A billion to manipulate opinion?
According to the Estonian media Delphi, which worked in collaboration with an international consortium of investigative journalists, the Russian authorities have mobilized an envelope of 1.1 billion euros to establish a vast propaganda network.
The project would target three major axes: the Russian presidential election, information warfare and propaganda in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
The investigation is based on the leak of a series of documents from the Russian administration, the most recent of which date from December 2023.
A major issue for the Kremlin, the re-election of Vladimir Putin on March 17 is at the heart of this propaganda project.
No less than 740 million euros would have been disbursed in view of the electoral deadline.
This budget would have been used in particular to commission “sociological studies” kept secret and intended to survey society as best as possible before the election deadline.
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One of the documents provides, on Putin's orders, for the surveillance of employees of the Russian Ministry of Education and the identification of “opinion leaders” among them.
Other documents recommend the organization of competitions “to stimulate the participation of teachers in elections” or even an “open dialogue” club which would allow opinion leaders to meet students and teachers.
Great attention to entertainment
Support for Vladimir Putin would also involve significant sums invested in the entertainment sector in order to highlight “the traditional values of the country” in cinema, on television or on the Internet.
Around fifteen organizations would have received nearly 600 million euros after producing content in this direction.
This is particularly the case of the Internet Development Institute (IRI), which has reportedly received more than 400 million euros since 2023.
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This organization founded in 2015 produces films, series, applications and mobile games aimed at young people.
According to the Kremlin Leaks, the IRI would have prepared a document entitled “creative campaign content”, which details the dozen films, series, plays, broadcasts and musical projects which “will create an emotional context conducive to the presidential election” .
Among these productions, the series “German Democratic Republic”, which features a Russian intelligence officer during the Cold War, is said to be directly inspired by Vladimir Putin’s past.
Beyond entertainment content, Russian propaganda is also carried out through significant support for certain media figures.
According to one of the documents, Russian propagandist Vladimir Soloviev would have received 15 million euros in 2023 and could receive 30 million euros for the year 2024. In January 2023, this TV and radio presenter called for "conduct preventive strikes against France” due to the French state sending military equipment to Ukraine.
Control of occupied territories
In the occupied Ukrainian territories, control of opinion involves Internet censorship.
According to Kremlin Leaks, Vladimir Putin's government is funding an Internet blocking system called the “Automated Internet Security System” (ASBI).
This system must make it possible to “resist the dissemination of prohibited information (…) in the new territories”.
At the same time, an organization would control more than 52 million profiles from the social networks of residents of the occupied areas.
According to the survey, 1.6 million of these profiles are considered dangerous by the Kremlin and placed under constant surveillance.
These revelations come as the Russian president boasted, this Thursday during his speech, of the advance of his troops in Ukraine.