Last month, a video began circulating on social media purporting to tell the story of an internet troll farm in Kyiv targeting the American election.
Speaking in English with a Slavic accent, “Olesya” offers a first-person account of how she and her colleagues initially worked in support of President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. Then, she says, after a visit by mysterious Americans who were “probably C.I.A.,” the group began sending messages to American audiences in support of President Biden.
“We were told our new target was the United States of America, especially the upcoming elections,” the woman in the video says. “Long story short, we were asked to do everything to prevent Donald Trump from winning the elections.”
The video is fake, part of an effort to cloud the political debate ahead of the U.S. elections.
US citizens don’t need to fear any Russian disinformation video campaign, just themselves. Remember Pizzagate? No video was needed for this one to stick.