Ahead of four state elections this September, a Russian influence operation known as Matryoshka, also called Operation Overload, is flooding social media with fabricated content aimed at German candidates. DW Fact Check has identified more than 180 fake posts on X, Bluesky and TikTok, working from an archive kept by the investigative collective Antibot4Navalny.
The fakes clone the logos and typography of major German outlets, including Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, ARD, Stern TV and Der Spiegel, to lend false credibility. One target, Left party candidate Eric Stehr, was falsely accused of murder and fabricated sex scandals. German police and Bauhaus University Weimar confirmed to DW that none of the claims are true. Candidates from the CDU, SPD, Greens, the Left and FDP have all been hit, while the far-right AfD and the populist BSW have not.
Researchers say the campaign continues a long-term Russian strategy: boost parties seen as Russia-friendly while discrediting the rest. A second narrative pushes a supposed east-west divide, including a fake “Eurostat survey” and posts using #TimeToDivideGermany. Analysts at CeMAS and the ISD link the operation to Storm-1516, a unit reportedly tied to Russian military intelligence.
Source: DW, CeMAS, ISD
So What
Targeting obscure local candidates marks a real step up in Russia’s campaign against Germany. Reaching down to individual regional list candidates is new, and harder to defend against, since these people have little platform to push back. Direct impact still looks limited: engagement stays low, most posts draw artificial views rather than real traction, and Bluesky and TikTok remove the content quickly. But that likely misses the point. The volume itself is the weapon. The second-order effect is sowing chaos and doubt, making voters distrust what they see and forcing candidates to spend time debunking instead of campaigning. Persistent, public debunking is likely the strongest counter available.
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