It is a confession. Evgeny Prigokhine, sulfurous businessman and head of the Russian Wagner paramilitary group, admitted for the first time, this Tuesday, February 14, to being the creator of a “troll farm” paid to carry out propaganda campaigns on the Internet. He explains that he created the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg, a pharmacy dubbed the “troll farm” by the Russian press and whose employees have been accused of conducting disinformation campaigns on the Internet in the service of the Kremlin.
“Not only was I the sole financier of the Internet Research Agency, but I invented it, created it, managed it for a long time,” the main stakeholder was quoted as saying by his press service on Telegram. According to him, this “troll farm” was created “to protect the Russian information space from the crude and aggressive propaganda of anti-Russian theses from the West.”
Destabilize the enemies of the Kremlin
The Internet Research Agency has been accused of having carried out, in particular through fake accounts on social networks and online newspapers, campaigns aimed at defending Kremlin policy, criticizing Russian opponents, denigrating the French presence in Africa or even create discord around Brexit. and the American elections. Washington had sanctioned several alleged members of the Internet Investigation Agency in 2018.
Known to be close to Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigojine has also confessed, since the start of the conflict in Ukraine last year, a series of facts that have been attributed to him for years. He thus admitted to being the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, which today fights on the front line in Ukraine, or to having sought to interfere in the US elections.
Source: BFM TV
