Why is Paris targets « Storm-1516 », the Russian campaign against Ukraine, France and its allies-Liberation

A week after having publicly awarded a series of cyber attacksincluding the hacking of the 2017 Macron campaign in the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU, Paris is lambling Moscow again, this time on the field of information manipulations. In a press release published this Tuesday, May 6 In the evening, the Quai d’Orsay denounces the « Russian actors » of an ecosystem called Storm-1516, a « Operating mode implemented by Russia as part of its information war ”and condemns « Destabilizing activities (…) unworthy of a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council ». « No attempted manipulation will divert France from the support it gives to Ukraine in the face of the Russian war of aggression »concludes the press release. « The European public debate is pounded by disinformation campaigns, led by Russian actors and relayed in particular by the US extreme right »reacted the minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, to AFP.

In support of this denunciation, Viginum, the service of the State responsible for tracking down « foreign digital interference », posted online A report of around forty pages devoted to this actor, including « The main objective (…) seems above all to discredit the Ukrainian government »but who also targets « Directly European leaders and their entourage, especially during electoral periods ». All using content generated by artificial intelligence, videos or photos, and even in certain cases of hiring of amateur actors. And with significant visibility: where many Russian or prorussian disinformation operations remain in limbo, some of the « Narratives » of Storm-1516 can reach « Several million, even tens of millions of views accumulated on X ».

In recent months, it is in fact mainly in electoral contexts that this group has been talked about. In the United States, in September, Microsoft awarded him fake news aimed at disrupting the campaign of the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz; At the end of February, the German government denounced its attempts to parasitize the federal elections, documented, in particular, by media Corrective. In mid-April, the American start-up against disinformation Newsguard has documented five « Infox » Targeting France, some of which have made its way to the training data of certain generative artificial intelligence tools … But the group was also pointed out, last summer, by a video that staged an alleged member of Hamas threatening the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Of the 77 operations attributed to Storm-1516 on which Viginum worked, almost half relates to Ukraine, whether they target the government in general, President Volodymyr Zelensky in particular or his entourage. The others target the United States, Germany, France (including an imitation of the overall campaign site for anticipated legislative elections, promising 100 euros for voters, at the time « Beginning » by AFP) but also the Russian opposition in exile. The report details the propagation mechanics, since first-time accountors-disposable accounts on social networks but also, more and more often, paid third parties, including influencers from the American far right-to the end of the chain relay, Russian state media, embassies accounts on social networks or other disinformation ecosystems, such as RRN-Doppelgänger Or The network of Portal Kombat websites. And by passing, in many cases, by a stage of « whitening » via the spaces of « sponsored » content of foreign media « Mainly established in Africa or the Middle East ». Storm-1516 also took advantage of the comments of a handful of alt-right media media, of which Breitbart and Fox News.

The report also linger on coordination or even« Nesting » of Storm-1516 with other Russian actors in manipulation of information. So, « In at least two cases »the initial broadcast came from X accounts linked to the Lakhta project, the media and « trolls » ecosystem set up by the late Evgueni Prigojine, the creator of the Mercenarius Wagner company. And for almost a quarter of the campaigns, it was provided by social media accounts or websites linked to an ecosystem managed by the former American-sheriff John Mark Dougan, who now lives in Moscow. According to a survey by Washington Post published in OctoberDougan would regularly participate in meetings with the director of the Center for Geopolitical Studies, a think tank created by The nationalist ideologist Alexandre Douguineand with a man identified as an officer of unit 29 155 of GRU, Youry Khorochenky. According to the American daily, Dougan was directly funded by Khorochenky.

Remains, as always, even beyond the visibility of such campaigns, the question of their effects. « If the real impact (of Storm-1516) on the digital public debate remains difficult to estimate, Viginum observes that many propagated narratives (…) have reached very important visibility online, and that they are sometimes taken up, unconsciously or opportunistic, by leading personalities and political representatives »concludes the report. For the agency, the maneuvers of this entity « Represent an important threat to the digital public debate, both in France and in all European countries ».