Melanie Smith, ISD’s Director of Research, Information Operations, spoke with NBC News about how the recent indictment of two RT employees might have a limited impact on Russia’s broader disinformation efforts, adding that the targeting of other disinformation campaigns like Doppelganger was “more notable.”

Melanie explained that Russian influence campaigns often leverage domestic US crises to fuel division, making it crucial to address both the external and internal factors contributing to these campaigns. “Russian influence is important, but what’s happening in the domestic sphere is hugely important too, and they feed off of each other, so we should take the temperature down a little bit on what the potential impact is of these campaigns.”