Who is John Mark Dougan, sanctioned by EU for role in Russian disinformation?

The EU announced sanctions on December 15, 2025 and said John Mark Dougan is "accused of participating in pro-Kremlin digital information operations from Moscow by operating the CopyCop network of fake news websites and supporting Storm-1516 activities" (archived here).

"The inauthentic websites mimic legitimate media outlets and spread fabricated stories and AI-generated deepfake content."

Dougan is a former deputy Palm Beach County sheriff in the US state of Florida who also briefly served in the Marines. He fled the United States, where he was indicted on 21 state charges of extortion and wiretapping, and was granted asylum by Russia in 2016.

Dougan is well known to disinformation researchers. He was named "Disinformer of the Year" in 2024 by watchdog NewsGuard for what it said were a series of "elaborate fabrications, disguised as credible local news reports and fake whistleblower testimonies" (archived here). 

The EU sanctions also included French ex-military officer Xavier Moreau and Swiss former intelligence agent Jacques Baud, who, along with Dougan, lean on their past careers to gain credibility.

The men risk having their assets frozen, being unable to receive funds from European citizens or companies, and being banned from traveling to certain European countries (archived here). 

But Dougan told Russian media on December 16 the sanctions would have no impact on his participation in the information war (archived here).

On Telegram, he told his followers: "I'm happy to report that the EU has imposed sanctions against me for destabilizing European governments. The funny thing is, I didn't have to do anything other than expose the lies and corruption surrounding Ukraine and the West's involvement."

CopyCop

According to Insikt Group, the threat research division of a cyberintelligence company, the CopyCop network of sites referenced in the EU decision leveraged "inauthentic media outlets in the US, UK, and France" (archived here).

AFP reported on one notable example that used AI-generated content to target French audiences with the websites veritecachee.fr and franceencolere.fr.

Dougan denied his involvement with CopyCop ahead of the 2024 US presidential election to The New York Times, but Insikt research reported the infrastructure supporting the sites had "strong ties" to DC Weekly, a disinformation outlet he was known to manage. 

Dougan told the BBC he'd sold the DC Weekly site in 2023 after the British broadcaster investigated a series of false allegations it spread about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife Olena Zelenska.

AFP also debunked an altered photo of a US naturalization certificate with Zelensky's name and photo, pushed by DC Weekly.

Storm-1516

The Microsoft Threat Analysis Center dubbed the second operation named in the sanctions "Storm-1516" (archived here), following the identification of a Russian campaign to persuade voters in the 2024 US election uncovered by Darren Linvill, co-director of Clemson University's Media Forensics Hub (archived here).

Among many attempts to spread disinformation by faking primary sources, a false claim of sexual abuse targeting then-vice presidential candidate Tim Walz racked up millions of interactions on social media -- and was attributed by US intelligence officials to Russia (archived here) .

The operation was also linked to a fabricated story alleging then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris was involved in a hit-and-run that left a teenager unable to walk.

AFP debunked additional false claims about illegal voting and the destruction of mail ballots that Linvill said fit the patterns of Storm-1516 disinformation, and that the US intelligence community also assessed were manufactured by Russia.

The Storm-1516 network has also pushed disinformation about Russia's war in Ukraine, seeking to undermine support for Zelensky. 

It is thought to be behind several false claims of lavish purchases by Zelensky and his wife.

The European Digital Media Observatory further detailed tactics it used to "discredit Vladimir Putin's political opponents and try to undermine the electoral process in countries deemed 'enemies' by the Kremlin" (archived here).

France's Viginum agency, which counters foreign disinformation campaigns, identified at least 18 cases where Storm-1516's narratives were initially disseminated on social media accounts or websites belonging to the CopyCop network (archived here). It also found three narratives amplified on Dougan's Telegram channel.

Still, Linvill told AFP following the sanction announcements that Dougan's role in Storm-1516 was "relatively small."

He said it serves Russian interests for an American's name to be part of the public conversation about the campaign, but "there is no evidence I'm aware of that he invented narratives, created narrative content, or worked on distributing the content through Storm-1516 influencer and media network."

The United Kingdom also sanctioned organizations and individuals involved in Storm-1516 in December 2025, indicating growing recognition of the threat posed by foreign information manipulation campaigns (archived here).

Anna Malpas contributed reporting to this story.