Former US deputy put on EU sanctions list for helping in Russian cyber war

One of those names is that of John Mark Dougan. He was once a deputy sheriff in Palm Beach County, Florida. But he was fired there in 2009 after a series of internal investigations. For example, he had pepper-sprayed a colleague and sexual intimacies occurred. He also sent an email to voters on behalf of the council opposing the sheriff’s re-election. And later, he posed as a Russian techie under the pseudonym BadVolf to leak confidential information and deceived officials in Florida who thought they were dealing with a foreigner.

Then things went from bad to worse. Dougan, 51, who was granted political asylum in Moscow, is now a key figure in Russia’s disinformation campaigns against the West. He is responsible for a large network of fake news websites that are populated with the help of artificial intelligence. These websites also spread a lot of Russian propaganda and fabrications to smear Ukraine. These ‘news articles’ are said to have been viewed tens of millions of times in recent years.

He has since risen within the Russian foreign intelligence service GRU and his unit is involved in various aspects of cyber warfare. He is also said to have been honored by Putin for his services.