January 22, 2025 | Policy Brief

Russia Exploits LA Fires to Sow Discord and Promote False Claims 

January 22, 2025 | Policy Brief

Russia Exploits LA Fires to Sow Discord and Promote False Claims 

Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, leveled the false claim that U.S. prison inmates were being used as forced labor to fight the Los Angeles wildfires. Her comments were part of a broader campaign to sow discord within the United States and damage its reputation abroad by denigrating U.S. authorities’ response to the Los Angeles wildfires. 

Researchers at FDD have identified a network of 14 accounts on X that are promoting other Kremlin-aligned narratives while falsely presenting themselves as the accounts of American citizens. All 14 accounts utilize stock, generic, or stolen profile pictures, lack a bio, and post variations of overlapping content. This suggests that their creators likely use AI to generate the network’s content. FDD cannot definitively attribute the network to Russia, but its content strongly supports that conclusion. 

U.S. Adversaries’ State-Controlled Media Exploit Past and Present Disasters 

Foreign adversaries have previously exploited natural disasters in attempts to sow division among Americans, for example during the 2023 Maui fires and last year’s Hurricane Helene. In that vein, Sputnik asserted this month that the Los Angeles Fire Department’s donation of firefighting equipment to Ukraine in 2022 undermined firefighting efforts. Meanwhile, the Russian governor of Kherson — a partly occupied Ukrainian territory — encouraged Californians affected by the fire to move to occupied Kherson and obtain Russian citizenship. 

Pro-Russia Social Media Accounts Amplify the Message  

New Rules Geopolitics is a pro-Russia persona on X and Rumble that apparently originated as a podcast on Sputnik. Notably, it no longer makes its connection to Sputnik explicit on its X account. It also alleged that California’s “Ukraine first” leaders turned down Russia’s attempt to sell specialized firefighting aircraft in 2018. The account further claimed that the LA fires demonstrate the decline of the United States and illustrate “why life in Russia is BETTER than in California.”  

The Russian Telegram channel Military Observer (Военный обозреватель) alleged that the mansions of eight Ukrainian generals were destroyed in the fires, a claim quickly amplified by other Russian Telegram channels. Echoing a technique used by the Russian influence operation Storm-1679, these Telegram channels misleadingly used the logos of reputable news outlets in their videos to appear credible.  

Network of Accounts on X Posing as Americans Spread Kremlin-Aligned Narrative 

Of the 14 inauthentic accounts that FDD identified, 11 describe themselves as “right-of-center” Americans. All 14 refer to the United States donating $500 million in weapons to Ukraine on January 8 and criticize Washington for funding foreign wars when it faces a domestic crisis. The accounts often post nearly identical comments simultaneously or within minutes of each other. They also often post their comments as replies to posts from news outlets such as Fox News, The Boston Globe, Yahoo News, and others. Several also include the peculiar hashtag “#Trump2021.” FDD has archived a selection of relevant posts from the 14 accounts in this network at the end of this article.  

Components of the Iranian influence operation known as Storm-2035 also created content exploiting the wildfires. The websites evenpolitics[.]com and teorator[.] com, have published several articles accusing Los Angeles and California officials of incompetence.  

The U.S. Needs Coordinated Response to Exploitation of Wildfires and Similar Disasters 

Ahead of the 2024 elections, the U.S. government mounted a coordinated response to foreign malign influence operations. The ODNI, FBI, and CISA regularly discussed threats and sometimes exposed malign influence campaigns within days. The federal government should take a similar approach to campaigns that seek to exploit disasters, which could help Americans understand the true source of narratives they may encounter on social media. Moreover, adversaries could spread false information in attempts to disrupt response efforts, such as publicizing false evacuation notices. The federal government should proactively warn adversaries of diplomatic and financial costs to deter such behavior, which could lead to real-world harms, including the loss of American lives. These costs could include sanctions against influence operators and Kremlin officials who order the operations.  

Annex: List of Accounts Related to Inauthentic Network on X 

List of 11 accounts that identify as “right-of-center” Americans (or citizens). Each account is followed by a link to an archived post with nearly identical references to $500 million in U.S. aid to Ukraine: 

@barg_carol98121 https://ghostarchive.org/archive/eEW1R 

@EmilioSten21402https://ghostarchive.org/archive/ZdChV 

@Daniyels_NFTs https://ghostarchive.org/archive/Sed9O 

@DahnMae33178 https://ghostarchive.org/archive/CAhQl 

@LouqueO75174 https://ghostarchive.org/archive/EbAwR 

@DorseyWest67728 https://ghostarchive.org/archive/MOlGr 

@DeityPulseX https://ghostarchive.org/archive/evkhi 

@SingerKent73166 https://ghostarchive.org/archive/tceH1 

@DeFiGen88 https://ghostarchive.org/archive/OhZup 

@HalsellMar5851 https://ghostarchive.org/archive/1dR38 

@BoddieOren23789 https://ghostarchive.org/archive/RlfAk 

List of 3 accounts that do not identify as “right-of-center” but feature nearly identical text about $500 million in aid to Ukraine: 

@GinkelJoyc65970 https://ghostarchive.org/archive/vjyUT 

@JereF38764 https://ghostarchive.org/archive/evcHX 

@CottoG70303 https://ghostarchive.org/archive/nJWZz 

Links to archived comments featuring #Trump2021 

@barg_carol98121 https://ghostarchive.org/archive/eEW1R 

@EmilioSten21402 https://ghostarchive.org/archive/x19DJ 

@EmilioSten21402 https://ghostarchive.org/archive/06VOO 

Max Lesser is a senior analyst on emerging threats at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI), where Mason Krusch is an intern. For more analysis from the authors, CCTI, and FDD’s Russia Program, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on X @FDD and @FDD_CCTI. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy. 

Issues:

Issues:

Cyber Russia

Topics:

Topics:

Iran Russia Washington Ukraine Federal Bureau of Investigation Fox News Kremlin California Telegram Los Angeles Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Office of the Director of National Intelligence Kherson The Boston Globe Maria Zakharova Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation