According to the Washington Post, the blockage was so frustrating to the trolls that they complained to their system administrators about the disruption.

The Internet Research Agency is accused of running an online trolling operation that targeted the 2016 presidential election by spreading disinformation through social media networks.

The New York Times reported separately last year that part of the US offensive operation in 2018 included directly targeting the trolls by their real, offline names and identities, letting them know they were being watched.

For those who came in late, the Internet Research Agency is funded by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Kremlin fixer known by the nickname “Putin’s Chef”.

Before the midterm elections, Cyber Command began directly contacting Russians who were linked to operations, such as those with the Internet Research Agency, which allegedly helped coordinate Moscow’s campaign to subvert the 2016 presidential election. The apparent aim was to put people on notice that their covers had been blown, and that their ability to work and travel freely might be affected.

One unlikely public confirmation came from Yevgeny Zubarev, the director of the St. Petersburg-based Federal News Agency and one of the apparent Russian targets. Justice Department prosecutors have alleged that Zubarev’s information website, known by its Russian acronym FAN, was part of the same covert-action network as the Internet Research Agency.

“The United States Cyber Command writes to me to say that what I am doing is wrong, that their job is to fight trolls,” Zubarev told the Daily Beast in December. “We are defending the motherland on the information fronts.” But he denied he was part of any “troll farm”.