Russian campaign sinks the online space: What is “Storm-1516” that has reached Serbia?
Since the beginning of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife Olena have been targets of Russian propaganda and disinformation in the media and on social networks. In various waves of manipulation that are building a narrative about their luxurious lifestyle during the war, claims spread in Serbian language stating that Zelenskyy had bought two luxury yachts, Hitler’s Mercedes, and Olena Zelenska a Bugatti car worth millions of euros. These claims came from fake websites, along with deepfake videos, photoshopped “evidence” and “sources” that were non-existent people. The French state agency for countering disinformation, Viginum, announced that such disinformation is part of a Russian information manipulation campaign set called “Storm-1516”, which aims to discredit Ukrainian authorities, likely to lead to the suspension of Western support to Kyiv. The target of this Russian “storm” is not only Ukraine – it also includes U.S. elections, EU elections, and its member states.
Since 2023, the French state agency Viginum has been monitoring a set of information manipulation set called “Storm-1516” (also known by Microsoft’s nickname “Neva Flood”). Viginum’s report is based on the analysis of 77 operations conducted from August 2023 to March 5, 2025, in which Viginum uncovers the Kremlin’s attempt to undermine trust in Ukraine and Western democracies, primarily ahead of key elections in Europe and the U.S.
The primary target of the campaign is Ukraine: 35 operations depicted President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his family as corrupt billionaires squandering Western aid.
For example, claims spread that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “purchased two luxury yachts worth 75 million euros”. Although Serbia and Serbian media are not mentioned in Viginum’s report, similar claims were detected by Istinomer in December 2023, which assessed them as misleading, alleging that Zelenskyy “used donations from the United States and the European Union meant for Ukraine” to make this purchase, and that “the transaction was approved by the Mediterranean Yacht Brokers Association”.
Among the disinformation identified by Viginum, part of the “Storm-1516” information campaign, was the claim that the wife of the Ukrainian president, Olena Zelenska, bought a luxury car – an expensive Bugatti worth millions of euros. In the summer of 2024, such claims were also spread as “news” by both Serbian and Russian media in Serbian. Istinomer had already written that this was a package of disinformation containing fake websites, deepfake videos, photoshopped “evidence” and non-existent people.
“Storm-1516’s main objective is very likely to be to discredit the Ukrainian government, most likely to lead to the suspension of Western aid to Ukraine in the context of Russia’s invasion of its territory”, writes the French agency in its report.
Paris, Berlin, Washington, and the Russian opposition also targets of Russian disinformation
It wasn’t just Ukraine that came under the fire of Russian “storm” disinformation. France, Germany, and the United States were also targeted, especially during electoral processes that took place in these countries in recent times.
Through the disinformation campaign, conspiracy theories were also spread against the U.S. administration in the 2024 presidential elections, as Viginum states, “with the aim of instilling the idea that the FBI had bugged one of Donald Trump’s properties, that Washington was directly funding the Russian opposition, and that Barack Obama was involved in the assassination attempt against Donald Trump on 13 July 2024”.
The French agency’s report highlights that the “Storm-1516” set was also used for the June 2024 European Parliament elections, the 2024 French snap parliamentary elections, the U.S. elections at the end of 2024, and the February 2025 German elections.
As an example of Russian disinformation’s impact on European political terrain, Viginum mentions a YouTube video in which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is accused of helping a Russian metallurgy company circumvent European sanctions imposed on Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. “The video, which featured a fake activist from the German environmental party Die Grünen, was then amplified by accounts with a large audience on X”, writes Viginum.
Viral posts tied to the Kremlin were also identified by this French disinformation agency, and it notes that the “Storm-1516” set frequently spreads deepfake content and videos of varying quality, sometimes using amateur actors.
Viginum has identified operations, which, it states with a high level of confidence, can be attributed to the “Storm-1516” set, targeting Russian opposition in exile, specifically individuals connected to Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, a Russian opposition figure who died in prison in February 2024.
Steps of the Russian “Storm”
The “Storm-1516” operation, as Viginum writes, uses “a wide range of content to broadcast their narratives, including photo and video montages, fake news reports, videos and audios very likely generated using generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, and videos likely involving amateur actors”. This content, the report adds, includes texts and voices in French, English, Ukrainian, German, Spanish, and Arabic.
In the manipulation distribution chain within the “Storm-1516” set, according to Viginum, the initial distribution of content is carried out via anonymous (“burner”) accounts controlled by operatives or paid accounts. This process, writes the French agency, is followed by “laundering” the narrative through foreign media. Manipulations are then amplified by networks of pro-Russian actors and other systems like “Storm-1516”.
Viginum’s investigations confirm “the involvement of individuals and organizations close to the Russian government, including John Mark Dugan, a former U.S. police officer exiled in Russia, as well as members of the Prigozhin and Dugin ecosystems”.
Yevgeny Prigozhin was the leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, who died in a plane crash in August 2023. Alexander Dugin is a Russian philosopher close to the Kremlin and a frequently cited figure in mainstream Serbian media.
In mid-march of this year, Dugin spoke for Politika about a “colour revolution” that globalist, left-liberal forces intend to carry out in Serbia.
“These protests are organized by Serbia’s enemies, and it is sad that Serbs are switching sides and thus serving Soros, Ursula von der Leyen, and other satanic structures that now, unfortunately, dominate the EU”, Dugin said for Politika while discussing events in Serbia.
The French agency Viginum also reports having obtained additional information about Yuri Khorshenky, “a potential officer of the GRU Unit 29155, who has been publicly accused of financing and coordinating the ‘Storm-1516’ operation”.
Viginum concludes that “Storm-1516” meets the criteria for “foreign digital interference” and represents “a significant threat” to public debate in France as well as in all other EU countries.