WASHINGTON — Some tactics Russia used to meddle in last year’s presidential election would give shivers to anyone who believes in American democracy, the Senate intelligence committee’s top Democrat says.

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia spoke ahead of a committee session Thursday that will address how the Kremlin allegedly uses technology to spread disinformation in the U.S. and Europe. Warner and the panel’s chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., provided an update the committee’s investigation into activities Russia might have taken to alter or influence the 2016 elections and whether there were any campaign contacts with Russian government officials that might have interfered with the election process.

“There were upwards of 1,000 paid internet trolls working out of a facility in Russia, in effect, taking over series of computers, which is then called a botnet,” Warner told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

Warner said the committee was investigating to find out whether voters in key states, such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, might have been served up Russian-generated fake news and propaganda along with information from their traditional news outlets.