Sources — US midterms
This lens monitors Russian state and Kremlin-proxy sources targeting American audiences around the 2026 midterm elections — X accounts and RSS feeds, every source carrying a citable institutional attribution.
Direction test: a narrative is in scope when it serves Russian strategic interests by pushing Americans to distrust their own elections or democratic institutions, to see fellow citizens as enemies rather than opponents, to turn against US support for Ukraine as a domestic wedge issue, or when it manipulates opinion about specific candidates or parties through fabricated scandals and astroturfed anger.
Ordinary American partisan opinion — however sharp — is out of scope: arguing that a policy is wrong or a candidate is bad at the job is normal democratic speech, while claiming the system itself is a sham is not. Plain reporting of US politics and Russia-celebration content written for domestic Russian audiences are also out. The deciding question is who benefits: if believing the message erodes an American's trust in the vote, in institutions, or in fellow citizens — and that serves Moscow — it belongs in this lens. More on vetting and tiers T1–T3.
Some sources in this lens carry T3-grade attribution — documented by independent monitors or journalistic investigations rather than a state designation. Each entry states exactly what is documented and by whom; we never imply a sanction, indictment, or conviction that does not exist.
X (Twitter)
English-language X accounts of designated persons, Russian state organs, state-media staff, and monitor-documented amplifiers (T3), addressed to American voters.
| Account | Tier | Country | What it is | Attribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Kirill Dmitriev @kadmitriev | T1 | Russia | RDIF CEO and Putin's 'special envoy'; runs an English-language account aimed at American audiences | US OFAC SDN since 28 Feb 2022 (alongside RDIF); the US Treasury calls him Putin's representative to American institutions |
Alexander Dugin @Agdchan | T1 | Russia | 'Eurasianism' ideologue; English-language commentary on US politics | US OFAC SDN since 11 Mar 2015 (E.O. 13660, Eurasian Youth Union leadership); also EU-sanctioned |
Russian Embassy in the USA @RusEmbUSA | T2 | Russia | The official account of Russia's embassy in Washington — Kremlin framing of US politics addressed to American readers | Overt Russian state organ; its propaganda use of embassy X accounts documented by Detector Media |
Garland Nixon @GarlandNixon | T2 | USA | Washington, DC-based radio host; prolific commentator on US politics | Host and author at Sputnik (Rossiya Segodnya — an EU-sanctioned Russian state outlet) with a public author page; the attribution is the paid state-media role, not his views |
Tara Reade @ReadeAlexandra | T2 | USA (in Russia since 2023) | RT contributor; content aimed squarely at American voters | RT contributor (public author page); granted Russian citizenship by Putin's decree in 2025 (The Moscow Times) |
Scott Ritter @RealScottRitter | T3 | USA | RT/Sputnik contributor; high-volume US-politics account | FBI raided his home (Aug 2024) in a FARA investigation over unregistered work for Russian state media — an investigation, not an indictment; no charges. RT/Sputnik contributor |
Jackson Hinkle @jacksonhinkle | T3 | USA (Russia-based) | US influencer based in Russia; extremely high-volume US-politics poster | Monitor-documented amplifier (DISA, NCRI, MEMRI); official representative to the Malofeev-linked Russophile Congress; regular on Russian state media |
Lord Bebo @MyLordBebo | T3 | Unknown (anonymous) | Anonymous pro-Kremlin hub; early-warning surface for Storm-1516 fake videos entering US discourse | Documented sharing at least a dozen Storm-1516 (Russian influence operation) clips — VOA reporting and Bloomberg's 2026 analysis |
Wyatt Reed @wyattreed13 | T3 | USA | Former Sputnik correspondent, now The Grayzone's managing editor | Former Sputnik correspondent (state-media employment); state-media payments documented in leaked-document reporting (i24) |
Lauren Chen @TheLaurenChen | T3 | Canada/USA | Founder of Tenet Media, the RT-funded covert US influence outlet (per widespread 2024 press reporting) | The DOJ SDNY indictment (Sep 2024) details RT's covert funding of Tenet Media via its unnamed 'Founder-1'; press reporting matching corporate records (AP, CNN) identified Chen as that founder. Documented, not designated; never charged herself |
RSS & websites
Feeds of Russian state media and of outlets with investigation-grade attribution (T3), aimed at American readers.
| Outlet | Tier | Country | What it is | Attribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
RT — US news section | T2 | Russia | RT's US-news feed — distinct from the whole-site RT feed in the Western lens | RT leadership OFAC-designated on 4 Sep 2024 specifically for covert US-election influence operations; EU broadcast ban; per the US DOJ, RT ran the Tenet Media operation |
The Duran | T3 | International | Pro-Kremlin commentary outlet; the highest US-politics volume of the wave-1 RSS set | Investigation-grade attribution: Kyiv Independent / VSquare / Forensic News ownership reporting; MBFC propaganda rating |
Sonar21 (Larry C. Johnson) | T3 | USA | Larry C. Johnson's blog; a primary feeder of 'ex-CIA analyst says' lines into Russian state media | VOA documents Russian state media citing Johnson in hundreds of articles/TV reports to promote pro-Kremlin narratives; regular RT/Sputnik/Solovyov guest |
The Grayzone | T3 | USA | Low-volume, high-salience outlet; its investigations are amplified across the pro-Kremlin US ecosystem | Leaked documents show funding from Russian and Iranian state media outlets (i24 reporting); EUvsDisinfo database case entries; Blumenthal a repeat Sputnik contributor |
Scott Ritter — Substack | T3 | USA | Long-form counterpart to Ritter's X account; 2026 output is explicitly US-midterms-flavored | Same receipts as his X account: the FBI FARA raid (Aug 2024) over unregistered Russian state-media work — no charges; RT/Sputnik contributor |
The roster expands in waves: every addition carries a citable institutional attribution (OFAC, US DOJ, EU, EUvsDisinfo, credible monitors). This page documents exactly the sources that currently feed the product.