The analysis found that a network dubbed “Storm-1516” — which has a history of producing staged videos and deepfakes that parrot the Kremlin’s propaganda – has close connections with a group created by the late Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin.

The Russian Foundation to Battle Injustice (R-FBI), founded by the former Wagner mercenary boss in 2021, is part of a multi-pronged disinformation effort that has increasingly pivoted from false claims about the Ukraine war to focus on the 2024 US presidential election. The group, which casts itself as a “human rights” organization, is led by Mira Terada, a Russian woman who served more than two years in a US prison on money laundering charges.

The R-FBI organization and the Storm-1516 campaign are among a multitude of active Russian disinformation efforts, many of them overlapping, according to US and European intelligence sources. They use American and foreign social media influencers to promote propaganda and disinformation in the West.

In recent weeks, the network has invented stories out of whole cloth targeting Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. They range from fabricated claims that Harris was responsible for a hit-and-run in San Francisco and shot an endangered rhino while on safari in Zambia, to a baseless allegation that Walz sexually assaulted a student.

The Harris campaign has previously expressed concern that media coverage could amplify false Russian claims. Responding to a request for comment on the Russian disinformation narratives attacking Harris and Walz, Morgan Finkelstein, national security spokesperson for the campaign, said: “Vladimir Putin wants Donald Trump to win because he knows Trump will roll over and give him anything he wants. We condemn in the strongest terms any effort by foreign actors to interfere in U.S. elections.”

NBC and Wired have also covered the narratives, attributing them to Storm-1516.

Clemson said it was able to connect Storm-1516 to R-FBI by using scraped data and social listening software to analyze their historical, technical and organizational ties.

“We have found Storm-1516 to be tightly connected to the Russian Foundation to Battle Injustice (R-FBI). Their behavior is much too closely linked than would reasonably occur by accident or simple correlation in aims,” Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren, co-directors of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub, wrote in their report published Wednesday. “R-FBI affiliated individuals also frequently share Storm-1516 narratives on their own blogs or news pages. All of this is done at strategic times and routine rates not possible by chance.”

The disinformation campaign has ramped up ahead of the November 5 election, and as US intelligence agencies warn of a major Russian government-backed effort to influence the vote in favor of former US president Donald Trump, who they assess is the Kremlin’s preferred choice. The Biden administration in September announced a sweeping set of actions to tackle the Russian campaign, including unveiling criminal charges against two Russian nationals, sanctions on 10 individuals and entities, and the seizure of 32 internet domains.

Warren and Linvill note that the themes and methods used by Storm-1516 and R-FBI are consistent with those deployed by Prigozhin’s now defunct Internet Research Agency (IRA), widely known as Russia’s troll factory.

One of the recent fake Storm-1516 videos, which was shared by R-FBI network members, showed a man alleging an endangered black rhino was killed during a “diplomatic visit” to Zambia. “It was a female American politician. Her name was Kamala,” the ranger said, claiming that she shot a young rhino while on safari at North Luangwa National Park, and the incident was “swept under the rug.”

Another staged video attributed to the network featured a young woman claiming that Harris paralyzed her in a hit-and-run in San Francisco in 2011. US intelligence agencies assessed that a Russian operation produced the video. Like other disinformation that has gained traction, the video appeared to be staged with an actor rather than manipulated using AI. It was shared by a fake news outlet, “KBSF-TV.”

Many of the websites associated with the Russian disinformation network sound like American media outlets, with names such as The Miami Chronicle, The Boston Times and DC Weekly – a technique that was also used by the IRA.

But they are just fronts for narratives invented in St. Petersburg, where Wagner has its headquarters – an office also used by R-FBI, according to Russian media reports.

Influencers linked to R-FBI come from around the world and, according to Clemson, are often the first social media accounts identified “sharing specific Storm-1516 narratives.”

One American has been actively involved in spreading the fake stories: John Mark Dougan, a former Florida sheriff’s deputy who fled to Moscow in 2016 after facing felony charges of wiretapping and extortion in the US. Granted asylum in Russia, Dougan has become a vocal player in the Kremlin’s disinformation ecosystem, but a senior European intelligence official says he is a small cog in a much larger wheel.

Dougan is part of a constellation of characters promoting pro-Russia talking points through fake videos and websites. A Clemson report last year connected Dougan to the fake news website DC Weekly through a domain and internet protocol address shared by his personal website and two sites marketing his books. The use of real people is a departure from tactics used by Prigozhin’s IRA, which often distributed disinformation through bot networks, but much of the messaging is the same.

An official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) told reporters last week that the content contained “several indicators of manipulation that are consistent with the influence efforts and tactics with Russian actors.” The US State Department said there was no record of a Kazakh exchange student at the Minnesota school at that time.

On October 24, the same X account carried fake video purporting to show an individual ripping up mail-in ballots for Trump in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Within three hours it was reposted tens of thousands of times.

Local election officials swiftly debunked the video. A day later, the ODNI, FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said the video had been manufactured and amplified by Russian actors. Linvill said Clemson identified the video as a Storm-1516 narrative based on the way it was produced and distributed, adding: “It’s gonna be a rough couple of weeks.”

In an analysis of 25,000 fake stories posted by Storm-1516 and websites affiliated with Dougan between July 2023 and February 2024, Clemson researchers found just 49 included three or more images or video. Of those 57% were identified as Storm-1516 narratives, and 27% were stories from the R-FBI, showing a shared ecosystem.

“While there is no evidence Dougan is responsible for the creation of the narratives themselves, he claims responsibility for a series of AI-generated, fake news websites that have been used to covertly disseminate Storm-1516 messages,” Clemson said in their report.

‘Centralized and orchestrated from above’

In May 2021, Mira Terada arrived at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport, after serving jail time in the US. She was greeted by one of Prigozhin’s closest aides, Maxim Shugaley, who presented her with flowers, according to a video posted on his Telegram account.

Shortly after, Terada announced she would head up Prigozhin’s R-FBI (its name a nod to the Federal Bureau of Investigation adding him to its most-wanted list). The organization describes itself as a “independent non-profit organization supported by private donations from Russian citizens” and publishes content in Russian, English, German, and French.

Once known as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “chef,” Prigozhin ran the Wagner paramilitary force before falling foul of the Kremlin and leading a short-lived mutiny in June 2023. He died in a mysterious plane crash two months later, but his influence still looms large.

Terada attended the headquarters’ opening in November 2022 along with other key figures in Russia’s information landscape: Konstantin Pridybaylo, a prominent journalist with state media outlet RT, and Ruslan Ostashko, a Russian TV presenter whose Telegram channel has nearly half a million subscribers.

The Biden administration has sought to blunt RT’s influence ahead of the elections and expose what it says is the Russian state media network’s key role in the Kremlin’s global intelligence and influence operations. In September, the US Justice Department charged two RT employees for covertly funneling nearly $10 million into a US company to create and amplify content that aligned with Russian interests.

Still, Gerard says that R-FBI and other Russian operations are unlikely to influence the outcome of the US election. “Their goal is less ambitious. They simply want the international community to believe that they have the power to influence, to destabilize. They want to be spoken about,” he said.

To that end, Terada has gathered a network of would-be influencers to propagate a range of false stories. She also chairs the BRICS Journalists Association (BJA), which includes foreign reporters in Russian allied states.

Terada has appeared with those reporters, and John Mark Dougan, at media events and conferences. In March – in one of several public appearances together – she stood with Dougan at the launch of his book “Betrayal of the Truth,” and quoted the Russian ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugin as saying the book was a “way to convey the truth about the incredible crimes of American globalist minorities against humanity.”

Last week, The Washington Post reported that Dougan had connections with Dugin’s Moscow institute, the Center for Geopolitical Expertise, and cited documents obtained by a European intelligence service that it said showed Dougan was provided funding by an officer from the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service.

Another prominent figure in propagating Russian disinformation is American Tara Reade, a former Senate staffer who in 2020 accused then-presidential candidate Joe Biden of sexual harassment.

Reade defected to Russia in 2023 and became a contributor to RT. She has shared Storm-1516 narratives on her X profile 32 times over the last year, and has appeared on the R-FBI website six times, according to Clemson.

The links between Terada’s group and other Russian disinformation efforts are at best opaque, which is likely no accident. The Kremlin has opted for nodes of activity, some closely related to the state’s intelligence services, others less so.

“It’s very centralized and orchestrated from above, but it can sometimes be chaotic and less coherent. There are actors that take their own initiative… and it’s hard to tell sometimes if individuals are acting alone or as a part of a group.”

The Clemson researchers also acknowledge the challenges in establishing the exact organizational relationship between Storm-1516 and R-FBI, but said they were part of a “common structure.”

“The Storm-1516 narratives have had the biggest impact of any Russian disinformation operation the last four years… It means that whoever’s behind Storm-1516 is the most impactful actor. And the strongest evidence that I have is that an entity, either in or behind the R-FBI, is behind Storm-1516,” Warren said.

Sean Lyngaas contributed reporting.

Clemson researchers gathered the full set of R-FBI reports by scraping their website and used qualitative hand coding of individual R-FBI reports to organize them into categories and then counted those over time. To document the connections between the R-FBI influencers and the R-FBI and Storm-1516, researchers used the scraped data from the R-FBI website to find all mentions of those personalities and their full account histories on X (from Sprinklr) to measure how often and early they shared Storm-1516 and R-FBI content.

All the honorees will receive a grant along with organizational and capacity-building support from The Elevate Prize Foundation. They will also attend the foundation’s third annual Make Good Famous Summit in Miami.

Ron Davis Alvarez: New life through music

“We all need to learn from each other. We are an orchestra for everyone.”

Alvarez grew up in the favelas of Caracas, Venezuela. At 10, he joined El Sistema, a globally acclaimed program providing free classical music training to children from under-resourced communities. “I fell in love with music from my first class,” he said.

By 14, he was teaching classes; by 16, he was conducting. Eventually, Alvarez worked for El Sistema to help spread their innovative teaching methods worldwide. It was this work that led him to first visit Sweden in 2015.

Alvarez was in Stockholm just as unprecedented numbers of refugees were arriving in the country, most from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He was struck by their plight and wanted to help. After moving to Gothenburg the following year, he created a music group for refugees and started with 13 students. He knew playing music together would help them make friends, express themselves, and rebuild their self-esteem. He named the group the Dream Orchestra to emphasize their potential.

Eight years later, the program has more than 300 members, from 3 to 56 years old, of more than 25 nationalities. While many are immigrants and refugees, the group also includes many second-generation immigrants as well as native Swedes.

Stephen Knight: Saving the lives of dogs and their owners

“When somebody makes that decision to go into treatment, it’s one of the biggest decisions, the bravest decisions, they’ll make.”

In 2011, when Knight was 51 years old, he had lost everything to meth addiction – his family, his job, his home, and nearly his life. HIV positive and living out of his car, Knight entered rehab at the behest of his mother.

Eight months into recovery, Knight answered the door of his sober living apartment to find a friend in tears. She had relapsed, and in her arms was a 15-pound Maltese/Dachshund mix named Jayde. Knight’s friend said no one would take Jayde, and she asked Knight for a ride to a shelter so she could surrender her.

Instead, Knight became a dog dad to Jayde. He soon learned that other people struggled to find temporary homes for their beloved pets when they needed to enter rehab, often delaying or forgoing substance abuse treatment because of it.

Today, Knight and his organization, Dogs Matter, provide foster care for pets while their owners are in rehab. They vet applicants, conduct animal behavior assessments, and execute contracts that require participants to stick to their recovery plan and complete a 12-month post-release wraparound program. His nonprofit has helped more than 1,200 dogs and their owners.

Payton McGriff: Empowering girls and elevating women

“Talent and resilience and resourcefulness is so equally distributed worldwide, but opportunity is not.”

A marketing major, McGriff was pursuing her dream job in business when she took an entrepreneurship class her senior year at the University of Idaho. Tasked with creating a business or nonprofit, she remembered reading that many impoverished families who want to educate their daughters can’t afford tuition fees, school supplies, and the uniform mandated in many countries.

She connected with her professor, who encouraged her to join a spring break trip to his home country of Togo. There, she saw first-hand the reality of what girls faced and sought solutions. “A uniform is typically one of the more expensive pieces,” McGriff said. “They can be one of the most cost-effective ways to keep girls in school.”

Ultimately, McGriff founded Style Her Empowered, known as SHE. In their first year, the group hired local seamstresses in Togo and provided uniforms and school fees to 65 girls. But the girls quickly outgrew their uniforms. That problem led to her team’s creation of ‘the uniform that grows.’ Designed by the seamstresses – with input from the students, McGriff, and others – the dress now has adjustable elements that create a tailored fit for every body type and enable it to grow up to a foot in length. The uniform can fit a girl for up to three years, adjusting six sizes; when outgrown, it can be handed down to younger girls.

Today, SHE provides 1,500 girls a year in Togo with free uniforms, school fees, supplies, tutoring, and much more, while also bringing opportunities and education to the women they employ.

Rachel Rutter: Supporting ‘the newest newcomers’

“They’ve already been through so much trauma, it can be jarring when they arrive here and realize that it’s really just beginning.”

As an immigration lawyer who works closely with unaccompanied migrant children, Rutter knows how long and difficult their journeys are and the desperate situations they are fleeing. Early on, she saw the hurdles her young clients had to overcome after arriving in the US. They lacked stable housing and consistent meals and needed mental health and academic support.

“I saw that these kids don’t just need legal status, they also need all of these other things if they’re going to really heal and be successful,” Rutter said.

Compelled to fill in those gaps, she created Project Libertad in 2015. The nonprofit provides free legal representation, essential and social services, and newcomer support programs to immigrant youth. The organization has assisted more than 1,100 individuals, representing more than 90 young people in immigration cases.

Through their Immigrant Children’s Defense Project, Rutter and her group protect vulnerable youth across Pennsylvania, helping them apply for immigration status and representing in court those who are facing deportation.

Yamilée Toussaint: Lighting up the stage with STEM

“I just started to wonder about a world where the benefits that you get from dance can lead to the outcomes that we’re looking for in STEM.”

Growing up, Toussaint had a love for math but says the dance studio was her “home away from home.” This dual passion led her to study mechanical engineering at MIT, where she was also head of the dance team. She noticed that she was one of only two Black women in her major. Later, while teaching high school math, she became determined to empower girls of color to get excited about science, technology, engineering, and math.

In 2012, she created STEM From Dance, a nonprofit program that combines dance with STEM education to make these subjects more engaging and accessible. Today, the program works with girls of color ages 8 to 18 in nine cities across the US and is free to its participants.

The organization’s school and summer programs typically attract girls who identify as dancers but are hesitant about STEM. Through the supportive community and hands-on projects, the girls begin to see themselves as programmers, engineers, and innovators.

“Through dance, we’re able to create this atmosphere that feels comfortable,” Toussaint said. “And with that space, we’re able to introduce something that feels kind of intimidating.”

Working in small groups, the girls choreograph dance routines that include STEM elements, such as LED light strips that they code to light up with the music. The girls also create songs through computer science that they incorporate into their performance. To date, more than 2,000 girls have benefitted from the program.

Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla made a surprise pitstop in India as they returned from their royal tour to Australia and Samoa.

The 75-year-old monarch and his wife reportedly enjoyed a quick break in Bengaluru, staying for a few days at the Soukya International Holistic Health Centre, according to Reuters citing multiple Indian media outlets.

The pair have visited India on numerous occasions over the years and previously paid a visit to the wellness center, which offers Ayurvedic and homeopathic treatments, yoga and meditation sessions.

“Their Majesties had a short private stopover in India to help break the long journey back from Samoa,” a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said on Wednesday. “They return to the UK this morning.”

The center is described as “a holistic health destination to restore your body’s natural balance of mind, body and spirit” on its website.

The couple broke up the journey at a location both were familiar with and had visited several times before, the source added.

The source also said that the King will resume his cancer treatment upon his return to the UK.

Charles’ journey to Australia and Samoa was his first long-haul, multi-country trip since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year. He wrapped up the tour at the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting on Saturday. Leaders ended the week-long summit in Samoa, saying the time had come for a discussion on whether Britain should commit to reparations for its role in the transatlantic slave trade.

The King is expected to return to regular overseas trips in 2025, according to Britain’s PA Media news agency.

Charles will carry out trips in the spring and autumn, on the regular foreign royal tour schedule, so long as doctors sign off on the journeys.

A palace official described the King’s recent trip as a “perfect tonic” that had lifted “his spirits, his mood and his recovery.”

“We’re now working on a pretty normal looking full overseas tour program for next year, which is a high for us to end on, to know that we can be thinking in those terms,” PA reported citing the palace official.