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Thursday October 22, 2026
Covert Russian Group Injects Baseless Claim Into the Texas Senate Race
Russian influence operations appear to be stepping up efforts to meddle in the midterms, according to intelligence officials. Most are targeting Democrats.
By Steven Lee Myers and Dustin Volz
Steven Lee Myers reported from San Francisco, and Dustin Volz from Washington.
Oct. 22, 2026, 9:02 a.m. ET
Several groups of researchers who track Russian disinformation operations attributed the claim to Storm-1516, a covert group that in 2024 peddled a similarly unfounded accusation against Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, who was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee.
The attack followed a flurry of Russian posts on social media in recent weeks and provided the latest indication that Moscow is once again targeting an American election with online influence operations.
February 7, 2024
Russia Is Boosting Calls for ‘Civil War’ Over Texas Border Crisis
An all-encompassing Russian disinformation campaign is using everything from bots to lifestyle influencers to powerful state-run media to sow division in the United States.
A Russian disinformation campaign is deploying everything from high-ranking lawmakers and government officials to lifestyle influencers, bloggers, and powerful state-run media outlets to stoke divisions in the United States around the Texas border crisis.
WIRED has also obtained exclusive access to data from two separate disinformation research groups that demonstrate a coordinated Russian effort on Telegram and X (formerly Twitter) to sow discord by pushing the narrative that the US is heading for civil war.
The disinformation campaign began in earnest in late January, and expanded after Russian politicians spoke out when the US Supreme Court lifted an order by a lower court and sided with President Joe Biden’s administration to rule that US Border Patrol officers were allowed to take down razor-wire fencing erected by the Texas National Guard. Days later, when Texas governor Greg Abbott refused to stand down, former Russian president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, who is currently deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, claimed that the Texas border dispute is “another vivid example of the US hegemony getting weaker.”
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