The Russian Federation has launched a new covert online disinformation campaign aimed at undermining Americans’ confidence in the November 2026 congressional midterm elections. The New York Times reported this, citing classified U.S. intelligence assessments and officials familiar with the materials.
According to the newspaper’s sources, classified intelligence assessments from recent months show that the Kremlin has again authorized a digital influence operation. Its goal is to spread content on social media, sow or amplify domestic divisions in the United States during the election season and inject chaos into the voting period. Intelligence agencies found no evidence of attempts to target voting systems in a way that could compromise the actual vote-counting process.
The campaign appears less extensive and coordinated than some of Russia’s previous operations in American elections. Officials note that Moscow has traditionally paid more attention to presidential races than midterms and is currently distracted by the war in Ukraine. Nevertheless, since 2016 the Kremlin has conducted online influence operations in every U.S. federal election cycle.
Experts on Russian disinformation have in recent weeks documented campaigns using artificial intelligence. A network previously linked to Kremlin “trolls” (Operation Overload, or “Matryoshka”) posted two waves of videos on X and Bluesky. The videos contained false or unsubstantiated accusations against Democrats running for Senate in key states. Some clips were styled to resemble reports from CNN, the BBC, and The New York Times itself. One post mimicked a Times video featuring actress Jamie Lee Curtis supposedly criticizing Democrats over transgender policies. The clip garnered nearly 200,000 views.
Targets include Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia as well as candidates in competitive races: Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Roy Cooper (North Carolina), Troy Jackson (Maine), Chris Pappas (New Hampshire), Mary Peltola (Alaska), Abdul El-Sayed (Michigan), James Talarico (Texas), and Joshua Turek (Iowa). Some officials say the operation’s main objective is not to support a particular party but to sow chaos.
