Fake News Flooding Europe? Russia’s Journalist Impersonators May Be Behind It

French journalist Audrey Parmentier is seeking legal action after a completely fabricated news story—published under her name—claimed a non-existent surgeon, François Faivre, “died by suicide” after vowing to expose alleged transgender surgery involving the First Lady of France, Brigitte Macron.

Parmentier, a reporter for StreetPress  and a contributor to Le Monde  confirmed she had no involvement in the story.

The story, part of a wider smear campaign against the Macrons, was traced to a Kremlin-linked disinformation group, Storm-1516, that has been impersonating journalists and spreading fake news via spoofed  media sites across Europe and beyond, researchers at the Gnida Project  found.

I've learned that I've been writing for this fake news outlet since March. It's quite disturbing when you see my photo, my name, and my first name associated with conspiracy theories. I'm a journalist; I have absolutely nothing to do with this content.

Audrey Parmentier

Le Monde

Russia’s war on Ukraine is not only fought on the battlefield. Through its “digital army”, Moscow floods the information space with falsehoods to undermine Ukraine, divide the West, and destabilize democracies.

Who is Storm-1516?

Storm-1516 has been active since August 2023 and has since launched multiple aggressive operations producing “AI-powered disinformation at industrial scale” aimed at discrediting Ukraine and eroding trust across the West. 

The group creates a false narrative, generating deceptively convincing articles and AI-generated videos, relying on its vast network of propagandists and pro-Kremlin voices to push their fake narratives. 

Gnida Project reported that this is the first time Storm-1516 has impersonated real living journalists to spread its propaganda. Although Russia has deployed similar tactics, such as stealing the identities of deceased civilians to create fake profiles of “writers” and "experts" to spread its propaganda.

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The group operates using a strategy known as “Matryoshka”—named after the Russian nesting doll—symbolizing the layered nature of the deception, where each layer hides the origin and true intent.

The actors behind Storm-1516 seek to polarize the democratic debate in our societies, to undermine trust in the media and European institutions, with the ultimate and strategic aim of ending Western aid to Ukraine.

VIGINUM

France's service for vigilance and protection against foreign digital interference

Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) found that Storm-1516 works in three stages:

• A fake whistleblower or journalist releases a video on a custom-built channel

• The content spreads via a network of covertly managed websites

• Pro-Russian officials, expats, and influencers amplify the narrative to seed doubt

Storm-1516 spread a fake hit-and-run story in 2024 about US VP Kamala Harris and a deepfake accusing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz of assault—one video hit 4.3M views before removal.

Fake news stories spread across Europe using stolen identities

Romania

In Moldova, Russian-linked propagandists hijacked the identity of Radu Dumitrescu, editor of Romania Insider, to publish a fake article falsely claiming Chișinău Mayor Ion Ceban accused President Maia Sandu of embezzling $2.6 million in USAID  funds—an effort to sow distrust ahead of key elections.

Dumitrescu has often exposed Russian hybrid operations, and it’s likely his legitimate reporting was used to make the fake story more credible.

As Sandu moves Moldova closer to the EU and Ukraine, Russian disinformation—especially in regions like Gagauzia —is ramping up, flooding the public with forgeries to derail democratic progress.

France

Russian disinformation group Storm-1516 has impersonated multiple French journalists— from Le Monde, Public, Voici, and Stratpol—to fuel its latest smear campaign targeting President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte.

The aforementioned fake report, published on 1 July 2025, about Brigitte Macron’s alleged transgender identity, featured a crime scene video and a fabricated interview with a woman posing as Faivre’s sister. 

The video used years-old footage from the French news agency AFP and AI-generated voices; investigators found no record of the surgeon, and the image used was traced to a Getty stock photo.

The hoax joins a string of bizarre fabrications—including claims that Brigitte Macron is Emmanuel Macron’s blood relative, or that his presidency is the result of a CIA mind-control plot.

Germany

Storm-1516 released a fake article and video in June 2025, accusing German Chancellor Friedrich Merz of illegally killing a polar bear during a hunting trip in Canada.

The video featured a fabricated interview with an “Inuit guide” and falsely claimed Nunavut’s Department of Environment was investigating.

In reality, the “witness” was Johannes Lampe, president of the Nunatsiavut Inuit government, shown in a real 2023 video stripped of context.

Armenia

Armenia is increasingly targeted by coordinated disinformation campaigns—likely in response to its growing ties with Azerbaijan and a shift away from Moscow’s influence.

After Armenia and France announced plans for a strategic partnership, both countries were hit by overlapping fake news efforts.

In June, pro-Kremlin outlets impersonated French journalists from Public and Voici, falsely claiming French nuclear firm Orano would dump nuclear waste in an Armenian national park.

Following Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to Türkiye, disinformation channels spread a fake story accusing his wife of spending $100,000 on a luxury Turkish vacation. 

Pashinyan has been a repeated target: in April 2025, a false rape allegation surfaced on TikTok, and fake French sites claimed he bought a villa in France using laundered aid money.

One of the same disinfo sources—OdaTV contributor Okay Deprem—previously pushed a debunked 2024 claim that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy bought a hotel and casino.

Norway

A fake website posing as an “environmental NGO” published a video in June 2025 claiming that there was a mass death of wildlife caused by a high concentration of deuterium in the Nitelva river in Norway.

The video went on to suggest that the alleged contamination could force the cancellation of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). The Gnida Project believes the motive behind the campaign was Russia's snub at hosting the forum. 

Russia submitted a bid in 2020 to host the IGF and claimed organizers had confirmed it would take place there. However, in April 2023, Norway launched its own bid, and by the end of that year, it was selected. The IGF was held in Oslo from 23 to 27 June 2025.

These are cognitive special operations that go beyond mere propaganda..we need to acknowledge an uncomfortable truth: we are already in a cognitive war. This war is fought at the speed of algorithms; its battlefronts are our minds and information spaces.

European policy centre

Who are Storm-1516’s key figures?

John Mark Dougan

In June 2025, US-based fact-checker NewsGuard named John Mark Dougan—an ex-Florida deputy sheriff who fled to Moscow—its “2024 Disinformer of the Year.”

Dougan engineered Storm‑1516, a Kremlin-linked disinformation network behind over 171 fake news sites and 32 false narratives, racking up over 67 million views in 16 languages—reaching audiences worldwide and even influencing US congressional debate.

Investigations have tied Dougan directly to Russia’s GRU  military intelligence. A Washington Post report, citing European intelligence documents, found that GRU operatives funded and coordinated Storm‑1516’s activities.

Dougan builds fake websites, populates them with AI-rewritten articles, then adds custom fake news stories tailored for disinformation campaigns. As the German investigative journalism center Correctiv reported, he plays a central role in pushing Kremlin propaganda.

In France alone, NewsGuard tracked five major Storm‑1516 hoaxes between December 2024 and March 2025, generating 55.8 million views and nearly 39,000 shares—all tied to Dougan’s operation.

Alina Lipp

Alina Lipp, a German citizen with nearly 180,000 followers on Telegram, “News from Russia and Donbas,” runs one of the most popular Russian propaganda outlets in Germany. She has spread multiple disinformation campaigns outlined above.

Lipp promotes pro-Kremlin narratives, using divisive language like “special military operation,” “denazification of Ukraine,” and “liberation of Donbas.” She has been investigated in Germany for allegedly bypassing EU sanctions by receiving payments and donations.

Lipp is also a co-founder of the “Welcome to Russia” foundation, which assists foreigners in relocating to Russia.

Lucas Leiroz

Lucas Leiroz is a key amplifier of Kremlin-linked disinformation from the “Foundation to Battle Injustice” (R-BFI), founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin—leader of the Russian PMC Wagner Group until his 2023 demise—and run by Mira Terada, a former US prisoner narrowly avoiding a drug trafficking conviction.

Leiroz, a self-styled war correspondent with nearly 18,000 Twitter followers, boasts of being “proudly blacklisted by the US State [sic] Departmaent” (sic)—notice the poor spelling.

Terada, Prigozhin’s protégé, plays a central role in Russia’s info warfare, pushing aggressive falsehoods like the claim Germany plans to legalize paedophilia.

R-BFI posts the stories, Leiroz reposts on vtforeignpolicy[.]com, and the narratives—often tied to Storm-1516 campaigns—spread via social media reports the Gnida Project.

Leiroz founded Brazil’s far-right Nova Resistência, aligned with Putin’s ideologists Alexander Dugin’s Eurasianist vision. Its leader, Raphael Machado, was recently linked to the Kremlin's disinfo hub, the Social Design Agency, behind the Doppelgänger operations.

Leiroz acts as an “expert” for Russia’s fake Global Fact-Checking Network, pushed by Russia’s state-owned news agency TASS. He also writes for the banned Kremlin mouthpiece RT (Russia Today). Alongside Terada, he heads BRICS  cooperation committee and runs the BRICS Journalists Association.

“Russian information manipulation operation Storm-1516 reveals a sobering truth: we are under sustained cognitive attack by state actors operating at an unprecedented level of sophistication,” the EU think tank European Policy Centre said.

French disinfo watchdog VIGINUM considers Storm-1516’s activities “meet the criteria of foreign digital interference, and represent a significant threat to the French and European digital public debate.”

VIGINUM labels Storm-1516 a “significant threat” to European digital debate. France strongly condemns Russia’s destabilizing campaigns, and Storm-1516’s actions make Russia unworthy of a UN Security Council seat. 

French authorities urge social media platforms to take responsibility in fighting this foreign interference, affirming that no manipulation will deter France’s support for Ukraine against Russia’s war of aggression.