton, a killer (proclaimed) above the law,” homment.com, October 31, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418154348/https://homment.com/Hillary-Clinton-a-killer-proclaimed-above-the-law; persona “Lukas Esmeraldas,” “Who else is pumping money into the election campaign of Clinton?”, defendingthetruth.com, November 5, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418154542/https://defendingthetruth.com/threads/who-else-is-pumping-money-into-the-election-campaign-of-clinton.57635/.  

[58] Persona “Edgars Paukas,” “NED is Concerned with the Upcoming Elections in Latvia,” Medium, October 3, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418181918/https://medium.com/@paukas/ned-is-concerned-with-the-upcoming-elections-in-latvia-cceb63b0d3c9. The authors are grateful to Adam Rawnsley of the Daily Beast, who first identified this post.

[59] Persona “Andrew Hobbs,” “Another ‘Mueller Commission’ is Suggested to be Created in Sweden,” defendingthetruth.com, November 14, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418191755/https://defendingthetruth.com/threads/another-mueller-commission-is-suggested-to-be-created-in-sweden.106029/.

[60] Persona “Fellow Citizen,” “German police: migrants threaten to assault women on St. Valentine’s Day,” Medium, February 3, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20200422230722/https://medium.com/@FellowCitizen/german-police-migrants-threaten-to-assault-women-on-st-valentine-s-day-8784af3049e2.  

[61] Persona “Lunatic Joe,” “Migration crisis is an accelerator of European nationalism,” indymedia.org.uk, October 12, 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20200426133156/https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2015/10/522657.html. A Russian translation was posted by operation persona “Ino-News” at https://web.archive.org/web/20200426134253/https://hugeclick.ru/migracionnyi-krizis-katalizator-nacionalizma-es/3/. Reverse searching the image with Google, Yandex, and Tin-Eye showed that it was not posted anywhere else.

[62] Persona “Limkos Stamp,” “Dome Mosque,” Medium, May 6, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418151326/https://medium.com/@Limkos_Stamp/dome-mosque-a1bbe842c39e.

[63] Persona “Rob Lloys,” “Another wave of immigration to hit Europe as EU leaders admit they are powerless in Aleppo,” Medium, December 21, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418155543/https://medium.com/@RobLloys/another-wave-of-immigration-to-hit-europe-as-eu-leaders-admit-they-are-powerless-in-aleppo-bcd03ffa4415.

[64] Persona “Ail Green,” Muslim wave is to cover the United Kingdom before referendum,” Medium, May 10, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418151527/https://medium.com/@AilGreen/muslim-wave-is-to-cover-the-united-kingdom-before-referendum-3a9fd5391e61.

[65] The tweet is archived at https://archive.vn/3fVWC.

[66] Dion Nissembaum, Emre Peker, and James Marson, “Turkey Shoots Down Russian Military Jet,” Wall Street Journal, November 24, 2015, https://www.wsj.com/articles/turkey-shoots-down-jet-near-syria-border-1448356509.

[67] Katherine Costello, “Russia’s Use of Media and Information Operations in Turkey,” RAND Corporation, 2018, https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE278.html.

[68] Persona “Infomaniac,” “True reasons of the recent attack on Su-24,” Medium, December 7, 2015, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418143020/https://medium.com/@infomaniac/true-reasons-of-the-recent-attack-on-su-24-e0650adc3f8d;  persona “Truthseeker,” “The US exposes ties between Turkey and Jabhat al-Nusra?”, Medium, February 12, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418143458/https://medium.com/@truthseekerNew/the-us-exposes-ties-between-turkey-and-jabhat-al-nusra-ce063989414f; persona “Dusty L.A,” “Turkey was about to open second front vs Armenia,” Medium, April 6, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418145657/https://medium.com/@DustyLA/turkey-was-about-to-open-second-front-vs-armenia-6a60fa6376ea.

[69] “WADA Statement: Independent Investigation confirms Russian State manipulation of the doping control process,” WADA, Juy 18, 2016, https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2016-07/wada-statement-independent-investigation-confirms-russian-state-manipulation-of.

[70] Persona “Steven Laack,” “Corruption in international sports supervisory authorities. Ban of meldonium is due to unfair competition between pharmaceutical companies,” blogspot.com, April 19, 2016, https://doubtingsteven.blogspot.com/2016/04/corruption-in-international-sports.html.

[71] Persona “Politgraben,” “Korruption in WADA - Play True?” (“Corruption in WADA - play true?”), wordpress.com, April 22, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418150741/https://politgraben.wordpress.com/2016/04/22/korruption-in-wada-play-true/.  

[72] Persona “Ino-News,” “Всемирное антидопинговое сообщество попалось на коррупции” (“WADA caught in corruption”), via e-news.pro, April 22, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20200422234458/https://www.e-news.pro/news/110649-vsemirnoe-antidopingovoe-soobschestvo-popalos-na-korrupcii.html.

[73] Klement Piccard, “Carnival in Rio with US laboratories’ prescriptions: invisible doping and Zika virus,” Medium, July 22, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418153454/https://medium.com/@piccard/carnival-in-rio-with-us-laboratories-prescriptions-invisible-doping-and-zika-virus-87c19ea6ab34.

[74] Persona “amateur123,” “Independent Journalists: the new faces, though old methods. Who ‘throws dead cats on the table’ today?”, Medium, May 31, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20170115210538/https://medium.com/@amateur123/independent-journalists-the-new-faces-though-old-methods-d12c8741602f.

[75] Persona “Tom Sallee,” “The unfair competition,” Reddit, September 28, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418164002/https://www.reddit.com/r/antivirus/comments/72ywku/the_unfair_competition/.  

[76] Persona “Bloger_Nasralny,” “Продолжение охоты на ведьм или спасибо НАТО за рекламу” (“Continuation of the witch hunt, or thanks, NATO, for the advertisement”), livejournal.com, July 2, 2019, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418200629/https://bloger-nasralny.livejournal.com/53584.html.

[77] Ben Nimmo and Michael Sheldon, “Russian Op 3: The Blue Man and the Mole,” DFRLab, June 22, 2019, https://medium.com/dfrlab/russian-op-3-the-blue-man-and-the-mole-3ba77b9eb955. For full disclosure, the lead author of the current paper also led the DFRLab’s original exposure of Secondary Infektion.

[78] Gianluca Mezzofiore, “Russia's best troll 'Jenna Abrams' is back with an incredible blog post about AI and the Matrix,” Mashable, November 9, 2017, https://mashable.com/2017/11/09/jenna-abrams-russian-troll-account-ai-matrix/.

[79] Casey Michel, “Russian trolling ahead of the midterm elections is a mixture of the weird and the pathetic,” ThinkProgress.org, November 6, 2018, https://thinkprogress.org/usaira-russian-trolling-ahead-of-the-midterm-elections-is-a-mixture-of-the-weird-and-the-pathetic-c64b0d120ae5/. The IRA site is archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20181125143657/https://usaira.ru/.

[80] Persona “Robert Porter”, “EU Rejects Cooperation with Foreign Far-Right Forces”, playbuzz, October 23, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418184821/https://www.playbuzz.com/item/55cdcf37-d7c7-4a5b-847d-dbe218f89cbb.

[81] Persona “Stanislav Melanich”, “В погоне за грантами: 12 июня Навальный анонсировал несанкционированный митинг” ("Chasing grants: Navalny announces unsanctioned rally for 12 June"), newsland, June 6, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418194509/https://newsland.com/user/4297838887/content/meditsinskii-genotsid-po-ukrainski-kor-difteriia-ili-sama-reforma-unichtozhit-ukraintsev/6688826.

[82] Persona “Stanislav Melanich”, “Кремлевская марионетка” (“Kremlin puppet”), December 30, 2014, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418134927/https://bloger-nasralny.livejournal.com/2014/12/30/.

[83] Persona “James Alkirby,” “Ukrainian view of the future of Russia,” Medium, August 31, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418175046/https://medium.com/@alkirby/ukrainian-view-of-the-future-of-russia-dca036fe2177.

[84] Unattributed article, “Elections of Merkel - let the whole world wait,” homment.com, June 29, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418162244/https://homment.com/elections-of-Merkel-let-the-whole-world-wait.

[85] Persona “Josh Groll,” “Chancellor of Germany and female alcoholism,” Medium, April 10, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20191210170754/https://medium.com/@JoshGroll/chancellor-of-germany-and-female-alcoholism-2c756713a7e9.

[86] Persona “Wolfgang Sperling,” “Politics And Female Alcohol Addiciton,” BuzzFeed Community, March 20, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20200404115858/https://www.buzzfeed.com/wolfgangsperling/politics-and-female-alcohol-addiction-2vne1.

[87] Persona “Anonymous,” “Documents confirming that brothers Kaczynski are mentally retarded,” cyberguerrilla.org, April 12, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20160907184513/https://www.cyberguerrilla.org/blog/documents-confirming-that-brothers-kaczynski-are-mentally-retarded/.

[88] Persona “Stan Giklems,” “Anonymous. The Kaczynski brothers’ genetic mutation revealed! BREAKING!,” Vimeo, April 19, 2016, https://vimeo.com/163382203.

[89] Persona “Mal O,” “The European Commission: Conduct official and public medical examination of Jaroslaw Kaczynski,” avaaz.org, February 24, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418203620/https://secure.avaaz.org/en/community_petitions/The_European_Commission_Conduct_official_and_public_medical_examination_of_Jaroslaw_Kaczynski/.

[90] Persona “doubtingsteven”, “Saakashvili did not receive Hahn's assurances that 'interim' Groysman's Cabinet resigns in 2017…”, blogspot.com, May 19, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418151904/http://doubtingsteven.blogspot.com/2016/05/saakashvili-did-not-receive-hahns.html.

[91] Persona “Bloger_Nasralny”, “Саакашвили и Яценюк: борьба кланов” (“Saakashvili and Yatsenyuk: the battle of the clans”), livejournal.com, December 24, 2015, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418143252/https://bloger-nasralny.livejournal.com/48082.html.

[92] Persona "dhortone,” “Who's Your Boss, Dalia Grybauskaite?", buzzfeed.com, 3 December 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200404071513/https://www.buzzfeed.com/dhortone/whos-your-boss-dalia-grybauskaite-3p8ia 

[93] “Case of Abu Zubaydah v Lithuania,” European Court of Human Rights, May 31, 2018, https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#_Toc515265916.

[94] Persona "Steve Eriksson", "Lithuania Blocks the Sensational Investigation into a Torture Issue in the EU," medium.com, 11 October 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200404102152/https://medium.com/@Eriksson_91947/lithuania-blocks-the-sensational-investigation-into-a-torture-issue-in-the-eu-80f8284e8f49

[95] Persona "SteveEriksson", President of Lithuania conceals from the UN and the ECHR the names of those organised tortures of prisoners," medium.com, 8 October 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200404102229/https://medium.com/@steveeriksson/president-of-lithuania-conceals-from-the-un-and-the-echr-the-names-of-those-who-organized-tortures-2b328db9d1fc

[96] Persona "Steveriks", "Lithuania Blocks the Sensational Investigation into a Torture Issue in the EU," reddit.com, 11 October 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200404102214/https://www.reddit.com/r/lithuania/comments/9n82ub/lithuania_blocks_the_sensational_investigation/ 

[97] "Sputnik’s Disinformation as if Former Lithuanian President was KBG Agent," mythdetector.ge, https://www.mythdetector.ge/en/myth/sputniks-disinformation-if-former-lithuanian-president-was-kbg-agent

[98] “От тайного агента КГБ до феминистки: карьера Дали Грибаускайте” (“From secret KGB agent to feminist: Dalia Grybauskaite’s career”), Sputnik, September 25, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxmRSdjRLcI&feature=emb_title.

[99] Persona “andrei_kurpskiy,” “Чего боится агент «Магнолия?»”, LiveJournal, June 11, 2015, https://andrei-kurpskiy.livejournal.com/69315.html#cutid1.

[100] Persona "Max Bromberg", "ADIEU, KGB! FLIEHT DALIA GRYBAUSKAITĖ VOR IHRER KGB-VERGANGENHEIT?" (“Adieu, KGB! Is Dalia Grybauskaite fleeing from her KGB past?”) wordpress.com, 15 April 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20200411081551/https://politgraben.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/adieu-kgb-flieht-dalia-grybauskaite-vor-ihrer-kgb-vergangenheit/ 

[101] See Presentation by Camille Francois at CyberWarCon, Washington DC, November 2018: https://www.cyberwarcon.com/false-leaks

[102] Indictment 1:18-cr-00215-ABJ, “United States of America v. Viktor Borisovich Netyshko et al.,” US Department of Justice, July 13, 2018, https://www.justice.gov/file/1080281/download.

[103] Owen Gibson, “Russia accused of ‘state-sponsored doping’ as Wada calls for athletics ban,” The Guardian, November 9, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/nov/09/wada-iaaf-russia-dick-pound-banned.

[104] “WADA Statement: Independent Investigation confirms Russian State manipulation of the doping control process,” WADA, July 18, 2016, https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2016-07/wada-statement-independent-investigation-confirms-russian-state-manipulation-of.

[105] Ben Nimmo, “#PutinAtWar: WADA Hack Shows Kremlin Full-Spectrum Approach,” DFRLab, October 14, 2018, https://medium.com/dfrlab/putinatwar-wada-hack-shows-kremlin-full-spectrum-approach-21dd495f2e91.

[106] See www.io-archive.org for posts made by the Russian IRA on the #dopingleaks campaign.

[107] Persona “EnniLowre,” “Corruption in international sports supervisory authorities. Ban of meldonium is due to unfair competition between pharmaceutical companies,” topix.com, April 15, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20170802165139/http://www.topix.com/forum/sports/T5KD8MKFTICE78AT7. The same article was posted by operation persona “Steven Laack” on April 19, 2016: https://web.archive.org/web/20200424111459/https://doubtingsteven.blogspot.com/2016/04/corruption-in-international-sports.html. The Russian version was posted by persona “Ino-News” on April 21: https://maxpark.com/community/politic/content/5190995. The German edition was posted by persona “PolitGraben” on April 22: https://web.archive.org/web/20200418150704/https://de.indymedia.org/node/9139.

[109] The CPJ confirmed that they were approached by a journalist from Russian state channel Россия 24 to confirm whether the letter was fake, but there is no record of the channel running a story on it, a welcome sign of journalistic professionalism.

[110] See for example Christoph Winterbach, Lukas Eberle, and Raphael Buschmann, “How Some US Athletes Obtain Permits for Banned Medication,” Spiegel, December 1, 2016, https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/hack-by-fancy-bears-of-anti-doping-agency-usada-a-1124020.html. The authors based their report on “email communication between several employees of the American anti-doping agency USADA which was provided to the newsmagazine SPIEGEL by the hacker group Fancy Bears.”

[111] Jean-Baptiste Jeangene-Vilmer, “The Macron Leaks Operation: A Post-Mortem,” Atlantic Council, June 2019, https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/The_Macron_Leaks_Operation-A_Post-Mortem.pdf. For transparency, some of the research quoted in Jeangene-Vilmer’s paper was the work of Ben Nimmo, the lead author of the current report.

[112] Persona “DreuxVachon,” “Emmanuel Macron: a new hope of migrants in Europe?”, Medium, March 16, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418160806/https://medium.com/@DreuxVachon/emmanuel-macron-a-new-hope-of-migrants-in-europe-b6d07e0a111b. We are grateful to Quora for bringing this post to our attention.

[116] Persona “Nicole Roux,” “Emmanuel Macron: Neuer Traum der europäischen Migranten?” (“Emmanuel Macron: New dream of European migrants?,” meine-news.de, March 17, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418160835/https://www.meine-news.de/aschbach/c-politik/emmanuel-macron-neuer-traum-der-europaeischen-migranten_a19842;  geschichte-wissen.de, March 17, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418160840/https://geschichte-wissen.de/foren/viewtopic.php?t=5691.

[117] Persona “Gerard,” “Garder le visage de l’Europe,” politicien.fr, March 14, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418160750/http://gerard.politicien.fr/2017/03/14/garder-le-visage-de-leurope/. The headline appears to be an attempt at a literal translation of the English “Saving Europe’s face.”

[118] Persona “StPatrick,” “Macron moves in the Élysée Palace on shoulders of migrants and jihadists,” Reddit, April 20, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200318192454/https://www.reddit.com/r/eupolitics/comments/66gnnb/macron_moves_in_the_%C3%A9lys%C3%A9e_palace_on_shoulders_of/; defendingthetruth.com, April 20, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418161140/https://defendingthetruth.com/threads/macron-moves-in-the-%C3%89lys%C3%A9e-palace-on-shoulders-of-migrants-and-jihadists.60472/; politicsforum.org, April 20, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418161145/http://www.politicsforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=168877&sid=d395f44fff9b397979b01a2ccab4e3f8;  homment.com, April 20, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418161147/https://homment.com/Macron-moves-in-the-Elysee-Palace-on-shoulders-of-migrants-and-jihadists.

[119] For example, persona “Дмитрий Разумов” (“Dmitriy Razumov”), “Макрон въедет в Елисейский дворец на плечах мигрантов и джихадистов” (“Macron will ride into the Elysee Palace on the backs of migrants and jihadists”), cont.ws, April 26, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418161320/https://cont.ws/@razumow/598048;  fishki.net, April 26, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418161228/https://fishki.net/anti/2276742-makron-vedet-v-elisejskij-dvorec-na-plechah-migrantov-i-dzhihadistov.html.

[120] Jean-Baptiste Jeangene Vilmer, “The ‘Macron Leaks’ Operation: A Post-Mortem,” Atlantic Council, June 2019, https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/The_Macron_Leaks_Operation-A_Post-Mortem.pdf.

[121] Persona “Ritterc, “Macron Triumphant: Macro-lies of Micro-victory”, 6 May 2017, http://archive.is/mHxb6. We are grateful to Reddit for first exposing this post as being part of Secondary Infektion.

[122] See www.io-archive.org

[123] Persona “Josef Hashever,”, “Hilla the Hun in her chase for the Genesis Prize,” WordPress, November 26, 2015, http://web.archive.org/web/20200424112628/https://joeshever.wordpress.com/2015/11/26/hilla-the-hun-in-her-chase-of-the-genesis-prize/. The same persona posted the same story on beforeitsnews.com on the same day: http://web.archive.org/web/20200418143028/https://beforeitsnews.com/u-s-politics/2015/11/hilla-the-hun-in-her-chase-of-the-genesis-prize-2491430.html.

[124] Persona “HJHJ,” “Sponsors of Islamists invest into Hillary,” Medium, May 6, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20200418151334/https://medium.com/@HJHJHJHJ/sponsors-of-islamists-invest-into-hillary-2cb40e2e1c90.

[125] Persona “climber,” “Electoral mockery in the United States: a view from within,” Medium, June 7, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20200418152645/https://medium.com/@climberud/electoral-mockery-in-the-united-states-a-view-from-within-6972fe326cd.  

[126] Persona “Douklan Oisi,” “China compensates Brexit by support of Clinton,” Quora, July 20, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418153427/https://www.quora.com/What-will-be-Hillary-Clintons-China-policy-if-she-becomes-the-president/answer/Douklan-Oisi.

[127] Unnamed author, “Hitting Trump and Sanders with an e-mail cluster all at the same time,” homment.com, July 27, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20200418153520/https://homment.com/Hitting-Trump-and-Sanders-with-an-e-mail-cluster-all-at-the-same-time. The article argued that “you really can’t take literally the theory about the Russian hackers,” in a rare direct reference to other Russian operations.

[128] Persona “George Umber,” “Clinton fits on the Roosevelt's wheelchair?” Medium, August 10, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20200418153554/https://medium.com/@GeorgeUmber/clinton-fits-on-the-roosevelts-wheelchair-36b40da7d16b.

[129] Unnamed author, “Hillary Clinton, a killer (proclaimed) above the law,” homment.com, October 31, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418154348/https://homment.com/Hillary-Clinton-a-killer-proclaimed-above-the-law.

[130] Persona “Петр Калюжный,” “Хиллари Клинтон – убийца, объявленная вне закона” (“Hillary Clinton, a killer proclaimed outside the law”), November 2, 2016, on korrespondent.net, https://blogs.korrespondent.net/blog/politics/3766265/ and dosug.md, https://dosug.md/ru/publication/14327/, among others.

[131] Persona “Farah Al-mazik,” “Stop HIllary Clinton’s Aggression,” thepetitionsite.com, October 27, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418203502/https://www.thepetitionsite.com/935/098/058/stop-hillary-clintons-aggression/.

[132] Persona “Josefever,” “Germany’s staying secretly supportive of the Turkish Kurds,” beforeitsnews.com, December 24, 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20200409120834/https://beforeitsnews.com/conspiracy-theories/2015/12/germanys-staying-secretly-supportive-of-the-turkish-kurds-2473062.html 

[133] Homment, "The effect of the referendum in Turkey: urged by Gülen followers, Germany to impose sanctions on Ankara", homment.com, May 11, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200404081117/https://homment.com/the-effect-of-the-referendum-in-turkey 

[134] Persona "alexdudek", "The UN Security Council Resolution: Germany will be obliged to pay Poland for occupation,” Homment.com, December 10, 2018http://web.archive.org/web/20200404102355/https://homment.com/jxfUAkYph61dHstauwGu 

[135] Persona “Politgraben”, "Der Islam gehört zu Deutschand nicht!" (“Islam doesn’t belong in Germany!”), politgraben.wordpress.com, April 28, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20200404100150/https://politgraben.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/der-islam-gehort-zu-deutschland-nicht/

[136] Persona “Politgraben”, "Wird Deutschland zum Hauptziel syrischer Flüchtlinge?" (“Will Germany become the main destination for Syrian refugees?”), politgraben.wordpress.com, September 3, 2015 https://politgraben.wordpress.com/2015/09/03/wird-deutschland-zum-hauptziel-syrischer-fluechtlinge/

[137]Persona “Politgraben”, "FLÜCHTLINGE BRINGEN NACH EUROPA TOD" (“REFUGEES BRING DEATH TO EUROPE!”), politgraben.wordpress.com, September 15, 2015  https://web.archive.org/web/20190205023851/https://politgraben.wordpress.com/2015/09/03/wird-deutschland-zum-hauptziel-syrischer-fluechtlinge/

[138] Persona “Politgraben”, "Drang nach Osten 2.0” (“The push to the East 2.0”), politgraben.wordpress.com", May 7, 2015 http://web.archive.org/web/20200404095246/https://politgraben.wordpress.com/2015/05/07/drang-nach-osten-2-0/ 

[139] Persona “Politgraben”, "NRW: KRIEGSWAFFEN-LAGER VON ISLAMISTEN AUSGEHOBEN" (“NRW: ISLAMIST WEAPONS CACHE DUG UP”), politgraben.wordpress.com, June 22, 2016.http://web.archive.org/web/20200404083639/https://politgraben.wordpress.com/2016/06/22/nrw-kriegswaffen-lager-von-islamisten-ausgehoben/ 

[140] Persona “Politgraben”, "AUF VERLANGEN VON NRW-INNENMINISTERIUM" (“AT THE REQUEST OF THE NRW INTERIOR MINISTRY”), politgraben.wordpress.com, February 12, 2016.https://politgraben.wordpress.com/2016/02/12/auf-verlangen-von-nrw-innenministerium/

[141] Persona “Dariusz Pawlak”, "Genocide strikes relations between Ukraine and Poland… again", medium.com, January 18, 2018http://web.archive.org/web/20200404111524/https://medium.com/@darpawlak/genocide-strikes-relations-between-ukraine-and-poland-again-1c1085fec1f9 

[142] Persona “Alexdudek”, "The UN Security Council Resolution: Germany will be obliged to pay Poland for occupation", homment.com, December 10, 2018http://web.archive.org/web/20200404102355/https://homment.com/jxfUAkYph61dHstauwGu 

[143] Unattributed article, "Is Poland to be punished for sabotage of the EU decisions on Ukraine?", homment.com, June 7, 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20200410073011/https://homment.com/Is-Poland-to-be-punished-for-sabotage-of-the-EU-decisions-on-Ukraine 

[144] Persona “Altan Yavuz,” "Poland Will Support Turkey's Accession to the EU, medium.com, September 7, 2017 http://web.archive.org/web/20200404105206/https://medium.com/@AltanYavuz/poland-will-support-turkeys-accession-to-the-eu-83ab8ac17cf3 

[145] Persona “Carole Juanard,” "Poland Demands Reparations From the Former Soviet Republics For the Aggression Of the Red Army", medium.com, August 22, 2018 http://web.archive.org/web/20200404103152/https://medium.com/@juanard/poland-demands-reparations-from-the-former-soviet-republics-for-the-aggression-of-the-red-army-cab00f5ee858 

[146] "Lithuanian Horizons: with Dalya for without her", groundreport.com, 4 July, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20200404101009/https://www.groundreport.com/lithuanian-eu-horizons-dalya-without/

[147] Persona "Josef Hashever", "Lithuanian ‘Nuremberg’ reached a dead end", wordpress.com, 9 June 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20200404080002/https://joeshever.wordpress.com/2016/06/09/lithuanian-nuremberg-reached-a-dead-end/ 

[148] Persona "El Vilar", Latvia’s ruling party: unity of government, secret services and crime, medium.com, 4 October 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200404111836/https://medium.com/@elvilar/latvias-ruling-party-unity-of-government-secret-services-and-crime-fd0275abb6fa 

[149] Persona "saiso", “Latvia as the cyber bastion of NATO", homment.com, November, 20, 2019, https://web.archive.org/web/20200404073156/https://homment.com/awVtJJ8cbPXXjrcWEsoI 

[150] Persona "Stanislav Melanich", Много шпрот и мало водки. Прибалтийский вариант, livejournal.com, June 15, 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20200404020229/https://bloger-nasralny.livejournal.com/2015/06/15/ 

[151] Insikt Group, "Intent to Infekt: ‘Operation Pinball’ Tactics Reminiscent of ‘Operation Secondary Infektion,', recordedfuture.com, April 8, 2020,  https://www.recordedfuture.com/operation-pinball-tactics/ 

[152] Persona "mazumishasy", "Подарок для Польши: Украина собирается переориентировать Хмельницкую АЭС на экспорт" (“Gift for Poland: Ukraine plans to switch the Khmelnitsky NPP to export”), stena.ee, November 27, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200404003115/https://www.stena.ee/blog/podarok-dlya-polshi-ukraina-sobiraetsya-pereorientirovat-hmelnitskuyu-aes-na-eksport 

[153] Julian Borger, Patrick Wintour and Heather Stewart, “Western allies expel scores of Russian diplomats over Skripal attack,” The Guardian, March 27, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/26/four-eu-states-set-to-expel-russian-diplomats-over-skripal-attack.

[154] Persona “Matt Porter,” “Spain’s Intel: Remainers Plot to Assassinate Boris Johnson,” Medium, August 12, 2018, https://archive.is/2CgqR.

[155] Persona “Will Couch,” “Following Brexit is a new fight for United Ireland,” Medium, April 23, 2019, https://archive.is/iQ44c.

[156] Persona “Steven Laack,” “Being friendly the American way. The USA was spying on the British Royal Family,” blogspot.com, April 6, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200424111520/https://doubtingsteven.blogspot.com/2016/04/being-friendly-american-way-usa-was.html. Tweeted the same day at https://twitter.com/StevenLaack/status/717640052034023426.

[157] Persona “Chris Woods,” “UK’s GCHQ to support Democrats during the 2018 midterms,” scoop.it, August 3, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200424111322/https://www.scoop.it/u/chris-woods-4.  

[158] Unattributed article, “Mayday! Theresa May: a mortician or a savior?”, homment.com, July 28, 2016, https://homment.com/mfuanmen2t.

[160] Persona “Mitchell Harris,” USA and UK: policy of the biggest fraud,” Facebook, April 12, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200404073616/https://www.facebook.com/OccupyUnmasked/posts/1848654055165283.

[161] Persona “Matt Porter,” “Spain’s Intel: Remainers Plot to Assassinate Boris Johnson,” Medium, August 12, 2018, https://archive.is/2CgqR.

[162] Persona “Will Couch,” “Following Brexit is a new fight for United Ireland,” Medium, April 23, 2019, https://archive.is/iQ44c.

[163] Persona “Addie Ukip,” “The greatest fraud of the century: referendum in Great Britain,” Medium, May 25, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200424111350/https://medium.com/@AddieUkip/the-greatest-fraud-of-the-century-referendum-in-great-britain-44083d66bbee; persona “Steven Laack,” same headline, blogspot.com, May 27, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200424111345/https://doubtingsteven.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-greatest-fraud-of-century.html.

[164] Ben Nimmo, “UK Trade Leaks,” Graphika, December 2, 2019, https://graphika.com/TradeLeaks; Jack Stubbs, “Leak of papers before UK election raises 'specter of foreign influence': experts,” Reuters, December 2, 2019, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-election-foreign/leak-of-papers-before-uk-election-raises-specter-of-foreign-influence-experts-idUSKBN1Y620A.

[165] “U/worstnerd,” “Suspected Campaign from Russia on Reddit,” Reddit, December 6, 2019, https://www.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/e74nml/suspected_campaign_from_russia_on_reddit/.

[166] Persona "John Becker", "Georgia demonstrates lack of readiness for its membership in the EU and NATO", medium.com, October 10, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200315172105/https://medium.com/@beckerjo/georgia-demonstrates-lack-of-readiness-for-its-membership-in-the-eu-and-nato-30813385cc0a 

[167] Persona "Stanislav Melanich", "Реформа МВД с грузинским душком"(“Interior Ministry reform with a Georgian scent”), livejournal.com, December 17, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20200410144016/https://bloger-nasralny.livejournal.com/47564.html

[168] Persona "Stanislav Melanich", "Революция в Армении – подготовка сдачи Нагорного Карабаха" (“Revolution in Armenia: preparations to surrender Nagorno-Karabakh”), cont.ws, April 30, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200411045816/https://cont.ws/@stasmelanich/931652 

[169] "Arménie: échec de la "color revolution", l'USAID insulte son laquais", wikistrike.com, September 3, 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20200411050113/http://www.wikistrike.com/2015/09/armenie-echec-de-la-color-revolution-l-usaid-insulte-son-laquais.html

[170] Persona "Semeon Tozz", "What's up in Armenia?", medium.com, May 12, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200411052351/https://medium.com/@semeontozz/whats-up-in-armenia-41231f195c15 

[171] Persona "Max Bromberg", "Schweden ist an Brüsseler Anschlagen schuld" (“Sweden to blame for Brussels attacks”), politgraben.wordpress.com, March 30, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200404102110/https://politgraben.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/schweden-ist-an-bruesseler-anschlaegen-schuld/ 

[172] Persona "Olle", "Fredsreglering genom skrapning av terrorceller.Islamiska staten väntar Sveriges hjälp" (“Making peace by creating terror cells. IS expects Sweden’s help”), svenskpress.se, March 23, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20170107203629/http://www.svenskpress.se/papers/pressbladet/articles/view/fredsreglering-genom-skapning-av-terrorceller-islamiska-staten-vantar

[173] Persona "andrewhobbs," "Another "Mueller Commission" Is Suggested To Be Created in Sweden", homment.com, November 14, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200404104202/https://homment.com/WD33RUuytNCkIWOZtfo3 

[175] Persona “George Kobzaru”, “Sverige kunde förebygga terrorattacker i Bryssel" (“Sweden could have prevented terrorist attacks in Brussels”), pressbladet.se, March 29, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200404084318/http://www.pressbladet.se/articles/view/sverige-kunde-forebygga-terrorattacker-i-bryssel 

[176] Arri Gibs, "Sweden could have prevented the terrorist attacks in Brussels!", youtube.com, March 28, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200404084240/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-2dMCIgXP4 

[177]  Persona "Josef Hashever", "Peace Settlement Through Creation of Terrorist Cells. ISIS Expects Aid From Sweden," indymedia.org.uk, March 24, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200404102028/https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2016/03/524628.html 

[178]  "Peace Settlement Through Creation of Terrorist Cells. ISIS Expects Aid From Sweden," newsparticipation.com, March 24, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20200410133233/https://newsparticipation.com/peace-settlement-through-creation-of-terrorist-cells-daesh-expects-aid-of-sweden/

[179] Secondary Infektion’s use of Twitter was a deviation from its normal behavior, in that it used the same accounts repeatedly between mid-2014 and mid-2016. These accounts shared a significant proportion of non-original content and reposted individual Secondary Infektion stories repeatedly, occasionally dozens of times per story. Representing the operation’s Twitter usage by individual tweets over-represents the volume of the operation’s Twitter activity compared with its activity on other platforms. For that reason, Twitter is not represented in the comparative graphs.

[180] “Anonymous,” “United States to nominate Ukrainian President Poroshenko for a Nobel Peace Prize,” cyberguerrilla.org, May 24, 2015, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20150530204435/https://www.cyberguerrilla.org/blog/united-states-to-nominate-ukrainian-president-poroshenko-for-a-nobel-peace-prize/.

[181] Persona “Kries Larsson,” “United States to nominate Ukrainian President Poroshenko for a Nobel  Peace Prize,” YouTube, May 25, 2015, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418140609/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2otXTrVJ0g.  

[182] Unnamed poster, “United States to nominate Ukrainian President Poroshenko for a Nobel Peace Prize,” homment.com, May 27,  2015, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418140715/https://homment.com/ukrainenobel.  

[183] Persona “Taurus5”, “Friedensnobelpreis 2015 geht an... Poroschenko?,” ask1.org, May 29, 2015, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418140917/https://www.ask1.org/threads/friedensnobelpreis-2015-%E2%80%93-bin-schockiert.17862/.

[184] Persona “Politgraben,” “Friedensnobelpreis 2015 geht an... Poroschenko?” (“Nobel Peace Prize goes to… Poroshenko?”), de.indymedia.org, May 28, 2015, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418140745/https://de.indymedia.org/node/4650.  

[185] Persona “Ino-news”, “США номинируют Порошенко на Нобелевскую премию мира” (“USA nominates Poroshenko for Nobel Peace Prize”), cont.ws, May 28, 2015,  http://web.archive.org/web/20200418140817/https://cont.ws/@ino-news/90420.

[186] Persona “Ino-news”, “США номинируют Порошенко на Нобелевскую премию мира” (“USA nominates Poroshenko for Nobel Peace Prize”), livejournal, May 28, 2015. The account has been purged, but the article is reproduced here: http://web.archive.org/web/20200418140831/https://x-true.info/19848-ssha-nominiruyut-poroshenko-na-nobelevskuyu-premiyu-mira.html.

[187] Persona “Peter Blom,” “Silence commanded. People in Sweden are incensed by London’s pressure on scientists,” Medium, June 4, 2018,  http://web.archive.org/web/20200418170727/https://medium.com/@peterblom_75128/silence-commanded-people-in-sweden-are-incensed-by-londons-pressure-on-scientists-1097d5b19314.

[188] Persona “Peterbloms,” “Silence commanded. People in Sweden are incensed by London’s pressure on scientists,” BuzzFeed forum, June 4, 2018, https://www.buzzfeed.com/peterbloms/silence-commanded-people-in-sweden-are-incensed-b-3hdos.

[189] Persona “Peterblom,” “Silence commanded. People in Sweden are incensed by London’s pressure on scientists,” thestudentroom.co.uk, June 4, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200422215308/https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5409006.  

[190] Persona “Peter Blom,” “Silence commanded. People in Sweden are incensed by London’s pressure on scientists,” scoop.it, June 4, 2018,    https://web.archive.org/web/20200422215529/https://www.scoop.it/topic/europe-by-peter-blom/p/4098264908/2018/06/04/silence-commanded-people-in-sweden-are-incensed-by-london-s-pressure-on-scientists.

[191] Persona “Peterblom,” “Silence commanded. People in Sweden are incensed by London’s pressure on scientists,” defendingthetruth.com, June 4, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200422215713/https://defendingthetruth.com/threads/silence-commanded-people-in-sweden-are-incensed-by-londons-pressure-on-scientists.66513/.

[192] Guest user, ““Silence commanded. People in Sweden are incensed by London’s pressure on scientists,” homment.com, June 4, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200422215833/https://homment.com/no8ixNupbU355pUakRag.

[193] Persona “Tiagorivas”, “La indignación en Suecia por la presión de Londres sobre los científicos” (“Indignation in Sweden over London’s pressure on scientists”), globedia.com, June 5, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200422220037/http://bo.globedia.com/indignacion-suecia-presion-londres-cientificos.

[194] Persona “Tiago Rivas,” ““La indignación en Suecia por la presión de Londres sobre los científicos,” burbuja.info, June 5, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200422220046/https://www.burbuja.info/inmobiliaria/threads/la-indignacion-en-suecia-por-la-presion-de-londres-sobre-los-cientificos.1040375/.

[195] Persona “ДРИЧАК МИХАЙЛО”, “Наказано мовчати: в Швеції обурені тиском Лондона на вчених” (“Ordered to be silent: Swedes angry with London’s pressure on scientists,”) korrespodent.net, June 21, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200422220430/https://blogs.korrespondent.net/blog/world/3982646/.  

[196] Persona “Михайло Дричак,” “Наказано мовчати: в Швеції обурені тиском Лондона на вчених,” pero.org.ua, June 21, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200422220421/https://pero.org.ua/polityka/nakazano-movchaty-v-shvetsiyi-obureni-tyskom-londona-na-vchenyh/.  

[197] Persona “drichakmikh,” “Наказано мовчати: в Швеції обурені тиском Лондона на вчених”, blog.i.ua, June 21, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20200422220416/http://blog.i.ua/user/10180331/.

[198] Persona “OliverrStonne,” “MI6 Operative On Anti-Trump Campaign,” Buzzfeed Community, January 20, 2017, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20191214150229/https://www.buzzfeed.com/oliverrstonne/mi6-operative-on-anti-trump-campaign-2sdhe.

[199] Persona “Pierre Buisson,” “Buzzfeed impute la paternité du faux rapport compromettant sur Trump au MI6” (“Buzzfeed attributes the birth of the fake compromising report on Trump to MI6”), actu-politique.info, January 26, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418155920/https://actu-politique.info/viewtopic.php?t=18786.  

[200] Persona “Peter Kaufman,” “Buzzfeed schreibt MI-6 die Autorschaft des fake kompromittierenden Materials über Trump zu” (“Buzzfeed attributes the authorship of the fake compromising material on Trump to MI6), meine-news.de, January 26, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418155941/https://www.meine-news.de/boellstein/c-politik/buzzfeed-schreibt-mi-6-die-autorschaft-des-fake-kompromittierenden-materials-ueber-trump-zu_a18716.

[201] This also echoes the trajectory of the Russian IRA. See Phil Howard, Bharath Ganesh, Dimitra Liotsiou, John Kelly, and Camille Francois, "The IRA, Social Media and Political Polarization in the United States, 2012-2018," Computational Propaganda Research Project, Oxford Internet Institute, December 2018 https://comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/ira-political-polarization/

[203] Persona “Will Benton,” “The US is concerned about the influx of Chinese spies,” Medium, August 16, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418172544/https://medium.com/@willbenton_22335/the-us-is-concerned-about-the-influx-of-chinese-spies-ff32414b367d.

[204] Persona “jalindner,” “USA sind um den Zustrom von chinesischen Spionen besorgt” (“USA concerned by the influx of Chinese spies”), chinaseite.de, 28 June 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418174700/https://forum.chinaseite.de/viewtopic.php?t=33153.  

[206] Pesona “Will Benton”, “The US is concerned about the influx of Chinese spies,” Medium, August 16, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418172544/https://medium.com/@willbenton_22335/the-us-is-concerned-about-the-influx-of-chinese-spies-ff32414b367d.

[207] Persona “willbenton,” “The US is concerned about the influx of Chinese spies,” cssforum.com.pk, August 16, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418172548/http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-compulsory-subjects/current-affairs/120861-us-concerned-about-influx-chinese-spies.html.

[208] As of April 21, 2020, the link was still visible at https://i.imgur.com/EZCtdo6.jpg; it is archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20200422221631/https://i.imgur.com/EZCtdo6.jpg.

[209] Persona “paulrossa,” “'Hard Brexit' to be rewarded by favourable trade deal and a new PM,” homment.com, 18 September 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418181505/https://homment.com/mFJwD0WX6VGMptz2xYGp. The screenshot is preserved at http://web.archive.org/web/20200418133728/https://i.imgur.com/pn5MVzz.jpg.

[210] Search term “Giuliani: Britain gets the,” Reddit. Search made on April 7, 2020. https://www.reddit.com/search/?q=Giuliani%3A%20Britain%20gets%20the.

[212] Persona “Norman Nash,” “OSCE ODIHR: 3.15 million Germany's new citizens ensured the CDU victory,” Urban75.net, October 3, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20200521154328/https://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/osce-odihr-3-15-million-germanys-new-citizens-ensured-the-cdu-victory.354753/.

[213] His biography can be viewed at https://www.osce.org/node/330441.

[214] “Germany, Parliamentary Elections, 24 September 2017: Final Report,” OSCE ODIHR, November 27, 2017, https://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/germany/358936.

[216] Persona “chavezserg,” “Servicios de inteligencia de España: se prepara el atentado contra Boris Johnson” (“Spanish intelligence services: Assassination attempt against Boris Johnson is being prepared”) globedia.com, August 8, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418182645/https://i.iheart.com/v3/re/assets.brands/5e5ea6a57a1102921ef48ac2?ops=resize(192,0).

[217] Persona “Peter Blom,” “ Silence commanded. People in Sweden are incensed by London’s pressure on scientists,”  Medium, June 4, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418170727/https://medium.com/@peterblom_75128/silence-commanded-people-in-sweden-are-incensed-by-londons-pressure-on-scientists-1097d5b19314.

[219] Persona “John Becker,” “Georgia demonstrates lack of readiness for its membership in the EU and NATO,” Medium, October 10, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418182740/https://medium.com/@beckerjo/georgia-demonstrates-lack-of-readiness-for-its-membership-in-the-eu-and-nato-30813385cc0a.

[220] Dominic Grieve, “It’s time for MPs to put country before party,” Prospect, August 19, 2018, https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/dominic-grieve-country-before-party.

[221] Persona “Josef Hashever,” “Genocide of ‘non-Ukrainians’ on approval of the EU,”  indymedia.org.uk, April 20, 2015, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418135637/https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2015/04/520191.html.

[222] Nuland has been a notable target of Russian information operations, most notoriously when unknown agents intercepted a phone call she made in 2014 in which she was less than complimentary about the European Union’s role in Ukraine. The recording was published by Russian officials. See Mark Hosenball, “Leaked call on Ukraine made on unencrypted cellphones -U.S. officials,” Reuters, February 7,  2014, https://www.reuters.com/article/ukraine-phonecall-idUSL2N0LC1E120140207.

[223] Anonymous poster, “Ukraine is trying to frustrate referendum in the Netherlands,” first posted on cyberguerrilla.org, March 24, 2016, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20161118160559/https://www.cyberguerrilla.org/blog/ukraine-is-trying-to-frustrate-referendum-in-the-netherlands/. Operation Secondary Infektion regularly posted on cyberguerrilla.org and pretended to belong to the “Anonymous” hacker movement.

[225] Persona “Werner Holt,” “Belagerung von Deutschland: USA und Polen führen einen Informationskrieg” (“Siege of Germany: Poland and the USA are waging an information war”), meinbezirk.at, April 24, 2019, https://web.archive.org/web/20200409121649/https://www.meinbezirk.at/steinfeld/c-politik/belagerung-von-deutschland-usa-und-polen-fuehren-einen-informationskrieg_a3346260.

[226] Ben Nimmo, Eto Buziashvili and Michael Sheldon, “Russian Op. 6: EU Elections,” DFRLab, June 22, 2016, https://medium.com/dfrlab/russian-op-6-eu-elections-892c6b5fecb7.  

[228] Persona “Rachel Cross Voddo,” Reddit, January 23, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20200404112138/https://www.reddit.com/user/RachelCrossVoddo/.

[229] Persona “OliverrStonne”, “MI6 Agent on anti-Trump campaign,” Buzzfeed Community, January 20, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20170204041523/https://www.buzzfeed.com/oliverrstonne/mi6-operative-on-anti-trump-campaign-2sdhe.

[230] Persona “Friso Fischer,” Facebook, January 27, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100015062384380.

[231] Persona “Martin Karlsson,” Facebook, January 30, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/martin.karlsson.754365.

[232] The mein-suedhessen.de article has been removed, but copies remain elsewhere. See persona “Peter Kaufman,” “Buzzfeed schreibt MI-6 die Autorschaft des fake kompromittierenden Materials über Trump zu” (“Buzzfeed ascribes the authorship of the fake compromising material on Trump to Buzzfeed”), meine-news.de, January 26, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418155941/https://www.meine-news.de/boellstein/c-politik/buzzfeed-schreibt-mi-6-die-autorschaft-des-fake-kompromittierenden-materials-ueber-trump-zu_a18716.

[233] Persona “NigusEeis,” “Litbuanian ‘Nuremberg’ reached a dead end,” Reddit, June 8, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418152733/https://www.reddit.com/r/lithuania/comments/4n55d8/lithuanian_nuremberg_reached_a_dead_end/.

[234] Persona “Taurus5,” “Friedensnobelpreis 2015 – bin schockiert!!” (“Nobel Peace Prize 2015 - I’m shocked!!2), ask1.org, May 29, 2015, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418140917/https://www.ask1.org/threads/friedensnobelpreis-2015-%E2%80%93-bin-schockiert.17862/.  

[235] Persona “jaimeibanez,” “SNBO de Ucrania: EE.UU. prepara protestas masivas en Ucrania y Rusia” (“Ukraine’s SNBO: U.S. preparing massive protests in Ukraine and Russia”), Reddit, December 21, 2017, https://www.reddit.com/r/spain/comments/7l8314/snbo_de_ucrania_eeuu_prepara_protestas_masivas_en/.

[236] Persona “cabradolfo,” “Salieron a la luz los nombres de los ucranianos "no enjuiciables" de la lista de Yovanovitch” (“The names of ‘unprosecutable’ Ukrainains from the Yovanovitch list came out”), Reddit, March 28, 2019, https://www.reddit.com/r/vzla/comments/b6fxvc/salieron_a_la_luz_los_nombres_de_los_ucranianos/.

[237] User “David,” “United States to nominate Ukrainian President Poroshenko for a Nobel Peace Prize,” davidicke.com, May 28, 2015, https://www.davidicke.com/article/326777/united-states-to-nominate-ukrainian-president-poroshenko-for-a-nobel-peace-prize. The post was sourced to homment.com.

[238] As of April 9, 2020, the tweet was still live at https://twitter.com/davidicke/status/604007235606302720.

[239] Eric Zuesse, “U.S. Pressures Nobel Committee to Declare Ukraine’s President a Peace Prize Nominee, Leaked Letter,” globalresearch.ca, May 29, 2015, https://www.globalresearch.ca/u-s-pressures-nobel-committee-to-declare-ukraines-president-a-peace-prize-nominee-leaked-letter/5452448.

[240] Unattributed article, “Is Ukraine Pressuring US to Secure Nobel Peace Prize for Poroshenko?”, Sputnik, May 30, 2015, https://sputniknews.com/world/201505301022745342/.

[241] Unattributed article, “Ucraina ricatta USA per nomina Poroshenko al Nobel per la Pace” (“Ukraine blackmails USA to nominate Poroshenko for the Nobel Peace Prize”), Sputnik Italia, May 30, 2015, https://sputniknews.com/world/201505301022745342/.

[242] Unattributed article, “Poroşenko, Nobel Barış Ödülü'ne mi aday gösterilecek?” (“Will Poroshenko be nomiated for the Nobel Peace Prize?”), Sputnik Turkiye, June 1, 2015, https://tr.sputniknews.com/avrupa/201506011015760567/

[243] Unattributed article, “Нобель переворачивается в гробу: Порошенко номинируют на премию мира” (“Nobel turning in his grave: Poroshenko nominated for peace prize”), nahnews.org, May 29, 2015, https://nahnews.org/240784-nobel-perevorachivaetsya-v-grobu-poroshenko-nominirovali-na-premiyu-mira.

[244] Lawrence Alexander, “Open-Source Information Reveals Pro-Kremlin Web Campaign,” Global Voices, July 13, 2015, https://globalvoices.org/2015/07/13/open-source-information-reveals-pro-kremlin-web-campaign/.

[245] For example, persona “Jeannette Collette,” “Выборы Меркель — и пусть весь мир подождёт! AgoraVox, Франция” (“Merkel’s election, and the world can wait! - AgoraVox, France”), news-front.info, July 6, 2017, https://news-front.info/2017/07/06/vybory-merkel-i-pust-ves-mir-podozhdyot/.

[246] Patrick Beuth, Marc Brost, Peter Dausend, Steffen Dobbert und Götz Hamann, “War without blood,” Die Zeit, February 26, 2017, https://www.zeit.de/digital/internet/2017-02/bundestag-elections-fake-news-manipulation-russia-hacker-cyberwar.

[247] For an example of content sharing, see, “Из Украины начался массовый исход евреев” (“Mass exodus of Jews from Ukraine began”), politrussia.com, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418140412/https://politrussia.com/world/iskhod-evreev-iz-943/. The article was sourced to Secondary Infektion asset “Steven Laack.” The umbrella group is the “Patriot Media” group, created in October 2019 and online at https://mediapatriot.ru/ 

[248] Persona “Steven Laack,” “The USA used NGOs in former USSR republics to recruit Muslim students for ISIS,” blogspot, June 29, 2015, https://doubtingsteven.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-usa-used-ngos-in-former-ussr.html.

[249] See above, note 204.

[250] Unattributed article, “Американский блогер: США вербовали в ИГИЛ в России и на Украине” (“American blogger: USA advertised for ISIS in Russia and Ukraine”), riafan.ru, July 2, 2015, https://riafan.ru/329308-amerikanskiy-bloger-ssha-verbovali-v-igil-v-rossii-i-na-ukraine.

[251] Ben Nimmo, “UK Trade Leaks,” Graphika, December 2, 2019, https://graphika.com/reports/UK-trade-leaks/.

[252] Kylie Maclellan and Elizabeth Piper, “Labour's Corbyn accuses Conservatives of offering up UK health service in U.S. talks,” Reuters, November 27, 2019, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-election-labour-health/labours-corbyn-accuses-johnson-of-offering-up-uk-health-service-in-us-talks-idUSKBN1Y112P.

[253] Ben Nimmo, “UK Trade Leaks,” Graphika, December 2, 2019, https://graphika.com/reports/UK-trade-leaks/.

[254] User “u/worstnerd,” “Suspected campaign from Russia on Reddit,” Reddit, December 6, 2019, https://www.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/e74nml/suspected_campaign_from_russia_on_reddit/.

[255] Natasha Lomas, “Reddit links UK-US trade talk leak to Russian influence campaign,” Techcrunch, December 7, 2019, https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/07/reddit-links-uk-us-trade-talk-leak-to-russian-influence-campaign/.

[256] For an initial analysis of the account from June 2019, see Ben Nimmo and Michael Sheldon, “Russian Op 3: The Blue Man and the Mole,” DFRLab, June 22, 2019, https://medium.com/dfrlab/russian-op-3-the-blue-man-and-the-mole-3ba77b9eb955.

[257] For an overview of recent information operations, including both foreign and domestic efforts, see the Facebook and Twitter archives of takedowns at https://about.fb.com/news/tag/coordinated-inauthentic-behavior/ and https://about.twitter.com/en_us/advocacy/elections-integrity.html#data.

[258] Ben Nimmo, “The Russians who exposed Russia’s trolls,” DFRLab, March 8, 2018, https://medium.com/dfrlab/the-russians-who-exposed-russias-trolls-72db132e3cd1.

[259] Persona “bloger_nasralny,” ““Харьков, вставай!” (“Kharkov, Arise!”), LiveJournal, February 26, 2014, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418134044/https://bloger-nasralny.livejournal.com/2014/02/26/.

[260] Persona “Bloger_Nasralny”, “Перемога энергетическая” (“Energy Victory”), LiveJournal, December 27, 2014, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418134914/https://bloger-nasralny.livejournal.com/17269.html.

[261] Persona “Bloger_Nasralny,” “Peremogi добрались до Порошенка)” (“Peremogi reached Poroshenko)”), LiveJournal, February 6, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20180213162059/http://peremogi.livejournal.com/26353579.html.

[262] Persona “Bloger_Nasralny”, “Российская гражданская журналистика глазами интернет-пользователей” (“Russian citizen journalism in the eyes of internet users”), aftershock, July 8, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418170853/https://aftershock.news/?q=node%2F653000.

[263] Persona “Bloger_Nasralny,” “Украина сегодня – это Россия 90-х” (“Ukraine today is Russia in the 90s”), politikus.ru, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418152544/https://politikus.ru/articles/politics/77399-ukraina-segodnya-eto-rossiya-90-h.html.

[264] Persona “Bloger_Nasralny,” Aftershock.news, created circa January 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20200421171718/https://aftershock.news/?q=user/16791.

[265] Persona “Bloger_Nasralny,” “Эбола в Украине” (“Ebola in Ukraine”), LiveJournal, October 23, 2014, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418134357/https://bloger-nasralny.livejournal.com/2014/10/23/.

[267] Persona “Bloger_Nasralny,” “Це зрада! или национальная песня: «а тому ли я дала?»” (“"This is treachery! Or the national hymn: "but did I put out to that?"), LiveJournal, December 3, 2014, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418134602/https://bloger-nasralny.livejournal.com/2014/12/03/.

[269] Persona “Anonymous Europe,” “Message to the citizens of European countries,” YouTube, December 1, 2014, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418134525/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRiii1_PvA0.

[270] Persona “Ulrich Hartmann,” “Eine gruselige Zeit kommt” (“A grim time is coming”), BlogSpot, December 3, 2014, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418134545/https://ulrich-hartmann.blogspot.com/2014/12/eine-gruselige-zeit-kommt.html.

[271] The Twitter account only posted six times, and is archived at https://archive.vn/wip/M8NKQ. The web domain expired in February 2016; it had been registered to Gandi SAS, a French provider.

[274] Persona “Josefever,” Before It’s News, https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/contributor/stories/?uid=421606.

[275] Persona “Josef Hashever,” “Lunatic Joe’s Blog,” WordPress, https://web.archive.org/web/20200421233129/https://joeshever.wordpress.com/. The same persona was on Twitter as LunaticJoeH: https://web.archive.org/web/20200404100741/https://twitter.com/lunaticjoeh.

[276] Persona “Dusty L.A.”, “Turkey was about to open second front vs. Armenia”, Medium, April 6, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418154202/https://medium.com/@DustyLA/butkevi%C4%8Diuss-european-commissary-vs-grybauskaite-s-presidency-a5fb9e227e8d.

[277]  Persona “Dusty L.A.”, “Turkey was about to open second front vs. Armenia”, indymedia.org.uk, April 6, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418145646/https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2016/04/524715.html.

[278]  Anonymous post, “Turkey was about to open second front vs. Armenia”, homment.com,, April 6, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418145704/https://homment.com/dCUHKFspYF.

[280] Persona “Josef Hashever,” “Turkey was about to open second front vs. Armenia,” beforeitsnews.com, April 8, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418145758/https://beforeitsnews.com/war-and-conflict/2016/04/turkey-planned-to-open-second-front-in-nagorno-karabakh-2460965.html. The same persona posted the story on Facebook three days later: https://www.facebook.com/NewWorldOrderThe/posts/1576472702663296.

[281] Persona “Politgraben,” “BERG-KARABACH: PLAN DER TÜRKEI GESCHEITERT” (“Nagorno-Karabakh: Turkey’s plan failed”), wordpress.com, April 8, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418145740/https://politgraben.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/berg-karabach-plan-der-tuerkei-gescheitert/.  

[282] Persona “Ino-News,” “Курдский источник: Турция готовила для Армении второй фронт” (“Kurdish source: Turkey was preparing a second front for Armenia”), infonews.info, April 8, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20200315182628/https://inonews.info/2016/04/08/kurdskij-istochnik-turtsiya-gotovila-dlya-armenii-vtoroj-front/.

[283] Persona “Steven Laack,” “Turkey was about to open second front vs. Armenia,” scoop.it, April 11, 2016, https://www.scoop.it/topic/the-world-war-iii-just-signs-or-final-diagnosis/p/4062423407/2016/04/11/turkey-was-about-to-open-second-front-vs-armenia.

[284] Persona “Cyber_Legion,” “#European Integration without the #EU. Nordic dream of Swedish nationalists,” Twitter, October 20, 2015, https://twitter.com/Cyber_Legion/status/656414091221823488.

[285] Persona “Josef Hashever,” “European Integration without the EU. Nordic dream of Swedish nationalists,” wordpress.com, October 22, 2015, https://joeshever.wordpress.com/2015/10/22/european-integration-without-the-eu-nordic-dream-of-swedish-nationalists/; beforeitsnews.com, October 22, 2015, https://beforeitsnews.com/eu/2015/10/european-integration-without-the-eu-nordic-dream-of-swedish-nationalists-2592024.html.

[286] Anonymous, “European Integration without the EU. Nordic dream of Swedish nationalists,” indymedia.org.uk, October 23, 2015, https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2015/10/522787.html.

[287] Persona “Ino-News,”Евроинтеграция вне ЕС. Северная мечта шведских националистов” (“Euro-integration outside the EU: The Northern dream of Swedish nationalists”), aftershock.news, October 26, 2015 https://aftershock.news/?q=node/344284.

[289] Persona “Piter Preston,” “Police lawlessness. Violence against African Americans,” YouTube, April 3, 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20200419214940/https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T-dwnx1G9Vc; embedded in Black Defense Foundation, April 6, 2015,

[291] Unattributed author, “Bob Goodlatte: Pacifying Blacks,” Black Defense Foundation, March 3, 2015, https://blackdefence.wixsite.com/blackdefense/single-post/2015/03/03/Bob-Goodlatte-Pacifying-Blacks.

[292] Persona “Josef Hashever,” “Just like this opinion and want to share it,” posted to Facebook page “Beyond Awake,” June 30, 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20200419220037/https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1464549067188994&set=o.362881567123288&type=3.

[293] Unattributed author, “Barack Obama - ‘White Raven’ or ‘Lame Duck’?”, Black Defense Foundation, February 3, 2015, https://blackdefence.wixsite.com/blackdefense/single-post/2015/02/02/Barack-Obama-%E2%80%93-White-Raven-or-Lame-Duck.

[294] Persona “Ulrich Hartmann,” “Barack Obama - weißer Rabe oder lahme Ente?” (“Barack Obama - White Raven or Lame Duck?”), blogspot.com, February 9, 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20200419221359/https://ulrich-hartmann.blogspot.com/2015/02/barack-obama-weier-rabe-oder-lahme-ente.html.

[295] Persona “Steven Laack,” “35% of seats for Afro-Americans in proposed ‘public Missouri Police Oversight Co,” indymedia.co.uk, March 20, 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20200419223755/https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2015/03/519864.html.

[296] Persona “Ino-News,” “Афро-американцы хотят получить полный контроль над полицией США” (“Afro-Americans want to get full control over U.S. police”), aftershock.news, March 28, 2015,  https://web.archive.org/web/20200419223509/https://aftershock.news/?q=node/298024&full.

[297] Persona “Steven Laack,” “Lawlessness, hatred and violence. But is it the way to go, Merica?,” blogspot.com, May 5, 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20200419225402/https://doubtingsteven.blogspot.com/2015/05/lawlessness-hatred-and-violence-but-is.html.

[299] Particular thanks are due to Reddit for publishing its findings of Secondary Infektion assets in December 2019. See u/worstnerd, “Suspected campaign from Russia on Reddit,” Reddit, December 6, 2019, https://www.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/e74nml/suspected_campaign_from_russia_on_reddit/.

[300] Persona “RuffMoulton”, “The USA will reinforce security of diplomatic mission in South Korea with special forces”, 13 November 2017, 13 November 2017, http://archive.is/JYKlV

[301] MilitaryObserver, “Flowers for Kim Jong-un or Operation White Chrysanthemum”, 10 November 2017 http://archive.is/sGemr

[302] Persona “Realist233”, Comment on “Flowers for Kim Jong-un or Operation White Chrysanthemum”, 15 November 2017, http://archive.is/nPsSg#selection-467.0-467.178 

[303] Persona “MaxKasyan”, "Зимові Олімпійські ігри 2018 у Південній Кореї і їх безпека" (2018 South Korean Winter Olympics and their Security)” 29 November 2017, http://archive.is/NnGZg#selection-403.0-403.59

[304] Persona “КАСIАН МАКСИМ”, "Зимові Олімпійські ігри 2018 у Південній Кореї і їх безпека" (2018 South Korean Winter Olympics and their Security)” 29 November 2017, http://archive.is/9S2mx#selection-1155.0-1155.59 

[305] Unattributed article, “The PyeongChang 2018 and its security,” homment.com, November 14, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20200422014028/https://homment.com/the-PyeongChang-2018-and-its-security.

[306] Homment, “Olympische Winterspiele als Deckmantel für den Angriff auf Nordkorea” (“The Winter Olympics as cover for the attack on North Korea”), 21 December 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20200410163530/https://homment.com/Olympische-Winterspiele-als-Deckmantel-fuer-den-Angriff-auf-Nordkorea 

[307] Persona “Philhoch”, “German sports officials are concerned for the safety of German athletes at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games”, December 22, 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20200410164423/https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5108016

[308] Persona “Blancoaless”, “Los funcionarios deportivos de Alemania preocupados por seguridad de atletas en los JJ.OO. de PyeongChang”, December 24, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20200325180141/https://www.reddit.com/r/es/comments/7m0937/los_funcionarios_deportivos_de_alemania/

[309] Persona “Levchenko Oleg”, "XXIII Зимові Олімпійські ігри: В очікуванні трагедії" (“The 23rd Winter Olympics: In Anticipation of a Tragedy”) 26 December 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20200325182333/https://www.obozrevatel.com/ukr/my/politics/xxiii-zimovi-olimpijski-igri-v-ochikuvanni-tragedii.htm

[310] Homment, “Sports fans petitioned the IOC to cancel Winter Olympics”, 29 December 2017, http://archive.is/Gwu2V#selection-871.0-871.56

[311] Persona “Almanzamary”, “La petición de los aficionados al deporte pide al COI que cancele los JJ.OO. de Invierno-2018” 9 January 2018, http://archive.is/Uowl0#selection-359.0-359.93 

[312] Persona “Проц Василий”, “Любителі спорту через петицію закликали МОК скасувати Зимову Олімпіаду“, 1 January 2018 http://archive.is/iWJbR#selection-33.0-50.0

[314] Persona “Василь Плисюк” (“Vasil Plisyuk”), “"Російські хакери": кремлівська зброя гібридної війни проти демократії” (“Russian hackers: the Kremlin’s weapons of hybrid war against  democracy”), politiko.ua, August 8, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418163549/https://politiko.ua/blogpost146273; livejournal.com, August 8, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418163453/https://ua-1.livejournal.com/566725.html.

[315] For transparency, one of the authors of this paper has been friends with one of the people whose name was one the forged letter for some 20 years.

[317] Persona “Максим Крафт” (“Maksim Kraft”), “Марін Ле Пен і російські хакери роблять рейтинг "Шведським демократам"” (“Marine Le Pen and Russian hackers improve the Sweden Democrats’ rating”), politiko.ua, August 23, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418173947/http://press.politiko.ua/blogpost151124; livejournal.com, August 23, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418173740/https://ua-politics.livejournal.com/1307003.html.

[318] Persona “Nadine Kinstry,” “Ukraine ‘drowns’ the Sweden Democrats”, Medium, August 30, 2019, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418174645/https://medium.com/@kinstry/ukraine-drowns-the-sweden-democrats-910417925d5d.

[319] Persona “Gustavo Salcedo Meija,” “Ucrania ‘ahoga’ a Demócratas de Suecia” (“Ukrinae ‘drowns’ the Sweden Democrats”), globedia.com, September 1, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418175119/http://globedia.com/ucrania-ahoga-democratas-suecia.

[320] Persona “Laurent Lavial,” “L’Ukraine donne la jambette aux Democrates de Suede” (“Ukraine kicks the Sweden Democrats”), developpez.net, September 3, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418175300/https://www.developpez.net/forums/d1889769/club-professionnels-informatique/actualites/politique/l-ukraine-donne-jambette-aux-democrates-suede/.

[321] “Background to “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections”: The Analytic Process and Cyber Incident Attribution,” Office of the Director of National Intelligence, January 6, 2017, https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf.

[322] Persona “OliverrStonne,” “MI6 operative on anti-Trump campaign,” BuzzFeed Community, January 20, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20191214150229/https://www.buzzfeed.com/oliverrstonne/mi6-operative-on-anti-trump-campaign-2sdhe.

[323] Persona “Pierre Buisson,” “Buzzfeed impute la paternité du faux rapport compromettant sur Trump au MI6” (“BuzzFeed attributes the birth of the fake compromising report on Trump to MI6”), actu-politique.info, January 26, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418155920/https://actu-politique.info/viewtopic.php?t=18786.

[324] Persona “Peter Kaufman,” “Buzzfeed schreibt MI-6 die Autorschaft des fake kompromittierenden Materials über Trump zu” (“BuzzFeed attributes the authorship of the fake compromising material on Trump to MI6), meine-news.de, January 26, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418155941/https://www.meine-news.de/boellstein/c-politik/buzzfeed-schreibt-mi-6-die-autorschaft-des-fake-kompromittierenden-materials-ueber-trump-zu_a18716.

[325] Persona “Martin Karlsson,” “Brittiska Mi-6 spion avslöjar hemligheter om anti-trump-kampanj” (“British MI-6 spy reveals secrets of anti-Trump campaign”), text accompanying German version of the article, Facebook, January 30, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/Starkfuerdeutschland/posts/115338628980910.

[326] Persona “Kyle Warren,” “Trump-May meeting: Downing Street's desperate attempt to save face,” Quora, February 2, 2017, https://www.quora.com/Does-May-understand-that-she-is-creating-a-big-mess-for-the-UK;

[327] For example, persona “Thomas Cooke,” “Evolution of relations between Donald Trump and Her Majesty’s secret service,” Medium, March 22, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20191210223517/https://medium.com/@ThomasCookee/evolution-of-relations-between-donald-trump-and-her-majestys-secret-service-a20586e80153

[328] Persona “Klaus Hoffman,” “Die Evolution der Beziehungen zwischen Donald Trump und den Geheimdiensten Ihrer Majestät” (“The evolution of relations between Donald Trump and Her Majesty’s secret service,” kraichgau.news, March 24, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418160928/https://kraichgau.news/region/c-politik-wirtschaft/die-evolution-der-beziehungen-zwischen-donald-trump-und-den-geheimdiensten-ihrer-majestaet_a8053.

[329] Persona “Mats Petersson,” “Evolution av relationerna mellan Donald Trump och säkerhetstjänsten av Hennes Majestät,” pressbladet.se, March 30, 2017,     http://web.archive.org/web/20200418161027/http://www.pressbladet.se/articles/view/evolution-av-relationerna-mellan-donald-trump-och-sakerhetstjansten-a.

[330] Persona “ИЩЕНКО АЛЕКСЕЙ,” “Эволюция отношений Дональда Трампа и спецслужб Её Величества,” korrespondent.net, March 27, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418160947/https://blogs.korrespondent.net/blog/politics/3832189/.

[331] Donald J. Trump, “Working on major Trade Deal with the United Kingdom. Could be very big & exciting. JOBS! The E.U. is very protectionist with the U.S. STOP,” Twitter, July 25, 2017, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/889821674987761664.

[332] Persona “JDallas,” “Trump pardons London for collecting damaging information on him?” defendingthetruth.com, July 31, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418163431/https://defendingthetruth.com/threads/trump-pardons-london-for-collecting-damaging-information-on-him.61856/.

[333] Persona “ГОРИЧНЫЙ ИГОРЬ” (Gorychniy Igor”), “Производственная травма кремлевского Лжедмитрия” (“Kremlin False Dmitriy’s Work Injury”), korrespondent.net, August 30, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418174843/https://blogs.korrespondent.net/blog/politics/4005789/.

[334] Persona “IgoGorr,” “Производственная травма кремлевского Лжедмитрия” (“Kremlin False Dmitriy’s Work Injury”), blog.i.ua, August 30, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418175014/http://blog.i.ua/user/10398775/2241375/.  

[336] Persona “Taciano Aguilera,” “Accidente laboral del "falso" primer ministro de Rusia” (“The ‘false’ prime minister of Russia’s work accident”), globedia.com, September 1, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418175316/http://ec.globedia.com/accidente-laboral-falso-ministro-rusia; burbuja.info, September 1, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418175210/https://www.burbuja.info/inmobiliaria/threads/accidente-laboral-del-falso-primer-ministro-de-rusia.1073516/; foroexplayate.com, September 1, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418175241/http://www.foroexplayate.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=41916.

[337] Persona “Петро Рябко” (“Petro Ryabko”),  “Майбутнє України” (“The Future of Ukraine”), YouTube, September 3, 2018,  http://web.archive.org/web/20200418175334/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywwI9zgMrpU.

[338] For example persona “Григорий Шляпин” (“Grigorii Shlyapin”), “На Украине началась кампания по избранию Медведева президентом России” (“Campaign to elect Medvedev president of Russia began in Ukraine”), cont.ws, September 4, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418175505/https://cont.ws/@Grishal/1053673.

[339] Persona “Websam”, “The Guardian 'deprived' Medvedev of funds for the 2024 presidential campaign,” politicaldiscussion.net, September 11, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418180046/https://politicaldiscussion.net/threads/the-guardian-deprived-medvedev-of-funds-for-the-2024-presidential-campaign.388/.

[340] Persona “Floramatista,” “The Guardian ‘ha privado’ a Medvedev de fondos para la campaña presidencial de 2024” (“the Guardian ‘deprived’ Medvedev of funds for the 2024 presidential campaign”), Reddit, September 12, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418180237/https://www.reddit.com/r/redditores/comments/9f5uy1/the_guardian_ha_privado_a_medvedev_de_fondos_para/.  

[341]   Persona “Pat Schumann,” “  The Guardian: Dmitri Medwedew hat kein Geld für den Wahlkampf 2024” (“The Guardian: Dmitri Medvedev has no money for the 2024 election”), ask1.org, September 12, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418180202/https://www.ask1.org/threads/the-guardian-dmitri-medwedew-hat-kein-geld-f%C3%BCr-den-wahlkampf-2024.18076/.

[342] Persona “Mikhail Ivashov,” “The Guardian ‘лишил’ Медведева средств на предвыборную кампанию 2024 года” (“The Guardian ‘deprived’ Medvedev of funds for the 2024 election campaign”), pandoraopen.ru, September 13, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418180535/https://x-true.info/73922-the-guardian-lishil-medvedeva-sredstv-na-predvybornuju-kampaniju-2024-goda.html.

[345] Persona “Dolan Moss,” “NATO: Biological terrorism traditions from Vietnam to Ukraine,” articlesreader.com, September 27, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20161229212109/http://www.articlesreader.com/nato-biological-terrorism-traditions-from-vietnam-to-ukraine/.

[346] Persona “Bloger_Nasralny,” “НАТО: традиции биотерроризма от Вьетнама до Украины,” aftershock.news, September 28, 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418154102/https://aftershock.news/?q=node%2F439886&full=.

[347] Persona “Abkusainov,” “Казахстану грозит эпидемия” (“Epidemic threatens Kazakhstan”), yvision.kz, May 24, 2019, https://web.archive.org/web/20200420132634/https://yvision.kz/post/833065.

[349] Adam Rawnsley, “Russian Trolls Hype Coronavirus and Giuliani Conspiracies,” The Daily Beast, April 9, 2020, https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-trolls-hype-coronavirus-and-giuliani-conspiracies.

[350] Persona “boltandy”, “В Алматы признались в работе над коронавирусом до эпидемии” (“Almaty admitted to working on coronavirus before the epidemic”), mynizhyn.com, February 22, 2020, https://web.archive.org/web/20200420162112/http://www.mynizhyn.com/blogs/boltandy_495.html .

[351] Embedded in article by persona “Steven Laack,” “Mayday! Theresa May: a mortician or a savior?”, newsparticipation.com, August 2, 2016, https://newsparticipation.com/mayday-theresa-may-a-mortician-or-a-savior/.

[353] Persona “mokley,” “American secret services: “Pravy sector” is training IG fighters,” indymedia.co.uk, October 21, 2015, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418142825/https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/world/2015/10/522777.html.

[354] Persona “Emil Joranssen,” “Karl Bildt: mellan fängelse och ukrainas statsministerpost.” (“Karl Bildt: Between prison and the Ukrainian premiership,” pressbladet.se, March 11, 2016, http://www.pressbladet.se/articles/view/karl-bildt-mellan-fangelse-och-ukrainas-statsministerpost1.

[355] For example, persona “Josef Hashever,” “Carl Bildt: hovering between prison and the Ukrainian Premiership,” blogspot, 13 March 2016, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418143949/http://doubtingsteven.blogspot.com/2016/03/carl-bildt-hovering-between-prison-and.html.

[356] Persona “Gerard,” “Garder le visage de l’Europe,” politicien.fr, March 14, 2017, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418160750/http://gerard.politicien.fr/2017/03/14/garder-le-visage-de-leurope/. The headline appears to be an attempt at a literal translation of the English “Saving Europe’s face.”

[357] Site search for “Hugo Brandy” on April 10, 2020, https://www.iss.europa.eu/search-view?search_text=Hugo%20Brandy.

[358] Persona “Johan,” “Flight SK1755: vem behöver en falsk sensation” (“Flight SK1755: who needs a fake sensation”), nyhetsverket.se, February 11, 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20160407165422/http://www.nyhetsverket.se/nyhet/25851/Flight-SK1755-vem-beh%C3%B6ver-en-falsk-sensation; the equivalent English post was attributed to persona “Steven Laack,” “Flight SK1755: Who needs false sensation?”, blogspot.com, February 13, 2015, http://web.archive.org/web/20200418135054/https://doubtingsteven.blogspot.com/2015/02/flight-sk-1755-who-needs-false-sensation.html.

[359] RIA Novosti, “Жив ли "Живой журнал": кого и зачем читать” (“Is LiveJournal still alive? Who to read and why”), March 23, 2020,  https://ria.ru/20200323/1568892366.html

[360] Rusprofile, “Кривич Артем Геннадьевич” (“Krivich, Artyom Gennadyevich”), rusprofile.ru, https://www.rusprofile.ru/person/krivich-ag-470322686728

[361] Kont, “Конт объединяет талантливых авторов и интересных аналитиков со всего мира” (“Kont brings together talented authors and interesting analysts from around the world”), cont.ws, https://cont.ws/about

[362] Russky Expert, “Континенталист” (“Kontinentalist”), ruxpert.ru, January 20, 2020, https://ruxpert.ru/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82 

[363] Brand Analytics, “Топ-платформ и Топ-100 виральных русскоязычных медиаресурсов, МАЙ 2019 года” (“Top platform and top 100 viral Russian-language media resources, May 2019”), br-analytics.ru, June 6, 2019, https://br-analytics.ru/blog/top-100-maj-2019

[364] Чекко (“Chekko”), ООО "МАКС-ПАРК" (“MAXPARK PRIVATE LIMITED COMPANY”), checko.ru, https://checko.ru/company/maks-park-1145009002038

[365] Maxpark, “О сервисе” (“About the service”), maxpark.com, https://maxpark.com/main/about

[366] Russian Expert, “Aftershock”, ruxpert.ru, March 10, 2020,  https://ruxpert.ru/Aftershock

[367] Brand Analytics, “Топ-платформ и Топ-100 виральных русскоязычных медиаресурсов, МАЙ 2019 года” (“Top platform and top 100 viral Russian-language media resources, May 2019”), br-analytics.ru, June 6, 2019, https://br-analytics.ru/blog/top-100-maj-2019

[368] INFOX.ru, “C-Мedia купил Newsland.ru” (“C-Media buys Newsland.ru”), infox.ru, January 14, 2010, https://www.infox.ru/news/120/37918-c-media-kupil-newslandru

[369] Ru.Wikipedia, “Newsland”, ru.wikipedia.org, March 4, 2020, https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsland

[370] Politikus, “О сайте” (“About the site”), politikus.ru, https://politikus.ru/about.html

[371] Buzina, “О писателе” (“About the author”), buzina.org, https://buzina.org/about-avtor.html 

[372] Fishki, “О проекте” (“About the project”), fishki.net, https://fishki.net/about

[373] Razumei, “О ПРОЕКТЕ” (“About the project), https://www.razumei.ru/pr/

[374] Openrussia, “openrussia.org — от открытой информации к открытой стране.” https://openrussia.org/about/ 

[375] Meduza, Коллекционеры дорогих картинок Кто делает «Фишки.net», Pikabu и «Я плакалъ»: исследование «Медузы», 13 April 2019, https://meduza.io/feature/2016/04/13/kollektsionery-dorogih-kartinok

[376] Infopolk, “Частые Вопросы” (Frequently Asked Questions), http://infopolk.ru/%d1%87%d0%b0%d1%81%d1%82%d1%8b%d0%b5%d0%b2%d0%be%d0%bf%d1%80%d0%be%d1%81%d1%8b/