Wagner Group Head acknowledges he founded Russian "troll farm"

Ukrainska Pravda
·2 min read
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Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, said that he created the Internet Research Agency, better known as the troll farm, which is accused of meddling in the US elections.

Source: Prigozhin's press service

Quote: "I was never just a financier of the Internet Research Agency. I invented it, I founded it, I ran it for a long time."

Details: According to him, the troll farm was created to "protect the Russian information space from the aggressive propaganda of anti-Russian theses by the West".

Why it is important: Prigozhin publicly confirmed his involvement with the organisation for the first time. Before, he would have sued over this.

Background: 

  • Employees of the Internet Research Agency, otherwise known as the troll farm, write comments in support of the Russian government on social media on commision. In 2013, Russian journalists exposed their office in Olgino, a historic district of St. Petersburg.

  • In 2018, US special prosecutor Robert Mueller accused the Internet Research Agency and Prigozhin of meddling in the American elections using fake accounts on social media.

  • Prigozhin claimed that his company did not interfere in the elections.

  • In July 2022, the US State Department announced a reward of up to US$10 million for information on foreign election interference by Prigozhin and the Internet Research Agency.

  • The document states that the accused Russians and employees of the organisations distributed on the Internet, en masse, critical materials about Donald Trump's opponents during the Republican Party primaries: Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.

  • In August 2022, Prigozhin filed a defamation suit after an article in The Guardian, which stated that the troll farm was allegedly linked to him. He demanded 1 million euros as moral compensation.

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