US Intelligence: Russia Targeting Politicians Supporting Ukraine in Online Operations

U.S. intelligence agencies have reportedly assessed that Russia is conducting online operations targeting politicians who support Ukraine ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.

According to the political media outlet Politico on the 21st (local time), Senator Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Representative Jim Himes, the ranking Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, stated that a recent classified intelligence report sent to Congress contains such findings.

While the two lawmakers did not disclose which specific candidates were targeted, they emphasized that politicians supporting Ukraine from both the Democratic and Republican parties could become targets of Russian operations.

Suspicions of Russian election interference have been consistently raised.

According to the threat analysis firm Graphika, a Russia-linked group known as "Storm-1516" produced and distributed a deepfake video online claiming that Texas State Senate candidate James Talarico had committed sexual assault.

X (formerly Twitter) also announced last week that it had removed over 13,000 accounts linked to election-related disinformation campaigns by Russia, Iran, and China.

Warner and other lawmakers noted that while the classified report also included instances of influence operations by China and Iran, Russia's activities were particularly prominent.

Russia has previously faced allegations of interfering in U.S. elections.

In 2016, Russian intelligence operatives were linked to the hacking of email accounts belonging to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and officials from then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Subsequent allegations were raised in 2018 and 2024 regarding the spread of disinformation aimed at influencing U.S. elections.

Representative Himes explained that Russia is utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to undermine trust in voting machines and foster distrust in the U.S. electoral system through various operations.

However, U.S. intelligence agencies reportedly have not found evidence that Russia attempted to hack election infrastructure or candidate campaigns.

Russia has also faced suspicions of conducting online interference operations in elections in other countries, including Georgia, Moldova, and France, as well as the United States.

Meanwhile, aides to Representative Rick Crawford, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, criticized Warner and Himes for publicly disclosing parts of the classified report to the media.

Crawford's side argued that the two lawmakers selectively cherry-picked and released only portions of the information, which could mislead the American public.
 
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.