A former employee of the so-called "troll factory" spoke about the scheme of its work. One of the creators of the "troll factory" spoke about working for Prigozhin Evgeny Prigozhin trolls

The building of the "factory of trolls" on Savushkina in St. Petersburg

With new fury, the media, quite loyal to the Kremlin, began to expose the "troll factory" of Yevgeny Prigozhin.

If earlier Novaya Gazeta and some Navalny were doing this, now the RBC holding, bought from Prokhorov by a loyal businessman Grigory Berezkin, has seized on Prigozhin and, in a friendly chorus with the FBI, CIA and American intelligence services, is tearing apart the well-deserved "troll factory" that contributed its contribution to Trump's election victory. It turns out that the pro-Kremlin RBC reveals a state secret...

Russian media and compromising sites unanimously posted a giant leak, published in RBC and masquerading as the RBC newspaper's own investigation about Prigozhin and the kitchen of the "troll factory".

The title literally reads: "How the St. Petersburg Troll Factory Tried to Influence the Outcome of the US Presidential Election."

What did Yevgeny Prigozhin do if they started tearing him apart?

"The Charlotte event was promoted on Facebook on behalf of the BlackMattersUS community, which has nothing to do with Black Lives Matters. The organization's roots go far beyond the US - Russia, St. Petersburg, Savushkina street, 55.

This address in the Primorsky district of the city has long become a household name. About three years ago, in a four-story building on the street. Savushkin was moved by several hundred people whose main task is to promote patriotic values. The work of the employees of the “Troll Factory” (hereinafter referred to as the “Factory”), allegedly created and sponsored by the St. Petersburg businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, was reduced to writing non-stop comments under fictitious names on blogs and social networks in Runet - in defense of the current government, criticizing the opposition and support for politically pleasing public events.

Soon the "Factory" began to outgrow its originally primitive methods of work. Around that time, the first portals appeared, which later became the core of the media part of the organization - the so-called "Media Factory", a whole patriotic holding, about which RBC magazine wrote in March 2017 and whose audience now exceeds 50 million people a month. After the publication about the Media Factory, the main media of the holding, the Federal News Agency (FAN), registered the Fabricmedia.ru portal, it follows from the data of the WhoIs service.

By mid-2015, the "Factory" had grown to 800-900 people, the arsenal of tools had also expanded - videos, infographics, memes, reports, news, interviews, analytical materials and their own communities were used. And already in January 2017, together with the RT TV channel "Internet Research Agency", one of the first alleged legal entities of the "Troll Factory" (ceased to operate in 2015; at the end of 2016 excluded from the register), were mentioned in the report of American intelligence agencies about Russian interference in the US presidential election. And shortly after the election of Donald Trump, several committees in Congress and the Senate were set up to investigate the incident.

American corporations - Facebook, Twitter, Google - are cooperating with the authorities, looking for traces of "trolls" on their sites. Western media - The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CNN, The Daily Beast and others - almost daily publish new facts about possible Russian interference in the presidential campaign: they find new communities that worked before and after the elections, related announcements and Events. The articles are even based on individual illustrations and videos related to blocked communities.

Evgeny Prigozhin

RBC magazine conducted its own investigation: we managed to find and confirm the involvement of employees from Savushkino in at least 120 communities and thematic accounts, analyze their content and calculate the total costs of the campaign. Is the scale of the work of the "Troll Factory" abroad commensurate with the excitement caused in the United States around this story?" - this is how this leak begins in RBC.

In the so-called RBC investigation, names, surnames, appearances, shares of the "factory" for several years, special attention is paid to the cost of employees' salaries.

Such attention to the financial aspect of the activities of Prigozhin's media empire involuntarily betrays the interest of whistleblowers - to intercept cash flows and take the place of the "Kremlin chef" in the hierarchy of those financed from the budgets and their nooks and crannies.

Undoubtedly, this publication has a customer.

Who is he? Perhaps Grigory Berezkin himself, who bought the RBC holding with gigantic debts.

You should also turn on your head and understand that the whole story about Prigozhev's trolls, which influenced the outcome of the US elections, is complete nonsense. It's a media bubble. Crap.

Head of the Department of New Media and Communication Theory of the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University Ivan Zasursky:

"It doesn't matter how much money you invest in it, but Donald Trump is an American, and the Americans voted for him. All the versions that are being investigated now are a little bit in the vein of such a media bubble, a media event, and at the same time everything becomes questionable: and that that the machines were somehow wrongly considered, maybe they hacked, and the fact that there were some kind of campaigns in some especially important states, and the fact that the Russians were here, participated here. there is a certain problem with the way America perceives itself, and for many in the US it is much easier to accept the fact that they were beaten by the treacherous Russians than to admit that most Americans wanted Trump. Because for many people his victory is a really terrible blow." .

Political scientist Ekaterina Shulman has no doubts about the existence of the Russian troll factory and its million-dollar budgets, but the results of their interference in American politics also do not seem significant to her:

“Whether they managed to influence is a somewhat metaphysical question, since the matter of influence is little understood. Looking from Russia, it’s hard to believe that even with a budget of 100 thousand dollars, even with a budget of 2 million dollars, by publishing fake or not fake news, inflating up to the gigantic size of some genuine micro-news or some other methods, you can really significantly influence, that is, decide the outcome of elections in a country like the United States.

So there is a clear order. Who and why?

The organization of Internet trolling in Russia is a deeply confusing and conspiratorial business, despite the fact that thousands of people are drawn into its orbit. Petersburg and Moscow, in notorious mansion in Olgino young people do not look up from the keyboard, scribbling laudatory publications about Putin and Sobyanin, scolding Navalny and the United States and generally forming the necessary picture of the world. Organizational and financial security this activity as it is considered, is carried out by a PR technologist, previously convicted favorite restaurateur of Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who traditionally denies the relevant information. Perhaps the connection of this cook with a number of "Internet research" companies will be proven in the course of a lawsuit initiated by a former employee of the "troll kitchen".

As it became known to Kommersant, on June 1, the Petrograd Court of St. Petersburg will begin considering the lawsuit of a former employee of the so-called Internet troll factory against employers. Lyudmila Savchuk was, she said, fired without a final settlement from the Internet Research Company, which appears in a number of journalistic investigations as one of the main suppliers of paid political commentators on blogs. Petersburg human rights activists representing the interests of Mrs. Savchuk do not hide the fact that the main goal of the proceedings is to bring the company's activities and its management to the public field. According to a 34-year-old resident of St. Petersburg, she was initially interested in an ad on a job site, which offered her to write comments and posts on the Internet on a given topic. She came to get a job in December 2014, before the New Year holidays. By that time, reports about the Internet Research company had already been published in various media.

According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the director of the company is Mikhail Bystrov . According to media reports, another company with the consonant name is associated with the Internet Research firm. Internet Research Agency". In early May, this company was merged with New Technologies, which, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, is engaged in construction work. “The Troll Factory exists according to very strange schemes, but all these firms are interconnected, although they are different legal entities,” says Ms. Savchuk.

According to her, when she came to the interview, she was convinced that the newspapers did not lie about the service. paid political commentators. Having removed a photocopy from her passport, a briefing was given to the new employee. “The work was in shifts, the shift was 12 hours. All employees were required to write a certain number of posts and comments on various websites,” reads the statement of claim Mrs Savchuk. The plaintiff worked in the special projects department. The unit's tasks included writing at least five political posts on topics that were sent out at the beginning of each week. The salary was 41 thousand rubles. According to Mrs. Savchuk, she was not formalized, and the salary was paid in cash. She was fired in March of this year. The management told the employee that she violated the terms of the contract, which forbids discussing the company's activities with third parties. “I talked to journalists who kept finding out what kind of company it was, and in the end I was fired. Moreover, I did not see any order or any other papers,” said Mrs. Savchuk.

The absence of an official employment contract and a dismissal order became the reason for filing a lawsuit with the Petrograd court. In addition, Ms. Savchuk demands to pay her wages for February and compensate for moral damages. The interests of the former employee of the "troll factory" are represented by human rights activists from the St. Petersburg organization Team-29, which advocates free access to information.

Lyudmila Savchuk herself, after her dismissal, decided to found a movement "

A former employee of the so-called “troll factory”, which the media associates with businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, Alan Baskaev, who worked in the American department, spoke about working in a structure that was extremely closed until recently, Prigozhin himself and ways to deceive the authorities.

An interview with Baskaev was published by the Dozhd TV channel on the evening of October 26. He stayed at the so-called "factory" for six months. During this time, he worked in the foreign department, published on websites the comments required by his superiors. For his work he received 50 thousand rubles a month.

In the office on Savushkina, 55, according to him, all computers are monitored, there are cameras. “I doubt they record sound. So many times we listened to the ISIS anthem there (the organization is banned in the Russian Federation) and greeted each other with the words “Glory to Ukraine, glory to the heroes,” says Baskaev.

He considers the billionaire Prigozhin "a very talented, diverse person." “I only knew about his activities as our boss, our guy who gives money. Something was said about the word "cook". I don’t know, maybe he really is a cook and knows how to cook,” Baskaev reflects.

According to Baskaev, the “trolls” entered the network using various IPs. -addresses - as a result, it looked like they were in Seattle, Florida, Alaska, Hawaii - in general, in any of the cities and states of the USA. In one day, the employee managed to visit both a redneck from Kentucky, and a “white dude” from Minnesota, and a resident of New York. Each case used its own slang for believability.

However, the credibility, apparently, was lame - the "trolls" were constantly blocked. I had to create new accounts. Baskaev also did not forget about the “viral” videos: “I was sent a video on YouTube where an African American, but, as it turned out, an African in the form of an American soldier, shoots at the Koran! I was told that our idiots did it. Then they hired a black man and made a video where he has sex with a prostitute. She, if you get drunk and blur the zoom, supposedly looks like Hillary Clinton, can you imagine? Like a sensation."

Over time, Baskaev became more adept and came to Savushkin prepared - with pre-written comments on his topic. He then posted them on the appropriate forums. However, this work optimization scheme did not suit the authorities - young man asked to resign. Now he lives in Thailand.

Fontanka that a new secret media structure appeared in St. Petersburg in 2013. The main "combat force" in terms of numbers was initially based in Olgino. Later she moved to Savushkina, 55. The employees of the structure were busy posting a mass of paid comments that directed discussions on various network sites in the right direction.

In addition, our publication is about Internet sites with personal data of bloggers critical of the government, which were subsequently attacked. Control over these portals was allegedly carried out by employees of structures associated with Prigozhin.

In mid-October, the media how the St. Petersburg "troll factory" worked in the American elections - spending $ 2 million over two years, about a hundred people in the state and 6 million subscribers.

The man who stood at the origins of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s media empire, Andrei Mikhailov, is a master of black PR, the organizer of provocations against Forbes and other media, “the father of all trolls from Olgino,” gave an interview to Novaya Gazeta. He spoke in detail about who and how attacked businessmen from among the competitors of the “Kremlin chef” and journalists from various publications. At the end of 2013, Mikhailov was removed from business: the budget of several tens of millions of rubles did not agree between customers and performers, the parties blamed each other, and Mikhailov was left without a job.

Andrey Mikhailov. Photo: Denis Korotkov / Novaya Gazeta

Maybe he wouldn't share the secrets of his former employer. But moving to unaccustomed openness can be a way to protect yourself. In May 2017, according to a statement that Mikhailov filed with the police, some men took him to the forest, beat him, forced him to write a receipt for 3 million rubles and transfer his share in the business to himself. As Mikhailov says in his statement, the abductors were led by a lawyer he knew from his joint work for Prigozhin (the surname is available in the editorial office), and it is unlikely that he acted on his own initiative.

- When did your collaboration with Yevgeny Prigozhin begin? How did you even get to him, sent a resume?

- This story began in the late spring or early summer of 2012, when one of my acquaintances, let's not involve him here, said that there was an interesting topic, there were customers who were interested in my abilities. I agreed to the conversation. They invited me to the cafe "Taverna" on Vasilyevsky Island. I came, on the second floor, two people were waiting for me on a small balcony. One of them was [Evgeny Arkadyevich] Gulyaev [Head of Prigozhin's security service], well known to everyone today.

reference

Evgeny Arkadyevich Gulyaev

for many years he worked as the head of the security service for Yevgeny Prigozhin. In the past, he was an operational officer of the Leningrad and St. Petersburg police, he started at the Directorate of the Special Police Service (a unit that existed until the mid-90s and was responsible for working with foreigners), finished his service in the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the North-Western Federal District.

His role in Prigozhin’s security service is confirmed by data from the correspondence of employees of Prigozhin’s companies stolen in 2013 by Anonymous International, numerous joint trips and flights with established Prigozhin’s employees, including commanders of the Wagner Group Dmitry Utkin and Andrey Troshev.

In May 2016, he was caught on video among employees of the Concord company when FSB operatives detained a car with Yevgeny Prigozhin on Trezzini Square for the illegal use of special signals.

— Didn't you know Gulyaev then?

No, I didn't know him before. Two people came to the meeting. Who was with Gulyaev, now I don’t remember, then I didn’t run into him. It was clear that [immigrants] from the organs. People of a certain appearance are sitting, the profession leaves its mark. Leather jackets, and so on...

- Did they somehow introduce themselves, did they say where they work?

- Gulyaev said that he had recently been appointed head of the security service of Concord Catering, and he had a problem: he urgently needed to come up with something before he was fired from his job.

His task was to do something about [entrepreneur] Kirill Ziminov and his company Caramel Catering. It was necessary to make sure that people from business, the press came to the event served by Ziminov, and that someone “got sick” there ...

for something to happen: "Think, mess up, do something, otherwise I'll be fired."

— What for?

- I understand that Gulyaev's employer was very offended by his former companion Ziminov. Once they started a business together, then they parted ways, and there were insults of a purely personal nature. Secondly, some event was approaching… the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Concord really wanted to serve this forum, but Caramel had a contract, and this contract had to be broken.

— Were there any deadlines, the budget was determined?

- Regarding the timing, it was said that it was necessary as soon as possible, that's all. Literally two days later, I prepared a script according to which a certain public event is being prepared with the participation of representatives of government and business, and journalists. The organization of the buffet is entrusted to Caramel, all kinds of salads with mayonnaise, fish, buns with cream are ordered - so that there is an opportunity to provoke some stomach upsets. I won't name the budget right now, maybe 250-350 thousand. It included renting a hall on Zodchego Rossi Street, more precisely, not Ostrovsky Square, catering, and payment for me and my people. Ambulance a private one for the “poisoned” was supposed to come with their own, Gulyaev gave the contacts of the ambulance. The script was immediately approved and given the go-ahead.

— What kind of event did you organize?

— They convened something like a round table on the problems of small business. The organizer was my friend Sergei Solovyov, he allegedly created a new business magazine. I invited him to play this role. For money.

— Is this the same Solovyov who, a year later, became famous after provocations against Dmitry Bykov and Forbes magazine?

- He is. But then no one remembered the story of the round table and Solovyov did not recognize.

— And how was the buffet?

— There were about 40 people in total: businessmen, representatives of the Association of Entrepreneurs, deputies of the Legislative Assembly. There were about ten dummy people, mostly from the Concorde security service, these worked for a salary. Symptoms of poisoning appeared in our six guys. One even went to the hospital. Poisoning was plausibly staged: one of our men very professionally foamed at the mouth when soap was put under the tongue.

— None of the outsiders were poisoned?

- No, just yours. Yes, and there was no poisoning, pure staging.

Staged poisoning at a business conference

— Was the desired result achieved?

- At first there was no response in the press, a day later I went to an Internet cafe and made a mailing to the media. Many people gave news about the poisoning, and they didn’t have to pay for a single publication, they picked it up themselves. What happened to Caramel's contracts for servicing the [St. Petersburg International Economic] Forum, I honestly don't remember. Was not interested.

Reference

"Poisoned"

Andrey Mikhailov's story is confirmed by the publications of the St. Petersburg press about the round table "Prospects for the development of entrepreneurship", which took place on June 15, 2012 at Ostrovsky Square, house 11. As reported, "six entrepreneurs" received food poisoning at a buffet table organized by Caramel Catering. The organizer of the event was Sergei Solovyov, who presented himself as the editor-in-chief of the New Entrepreneur magazine dedicated to the problems of small business development.

The New Entrepreneur magazine never existed. Sergey Solovyov, who can be seen in the Delovoe.tv story (01:09-01:30), is the same person who in 2013 acted under the guise of an “entrepreneur” in provocations against writer Dmitry Bykov and Forbes magazine.

— How did you personally meet Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin?

- Some time after the round table, I was invited to one of the offices on Vasilyevsky Island - not to the central office on Lieutenant Schmidt Embankment, to another, I don’t remember now, on the 6th or 17th line [Vasilyevsky Island]. Gulyaev himself was present, as well as people from his team. They say: there is such a project “For Honest Media” or something like that. They already had their own media outlet “Newspaper about Newspapers” registered, they had to open the website of the newspaper and other websites, write information directly. I was offered to deal with organizational issues. When I prepared the proposals for the project, I was taken to the main one.

— Where and when did you meet?

- At the end of summer, maybe at the very beginning of autumn 2012. It was said: now let's go to the office on the embankment, where our leader Evgeny Viktorovich is sitting.

It was in his office. There are two ways to get there. From the main entrance on the Lieutenant Schmidt Embankment, through the turnstile and to the second floor, or from Akademichesky Lane, so that, like, no one sees you. A good oak office, everything is stylish, pragmatic, a large screen for video conferencing. Massage parlor nearby.

I was introduced to Prigogine as a person who would be directly involved in the Newspapers about Newspapers project, I reported the concept to him.

Yevgeny Viktorovich was very pleased, he immediately gave cash from the safe for four numbers - a million and a half rubles.

True, after the release of three issues, he began to yell that everyone had failed, the project should be closed, and you would be severely punished anyway. But I must say that he never laid hands on me, and he never laid hands on anyone in my presence. Although there were rumors about it.

— Did you often meet with Prigogine?

“All the time—three or four times, maybe five. Yevgeny Viktorovich personally presented the award. Under New Year once, under good mood two, for Good work three. For Dmitry Bykov, for Forbes. Then the task was set to them personally.

— What was the concept of "Newspaper about newspapers"?

- What was the point?

It was necessary that the media printed non-existent information and that they took money for it in cash. They did it.

At first there was a story with "Arguments and Facts". Something with the provision of shoe covers in clinics. It was the "first shot", I almost forgot. Well, many projects were launched in parallel. "Nevsky News" were registered, "News Agency of Kharkov". Why, we ourselves did not really know. There was a team: let's make a couple more publications and work on them. Pure preparation. This was discussed at the end of December 2012, the registration was like at the beginning of 2013.

— Is the beginning of 2013 the story of Dmitry Bykov? By the way, why Bykov?

- It was necessary to find a "corrupt journalist". The idea arose with Bykov, since we considered him the second person in importance after Navalny.

The documents of the “troll factory” handed over to the editors contain a draft description of a provocation against Alexei Navalny on the eve of the Moscow mayoral elections

They suggested it, it was said: we are working on it. We contacted Bykov through the agency that organized his trips. They pulled them out of the big cities as far as possible so that there would be no force majeure. This is how the Lower Tura appeared. The contract was concluded with the agency, agreed on a date, February 22. Agreed with DC, hung posters. For Yevgeny Viktorovich [Prigozhin], everything went in a fast-fast mode, there was never time for preparation, everything was “on wheels”.

It was necessary that Bykov said something in support of the local politician played by our Sergei Solovyov. Bykov was not told about the support of the politician, he was led to this.

He met with our Solovyov, a very respectable man. Solovyov said that he would run somewhere, Bykov's entire speech was filmed, and what he had to say, he said. What was intended, worked out. ( This is Mikhailov's interpretation. In reality, Bykov did not advertise the "deputy", but only thanked him for the invitation — "New")

— The same Solovyov played a businessman in the Russian Forbes?

“That was the next step. There was not just a Forbes issue, but an anniversary issue, and there was an article by our Solovyov with unverified information and without the mark “advertising” - we had to show that everything was bought in Forbes too.

Reference

Provocations against the media

Provocations against AiF, Dmitry Bykov, Forbes and some other publications with the participation of Andrei Mikhailov and Sergei Solovyov were the subject of journalistic investigations by Novaya Gazeta in 2013.

- In the spring of 2013, just in time for Victory Day, underDDoS- The sites of Novaya Gazeta, Ekho Moskvy, Moskovsky Komsomolets, Dozhd, Forbes and St. Petersburg Fontanka.ru were attacked. Can you tell who organized this action?

“I don’t know who organized the attack, I haven’t seen these people in my eyes. I ordered one of ours, Kirill Fulde.

Where he is now and for whom he works, I have no idea. Maxim Bolonkin, who wrote down an appeal on behalf of the Network Hamsters movement, which allegedly organized DDoS attacks, was found through some acquaintances, through second or third hands, and hired for little money.

The appeal was recorded right in the office of the "Newspaper about Newspapers" in the "Petrovsky Fort". There were options for "Network hamsters" to develop, but it did not work. Evgeny Viktorovich wants such a project today, tomorrow he does not want it. He is an impulsive person.

— How much was this share worth?

— The budget now I will not name from memory. Not one million rubles, but I don’t remember exactly. Approximately 5-7 million rubles.

— How was the financing of such actions generally carried out?

- If a non-standard action is needed, then the scenario is reported, an estimate is drawn up. If Prigogine agrees, then either he gives out the cash himself, or stamps “Agreed” with the facsimile, and the accounting department issues the money. This is on the 17th line in the business center "Senator". Two people were in charge of finance - Irina Mukhina and Yulia Kholodkova. To one of them. Either issued immediately, or called and clarified.

Facsimile of Evgeny Prigozhin

— Around this time, you moved from spot work to mass work. The same “trolls from Olgino” appeared, which have long become a meme. Whose idea was it?

- This is the idea of Evgeny Viktorovich Prigogine directly. I had to read that this was an order from the Kremlin, "homework" that Prigogine does in exchange for billions in government contracts. Based on what I saw and heard, I am sure that he did not receive “orders” from anyone, did not consult with anyone and did not ask permission.

And there were never any "towers" of commands, everything came directly from Prigogine.

He even picked up the premises for the "troll factory" personally, this building in Lakhta stands just on the way to his dacha ( Yevgeny Prigozhin's house in the Northern Venice cottage settlement on Lakhtinsky Razliv. —Ed.). By the way, we never called this structure a “troll factory”, it is a purely journalistic brand that has stuck tightly.

— What tasks were set for you by the "trolls"?

- First, it was necessary to rent the entire building, in parallel, people were recruited there. 2013 was a very active year, many tasks were set in parallel. Employees had to not only dump information on blogs, but also search for negative information on the Web by keywords.

Then we worked closely with [IT entrepreneur Igor] Ashmanov, implemented [a monitoring system in social media] Kribrum.

He helped create and maintain the system - not himself, of course, his employees. But Prigozhin personally met with Ashmanov, and this was the first and last meeting when Evgeny Viktorovich personally met with the performer.

— Did you attend this meeting?

- The meeting was in Moscow, I was not present there, but I organized this meeting.

— How many people worked at the start of the project?

- At first there were 200 people. It was divided into divisions, someone worked in Ukraine, someone in America.

In reality, the trolls worked inefficiently. I had another team operating in parallel, a team of professionals - there were ten of them - which blocked this entire structure.

— Can we name these "ten professionals"?

“We can't name these people because… because we can't name them.

Reference

Factory

Andrei Mikhailov's story about the organization of a "troll factory" controlled by the media, and his personal participation in this activity is confirmed by the documents at his disposal: staff lists, original receipts for receiving money by the authors, certificates, electronic and paper correspondence, invoices, etc. . Novaya Gazeta got acquainted with these documents (copies are at the disposal of the editors).

Petr Sarukhanov / Novaya Gazeta

— Your activity was not limited to network activity and sometimes went offline? Tell us how you met, who spoke about the dirty work for Prigozhin's people. What other work did he do - for you or for the organization you worked for?

- I can be confused, it was 2012 or 2013. By chance, an acquaintance recognized him through an acquaintance ... The bottom line was that Evgeny Viktorovich periodically had resentments against some people, and he was instructed to deal with these people somehow. And Valera [Amelchenko] is a person who at the first meeting said: I am ready for anything, just pay me money.

- How was his "readiness for anything" used?

- While I worked for Prigozhin, there was nothing very criminal. At the beginning of 2013, there was a story with the owner of the clinic on the Petrograd side.

— Are we talking about Elena Cherevko, the owner of Denta-L LLC at 9 Bolshoy Prospekt?

- Yes, she was like the chairman of the HOA of that house, and Prigozhin either had a restaurant there, or he was going to open it, I don’t remember exactly, and even then I wasn’t particularly interested in the reasons. Gulyaev presented it in such a way that

the woman disrespectfully reacted to Evgeny Viktorovich, he was dissatisfied. Personal insult. Someone was put under her wheels, provoked a collision.

— Who staged this "performance"?

— The task of simulating an accident was set by Gulyaev. The number of her [Cherevko's] car and the clinic were known. Then a man was hired who agreed to get hit by a car. The right car is coming, it was accompanied, given information. The man was ready. At the right moment, he threw himself under the car. Everything was developed by the security service.

Valery Amelchenko

The meaning of this action was not clear to me, the result is unknown. From my side there were only performers, I gave them Valera Amelchenko and the guy who agreed to fall under the wheels - his name is Nikolai, but I don’t remember his last name now, if I knew.

All directing and acting is the security service, Valera and Nikolai directly interacted with Gulyaev on this topic. There, in addition to them, five people from the Security Service were involved, I have video recordings that they made, where Amelchenko is clearly visible, how he plays the “good Samaritan”, who rushes to help the victim.

— Other “sympathizers” are also visible on the recording, do you recognize them?

— No, this is most likely someone from the Security Council, you can’t remember them all.

reference

"Running"

Mikhailov’s story about the provocation against Elena Cherevko is confirmed by her own commentary given to the Sobesednik publication in 2016 (Cherevko avoided talking to Novaya), as well as several videos provided by Mikhailov, taken at the scene of the incident on February 7, 2013, according to which It can be seen how a fake accident was organized. On the frames of the video, Valery Amelchenko is clearly distinguishable and recognizable, “providing assistance” to the “injured”.

— What other tasks did Amelchenko perform?

— Are you hinting at the Sochi blogger in the summer of 2013? It was business. This blogger [Anton] Grishchenko, huipster, wrote some wrong things, and he needed to be strictly spoken to.

Where did he come from, who remembered him? I understand that Dmitry Bykov is the goal. And why suddenly Grishchenko, whom no one had heard of?

- Purposeful work on negative reviews has already been carried out in Internet search engines, there

found something very offensive about our president, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, and this client was directly proposed by Evgeny Viktorovich.

Blogger Anton Grishchenko (right). The photography was made by Prigozhin's people, the editors were given by Andrey Mikhailov

I don't remember who specifically gave the data on it. They brought me surveillance data on him, it went through Gulyaev. They told him to speak strictly so that he would not do that again.

— Do I understand correctly that Amelchenko flew to Sochi to “talk” with his partner, Vladimir Gladienko? By the way, where did Gladienko come from in your structure?

- Gladienko is a friend of Valera. How they moved, what they did, I don't even know.

- Huipster stopped writing, deleted his accounts - so the task was completed. That there was something wrong with his hand - I learned about this later from Valera, when they [with Gladienko] returned. As he said: right with the tool on the hand - and it's fine.

— What instrument?

— An iron rod.

Reference

Assault on a blogger

Mikhailov’s story about the attack on Anton Grishchenko in Sochi in October 2013 is confirmed by a photo of Grishchenko’s covert surveillance provided by Mikhailov, as well as by the words of Valery Amelchenko (he later disavowed his story, but the audio recording of his authorized interview is at the disposal of the editors). The story is partially confirmed by Vladimir Gladienko, who says that he really flew to Sochi for several days together with Amelchenko at the indicated time, although he denies the attack on the blogger.

Why did Amelchenko go to Ukraine at the end of 2013?

- One of the goals - he handed out money for performances. For organizing rallies. How the cashier went.

— He organized something.?

— No, he himself could not organize anything, he had to simply give money to certain people. Courier. To whom and for what - you need to raise papers, remember. You see, with me he had a couple of episodes, later Amelchenko had direct contact with Gulyaev, and he could work directly. I did not ask him questions, but I know that his curator, who is now directly involved with him, is Andrey Pichushkin. When I worked for Prigozhin, I knew Pichushkin as still an active police officer, but even then he worked “on the side”, for Gulyaev, and therefore for Prigozhin.

In addition, it was the end of 2013, and I was already pushed away from work. I can say that in the autumn we registered in Ukraine a dozen non-profit organizations, often on relatives of the same Gladienko, but whether they were used and how - I don’t know anymore.

— Have you organized any other offline events?

- I'm telling you: everything went in parallel, 2013 was generally crazy, project after project, and on the Internet, and not only. In the autumn, we simultaneously worked at hospitals in Samara, where it was necessary to break contracts for the nutrition of patients, and at RIA Novosti throughout the country.

— Why Samara?

- The task was set by Gulyaev. It was necessary to ensure the winning of all tenders for the supply of food to hospitals in Samara.

And why exactly Samara - such a question was not asked, I don’t know. A list of hospitals was given in which it was necessary to do some staged actions related to poor food and unsanitary conditions. A script was submitted, an estimate, he [Gulyaev] showed it to Prigogine, it was approved, a seal was put on.

— How many people were involved?

— A total of 12 people. Of which four were from Prigozhin's security service. Eight - local, for the operation with the collection of signatures and staging with a coffin, which was taken out to the city administration.

They made staged videos with cockroaches in hospitals, with dissatisfied patients, with picketers.

There was difficulty. It was necessary to launch cockroaches into hospitals. It turned out to be a problem. They thought that they could catch and put them in a jar, but it turned out that there were no free-grazing cockroaches in St. Petersburg.

We went to the Kondratievsky market, where we bought red-haired, mustachioed ones. Why they sell them there, I don't know. The rat itself successfully got into the frame for us, no one bought or brought it.

— Were cockroaches brought from St. Petersburg and poured out of a jar in Samara hospitals?

— Yes, it's an easy thing. Collection of signatures, removal of the coffin to the administration. As I understand it, the videos were made so that Prigozhin would take someone, the right person to get contracts. The videos (available to the editors) were not made for wide viewing, but this slipped through the local news.

— Has the result been achieved?

- Yes. As I was told, at that time the task was completed.

Screenshot from the reporting video of the work performed. Video provided to the editors by Andrey Mikhailov

Reference

Attack on competitors

Mikhailov's account of the events in Samara is corroborated by the documents he submitted, including both rough footage and finished videos, as well as correspondence, reports, and estimates, including the cost of purchasing cockroaches (the documents are at the disposal of the editors).

A frame from the reporting video, where activists collect signatures. Video provided to the editors by Andrey Mikhailov

— You mentioned RIA. What was wrong with the news agency?

- I suppose that Prigozhin had a goal to remove [Svetlana] Mironyuk from the post of editor-in-chief of RIA Novosti. It was served with sauce: does the largest news agency check the information? What was the reason and what was the reason? Don't know.

A task was set for me through Gulyaev - I need to check for the purity of the information. Come up with news, put money under it and place it. Vladivostok, Novosibirsk and Petersburg were chosen.

A script was written, absolutely fake news was composed. Brought a new breed of dogs in St. Petersburg. In Vladivostok, circus performers perform for free. And such funny things are completely fake. A man from the street comes to the RIA and places.

How was it done? It was obligatory to find out who is engaged in placing news information in the editorial office, then we talked with this person.

The newsman was simply fooled, and then money was handed over to him through a third person, allegedly for posting the news, creating an opinion about venality. Of course, everything was hidden on video.

— Were there any agreements with RIA journalists in reality?

— No, the employees who posted the news did not take money. This is an imitation. The fact that they did not check the news is yes, they posted deliberate fakes without checking.

Then a certificate was written about the work done, videos were made about the corrupt RIA Novosti, all this was given to Gulyaev, Gulyaev passed it on to Prigozhin. I don’t know how Prigozhin used this; these videos did not seem to appear on the Web. But Mironyuk was removed in December 2013, which means that the task was completed.

— Who prepared, hired, directed these people who posted fakes in RIA?

— It's me. There were some people in St. Petersburg, but other guys went on a trip. I know all the guys who worked in Prigogine's structure. They were on the payroll to perform certain activities, so the price of the whole operation was the payment for flights and hotels.

Reference

Attack on RIA Novosti

Mikhailov's story about the operation against RIA Novosti is confirmed both by draft video materials and edited videos, correspondence, certificates and other documents (available to the editors).

Novaya Gazeta spoke with two alleged participants in provocations in Vladivostok and Novosibirsk. Konstantin Podmarev denied his participation. Anton Grachev admitted that he participated in the events, but refused to discuss it in detail.

Freeze frame from a video with a provocation against RIA Novosti employees. Mounted by the people of Evgeny Prigozhin. Handed over to the editors of Novaya Gazeta by Andrey Mikhailov

- You agreed to speak openly not only about how Prigozhin's media empire was created, but also about the organization of obvious provocations in the real world. Why are you doing this and what kind of reaction do you expect from Prigogine?

- Well, I have already been taken to the forest, I hope they will not be repeated. But I don't want my first trip to go unpunished. I can’t predict the reaction, but practice shows that sitting quietly under a snag is the worst defense option.

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Andrey Mikhailov. Photo: Denis Korotkov / Novaya Gazeta

- When did your collaboration with Yevgeny Prigozhin begin? How did you even get to him, sent a resume?

reference

Evgeny Arkadyevich Gulyaev

In May 2016, he was caught on video among employees of the Concord company when FSB operatives detained a car with Yevgeny Prigozhin on Trezzini Square for the illegal use of special signals.

— Didn't you know Gulyaev then?

- Did they somehow introduce themselves, did they say where they work?

for something to happen: "Think, mess up, do something, otherwise I'll be fired."

— What for?

— Were there any deadlines, the budget was determined?

- Regarding the timing, it was said that it was necessary as soon as possible, that's all. Literally two days later, I prepared a script according to which a certain public event is being prepared with the participation of representatives of government and business, and journalists. The organization of the buffet is entrusted to Caramel, all kinds of salads with mayonnaise, fish, buns with cream are ordered - so that there is an opportunity to provoke some stomach upsets. I won't name the budget right now, maybe 250-350 thousand. It included renting a hall on Zodchego Rossi Street, more precisely, not Ostrovsky Square, catering, and payment for me and my people. The private ambulance for the "poisoned" was supposed to come with its own, Gulyaev gave the contacts of the ambulance. The script was immediately approved and given the go-ahead.

— What kind of event did you organize?

— Is this the same Solovyov who, a year later, became famous after provocations against Dmitry Bykov and Forbes magazine?

- He is. But then no one remembered the story of the round table and Solovyov did not recognize.

— And how was the buffet?

— None of the outsiders were poisoned?

- No, just yours. Yes, and there was no poisoning, pure staging.

Staged poisoning at a business conference

— Was the desired result achieved?

Reference

"Poisoned"

The story of Andrey Mikhailov is confirmed by the publications of the St. Petersburg press about the round table "Prospects for the development of entrepreneurship", which took place on June 15, 2012 at Ostrovsky Square, house 11. As reported, "six entrepreneurs" received food poisoning at a buffet table organized by Caramel Catering. The organizer of the event was Sergei Solovyov, who presented himself as the editor-in-chief of the New Entrepreneur magazine dedicated to the problems of small business development.

— How did you personally meet Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin?

— Where and when did you meet?

- At the end of summer, maybe at the very beginning of autumn 2012. It was said: now let's go to the office on the embankment, where our leader Evgeny Viktorovich is sitting.

I was introduced to Prigogine as a person who would be directly involved in the Newspapers about Newspapers project, I reported the concept to him.

Yevgeny Viktorovich was very pleased, he immediately gave cash from the safe for four numbers - a million and a half rubles.

— Did you often meet with Prigogine?

“All the time—three or four times, maybe five. Yevgeny Viktorovich personally presented the award. On New Year's Eve once, in a good mood twice, for good work three times. For Dmitry Bykov, for Forbes. Then the task was set to them personally.

— What was the concept of "Newspaper about newspapers"?

- What was the point?

It was necessary that the media printed non-existent information and that they took money for it in cash. They did it.

— Is the beginning of 2013 the story of Dmitry Bykov? By the way, why Bykov?

- It was necessary to find a "corrupt journalist". The idea arose with Bykov, since we considered him the second person in importance after Navalny.

The documents of the “troll factory” handed over to the editors contain a draft description of a provocation against Alexei Navalny on the eve of the Moscow mayoral elections

It was necessary that Bykov said something in support of the local politician played by our Sergei Solovyov. Bykov was not told about the support of the politician, he was led to this.

— The same Solovyov played a businessman in the Russian Forbes?

Reference

Provocations against the media

“I don’t know who organized the attack, I haven’t seen these people in my eyes. I ordered one of ours, Kirill Fulde.

— How much was this share worth?

— The budget now I will not name from memory. Not one million rubles, but I don’t remember exactly. Approximately 5-7 million rubles.

— How was the financing of such actions generally carried out?

Facsimile of Evgeny Prigozhin

— Around this time, you moved from spot work to mass work. The same “trolls from Olgino” appeared, which have long become a meme. Whose idea was it?

And there were never any "towers" of commands, everything came directly from Prigogine.

— What tasks were set for you by the "trolls"?

Then we worked closely with [IT entrepreneur Igor] Ashmanov, implemented [a monitoring system in social media] Kribrum.

— Did you attend this meeting?

- The meeting was in Moscow, I was not present there, but I organized this meeting.

— How many people worked at the start of the project?

- At first there were 200 people. It was divided into divisions, someone worked in Ukraine, someone in America.

In reality, the trolls worked inefficiently. I had another team operating in parallel, a team of professionals - there were ten of them - which blocked this entire structure.

— Can we name these "ten professionals"?

“We can't name these people because… because we can't name them.

Reference

Factory

Petr Sarukhanov / Novaya Gazeta

- How was his "readiness for anything" used?

- While I worked for Prigozhin, there was nothing very criminal. At the beginning of 2013, there was a story with the owner of the clinic on the Petrograd side.

— Are we talking about Elena Cherevko, the owner of Denta-L LLC at 9 Bolshoy Prospekt?

the woman disrespectfully reacted to Evgeny Viktorovich, he was dissatisfied. Personal insult. Someone was put under her wheels, provoked a collision.

— Who staged this "performance"?