KYIV – Among the key Russian tactics in the infowars on Ukraine has been the government’s army of Internet trolls, or those recruited to monitor websites and post comments or articles in favor of the Putin regime and discrediting its enemies, often with aggressive rhetoric.
More evidence has been surfacing of late confirming the Russian government’s extensive use of trolls. In late June, Liudmyla Savchuk revealed to the telegraph.co.uk news site that she had worked as a St. Petersburg-based troll, whose job it was to spread lies and hate about Ukraine and the war in Donbas.
“That was always about the Kyiv ‘junta,’ how the poor people of Donbas are being bombed, how women and children are being shot, how NATO is to blame and Blackwater has mercenaries there,” Marat Burkkhard, another St. Petersburg troll, told the news site.
On August 18, Russian Internet activists revealed research they had performed using Google Tracks that pinpoints where the most Google searches on Ukraine-related topics have been performed within Russia.
The research found an unusually high rate of Ukraine-related searches were performed in three Russian small towns, so much so that they even exceeded the rate of searches performed for the same terms in the country’s biggest cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
For example, the term “referendum,” was entered at a rate highest in the towns of Yablonovsky, Perekatny and Olgino, more than Moscow, which ranked fourth in the rate of searches of that term, reported the anonymous blog at otakvot.livejournal.com.
Yablonovsky’s population is about 30,500, while Olgino has only 4,120 residents and Perekatny ranks at a mere 250 residents.
“The lamentably famous Internet Research Agency is located in Olgino, which directly engages in Internet propaganda,” the otakvot blog commented.
“For days on end, hundreds of workers write comments praising the current Russian government; dump dirt on Ukraine, America and Europe; and denigrate those in disagreement, creating the appearance of public opinion.”
The term “maidan” was searched at the most intensive rate in Olgino and Yablonovsky, far more than Moscow, while Olgino and Perekatny led in the search rate for “Poroshenko,” also far more frequently than Moscow.
Using Google Tracks, the research was also able to determine that the trolling agencies were set up at the end of 2013, when the Euro-Maidan protest erupted. That’s precisely when the three towns began to dominate the rate of search entries for Ukraine-related terms, the blog reported.
“The above-mentioned agencies more than likely are also trying to control attitudes on domestic politics, as revealed by the statistics for entries such as ‘buckwheat,’ ‘sanctions,’ and other similar ones,” the blog reported.
Ms. Savchuk’s claims about the trolling agency where she worked gained full confirmation on August 18 when a district court in St. Petersburg ruled in favor of a complaint she filed about her worker rights being violated, the kommersant.ru news site reported.
Although she was awarded a mere ruble in what’s called “moral damages” in Russian law, which is the amount she requested, the greater victory was that the court confirmed the existence of the trolling agency and the public gained legally documented confirmation of its activities, said rights activists contacted by the news site.
Her job responsibilities included writing at least five pro-government comments per day on political topics selected by her managers. She also had to maintain a personal blog on the given topics and report on its popularity.
Her salary ranged between about $600 and $750 a month, the kommersant.ru news site said. She was only paid for January and dismissed in March, without having been registered as an employee. She was eventually registered and paid during the course of the lawsuit, the report said.
Though the Savchuk complaint confirmed some facts, what remains unconfirmed is how the trolling agencies are set up and what their legal relationship is with the government.
As early as May 2014, the novayagazeta.ru news site reported that they’re financed privately by Russian oligarchs, but in tight cooperation with the government. Indeed, much of Russian business operates in tight cooperation with state structures.
In particular, the Olgina trolling agency is financed at least partially by oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev, the report said.
While Russian oligarchs finance trolls to serve government interests, Ukrainian oligarchs are also involved in this dirty business, but instead hiring them to defend their political and business interests, reported in late May the television program Skhemy, a project involving reporters from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the First National television network.
Among those in Ukraine involved in trolling are billionaires Rinat Akhmetov and Igor Kolomoisky, the program reported. Such investments range between $50,000 and $100,000 a month, depending on the success of the trolling campaign.
“In a scandal involving Kolomoisky, I wrote a comment about the attack on Serhiy Andrushko, a journalist with Radio Liberty. And a giant mass of these Kolomoisky trolls overhwhelmed the web page with offensive comments daily,” said Taras Berezovets, a Kyiv political consultant, who was featured in the report that can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP0SdSlvfxY.