Today at 12:59
The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council launched on the War&Sanctions portal a new section exposing “Kremlin mouthpieces”, publishing the first list of 55 Russian propagandists and media managers.
This was reported by the HUR intelligence agency, Ukrinform saw.
Weaponization of information is part of Russia’s military doctrine, the report stressed. “Today, the Kremlin is waging war not only with missiles, tanks and artillery systems. Its information war has no clearly defined frontlines, spreading around the world,” the HUR wrote.
“By investing significant resources in such efforts, the Russian authorities are trying to destabilize Ukraine and the rest of the world, influence political processes and shape public opinion across different regions of the planet, pursuing their own aggressive interest. In the first year of the war alone, Russia Today in Arabic boosted its audience base by 10 million users. Russia has allocated $1.42 billion in the 2025 budget to fund propaganda. Russia spends about half a billion dollars a year on creating propaganda by organizations not directly affiliated with the government,” the HUR emphasized.
Russian propaganda endorses violence, glorifies the Russian armed forces, justifies aggression and war crimes, employs dehumanization and enmity against Ukraine as fuel for war, and challenges Ukraine’s capacity to continue repelling the onslaught.
The information war “has certain faces that the world should see in order to block, impose sanctions, ban entry, suspend bank accounts, and cease any cooperation,” the HUR wrote.
To this end, the HUR and the CCD are publishing the first list of 55 individuals, which, among others, includes:
Valery Gergiev – Russian orchestra conductor and Putin’s friend, who has been supporting the annexation of Crimea and war against Ukraine. After international theaters and philharmonics snubbed Gergiev, the financing of his charitable organization by VTB Bank, Russian Railways, Sberbank of Russia, oligarch Alisher Usmanov, the Moscow government, and other state organizations increased tenfold. Putin himself handed Gergiev Russia’s second-largest theater to manage. At the same time, Gergiev owns real estate in the U.S. and Italy;
Vladimir Tabak, manager of Putin support campaigns, the PR man for the Russian Ministry of Defense and mastermind behind fake reports about Ukraine. He is known for manipulating public surveys and developing guidelines of Russian media. He is also involved in attempts to influence the U.S. presidential elections in 2024 and a campaign to create deepfake videos targeting American, European and British public figures;
Kristina Potupchik, manager of one of the key contractors of the Russian presidential administration tasked with circulating “viral” propaganda across social media and messenger platforms. She owns a network of anonymous pro-government Telegram channels;
Sergey Pegov, a Russian “war correspondent”, who is in fact an asset of the GRU military intelligence, which coordinates his actions and reports. He has been one of the key figures in Russian attempts to destabilize Odesa;
Alexander Dugin, the main ideologist of the “Russian world” concept, witj connections with right-wing radical figures in the U.S. and EU. Dugin’s organization, the International Eurasian Movement, runs a network of branches in 29 countries. In early December, Dugin spoke online at the opening of the “Daria Dugina Days” in Serbia, co-organized and attended by “pundits” from Italy, France, and the Czech Republic.
Mikhail Galustyan is a Russian comedian and friend of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. As president of the “Federation of Military-Tactical Games,” Galustyan directly supported the construction of a training ground for volunteers taking part in the war on Ukraine.
Alexander Marshal (Minkov), a Russian singer, member of the Putin team and member of the Public Council at the Russian Ministry of Defense. In 2023, he personally endorsed the initiative to reward Russian soldiers for destroying Leopard tanks Ukraine has received from partners. He is part of the “Russian Radio agitation brigade,” which does entertainment shows for soldiers, as well as collects and delivers volunteer assistance to the troops. Marshal’s daughter lives in the United States.
As noted by the HUR, the list will further be updated to expose more Kremlin mouthpieces.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, the European Union is working on the 16th package of Russia sanctions, set to be announced on the third anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine (February 24). It is expected to include sanctions against individuals involved in Russia’s hybrid warfare.
Read also: Russia uses up all pre-war stocks of T-90 tanks, most of T-80s – Voice of America
