Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, The boss, also known as ‘Putin’s Chef’
Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin is accused of funding the Internet Research Agency
Prigozhin is accused of funding the Internet Research Agency. He was last sanctioned by former President Barack Obama in December 2016 for ‘blocking property of additional persons contributing to the situation in Ukraine’.
The 56-year-old is said to have used his businesses, Concord Catering and Concord Management and Consulting, to fund the Internet Research Agency (IRA), known as the ‘Kremlin Troll factory’ which was the vehicle for the alleged interference.
Prigozhin paid the salaries of the other 12 defendants indicted by Mueller last month, it is alleged, through this financial backing which prosecutors started in 2014.
The businessman is given the nickname ‘Putin’s Chef’ because he owns restaurants favored by Putin as the venues for state dinners.
A 2016 profile of him by the Russian newsite Meduza described him as an ex-con who graduated from a boarding school only to join a gang and become convicted of attempted robbery and prostitution. He spent nine years in jail.
He gained access to St. Petersburg’s elite in 1996 when he and a friend opened Staraya Tamozhnya, one of the city’s finest restaurants. Until then, he had worked with his father more modesty in grocery stores and selling hot dogs.
He opened his New Island, his second restaurant, in 1997. Putin was first drawn to it in 2001 when he took the then French president Jacques Chirac there for a meal and Prigozhin served them.
He continued to cater to Putin’s staff at the restaurant over the years and grew closer to them. Soon, he became the go-to caterer for official state events in Moscow.
Prigozhin, also known as ‘Putin’s chef’ and is pictured above with Putin himself, paid the salaries of the other 12 defendants indicted by Mueller last month, it is alleged, through this financial backing which prosecutors started in 2014
The 56-year-old, pictured with Putin, is said to have used his businesses, Concord Catering and Concord Management and Consulting, to fund the Internet Research Agency (IRA), known as the ‘Kremlin Troll factory’ which was the vehicle for the alleged interference
In 2010, he launched what was billed as a good-cause initiative to feed hungry schoolchildren in St Petersburg.
Putin attended the launch of food factory to celebrate it and the initiative was funded generously by state-owned bank Vnesheconombank.
A year into the project, parents became angry when they realized the food being produced was full of additives.
He then started feeding other school children in Moscow with more success, having obtained private contracts from the city’s mayor.
Prigozhin won similarly lucrative contracts with the military.
In 2012, he signed a $1.2billion contract which had him provide 90 percent of the meals the Russian army’s soldiers consumed. The system of outsourcing the military’s meals ended in 2013.
It gave him his biggest paycheck and associates said at the time he was known to pay for private jets with cash.
Throughout, Prigozhin was a dedicated patriot and was proud of his association to Putin’s government.
This lucrative relationship with the state carried on until 2013 when the laws changed and outside caterers were no longer brought in to provide the military with meals.
By then, Prigozhin had earned more than $1billion from the state through the deal.
The ‘troll factory’ (Internet Research Agency) was founded that same year. Though Mikhail Bystrov was named as its owner and CEO, Russian journalists learned of Prigozhin’s connection to it early on.
Prigozhin, pictured above with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, gained access to St Petersburg’s elite in 1996 when he and a friend opened Staraya Tamozhnya, one of the city’s finest restaurants
What specifically prompted him to do it or if anyone put him up to it remains unclear.
In its genesis, the factory’s employees had one job – to make complimentary posts on social media about Putin and the government and besmirch the names of its opponents.
When Prigozhin’s association to the Internet Research Agency was revealed, he faced increased scrutiny from critics.
An article in 2015 highlighted how the factory worked and the conflict Prigozhin’s relationship to Putin posed.
With the bad press about him growing, Prigozhin attempted in 2016 to have himself ‘erased’ from the internet.
It coincided with the introduction of a new bill which gave an individual the right to be forgotten.
The law was pushed by Putin and states that websites must delete content such as news stories about an individual if it breaks the law, is false or is ‘obsolete’.
To date, Prigozhin has filed 15 lawsuits against the Russian search engine Yandex to try to have articles about him removed from the internet.
Mikhail Ivanovich Bystrov, retired police colonel and the CEO frontman for the ‘troll factory’
The Treasury sanctioned Bystrov and 11 others indicted by Mueller because they ‘acted for or on behalf of and provided material and technological support to the IRA’.
Bystrov was listed as the CEO of Internet Research Agency and his name has been linked to other companies which have been tied to the election interference.
Little is known of him other than that was an employee of the state who was born in 1958 and is a retired police colonel.
He, unlike Prigozhin, has not been pictured publicly with Putin and has kept himself out of the spotlight.
According to Mueller’s investigation, he joined IRC in 2014 as its highest ranking employee.
‘Bystrov was the general director. He subsequently served as the head of various other entities used by the organization to mask its activities, for example, Glavset LLC, where he was listed as that entity’s general director,’ it reads.
Mikhail Leonidovich Burchik, aka Mikhail Abramov, the second in command
Burchik was Bystrov’s right-hand man at the organization, according to Mueller’s complaint.
He used the name Mikhail Abramov too and was instrumental in orchestrating Project Lakhta, the generously funded project which officials say was the start of the interference.
At conception, it had a budget of the equivalent of $1.25million. Lakhta involved both US and Russian-targeted interference, it claimed.
He was in charge of meetings, structure and personnel, according to Mueller’s indictment, had one-on-ones with Prigozhin.
Sergey Pavlovich Polozov, IT whiz who used US servers to hide ‘troll factory’s’ real location in Russia
Polozov was in charge of the IT department and his biggest responsibility was hiding the location of the Internet Research’s Agency HQ, now known to be 55 Savushkina Street in the Olgina neighborhood of St Petersburg.
Prosecutors allege that the posts its employees wrote were designed to look like they had been written by Americans who favored Trump.
This was possible, Mueller says, through the ‘procurement of US servers’ which at first glance made them look like they came from America if they were ever probed.
Mueller’s indictment alleges: ‘Polozov served as the manager of the IT department and oversaw the procurement of US servers and other company infrastructure that masked the organization’s Russian location when conducting operations within the United States.
‘To hide their Russian identities, [they], particular Polozov, purchased space on computer servers located inside the US in order to set up virtual private networks (VPNs). They connected from Russia to the US-based infrastructure by way of these VPNs and conducted activity in the US, including accessing online social media accounts, opening new accounts, and communicating with real US persons – while masking the Russian origin and control of the activity,’ it reads.
Aleksandra Yuryevna Krylova, female spy who ‘came to US in 2013 to gather information and report it back’
The Trump administration claims that Kryloca served as a director at the IRA and was the firm’s third-highest-ranked employee.
Mueller’s complaint gives little detail of the background lives of the lesser known employees and there is scarce information about them available.
It is suggested though that Krylova, one of four women named, was the company’s spy.
‘In 2014, Krylova traveled to the United States under false pretenses for the purpose of collecting intelligence to inform the organization’s operations,’ the indictment reads.
Anna Vladislavovna Bogacheva, data analyst for alleged US interference dubbed ‘the translator project’
Bogacheva was tied to what the employees referred to as ‘the translator project’ within the IRA.
It was part of the larger Project Lakhta but focused only on US audiences, it is claimed.
She too is alleged to have traveled to the US under false pretenses to gather information.
Bogacheva only worked for the company for three months between April and July 2014.
Maria Anatolyevna Bovda, project manager
Bovda is described in the Treasury’s sanction statement as the ‘head’ of the translator project, the designated branch of the wider pro-Putin effort which focused on US audiences.
She worked there between November 2013 and October 2014, according to the statement.
Robert Sergeyevich Bovda, second in charge of the project
While it is not revealed in the sanctions or indictment, it is believed that Robert and Maria Bovda are married.
Robert Bovda acted beneath his wife as the second in charge of the ‘translator’ project and worked at the company over the same dates.
He too was accused by Mueller of trying to enter the US under false pretenses to collect information but he did not obtain a visa and could not make the trip.
Ogly, who also used the names Jayhoon Aslanov and Ajay Aslanov, was sanctioned because he ‘acted for or on behalf of and provided material and technological support to the IRA’.
Robert and Maria Bovda worked in the ‘translator project’ in the IRA, the designated branch of the wider pro-Putin effort which focused on US audiences
The Russian acted as the head of a the translator project, which conducted operations on social media with a focus on the US, according to a Department of Treasury press release.
The press release says that Ogly also oversaw operations that targeted the 2016 presidential election.
He took over when Maria Bovda left the project in late 2014 and he was at its helm during the election, it is claimed.
The Russian was also listed as a director for another company which has been tied to interference and is owned by Prigozhin.
Vadim Vladimirovich Podkopaev, data analyst
Podkopaev joined in June 2014 and drafted social media content to be blasted by the ‘trolls’.
He also worked as a data analyst, targeting US audiences, according to the complaint.
Gleb Vasilchenko was accused of posting under numerous social media accounts which the factory operated from 2014 until September 2016
Gleb Igorevich Vasilchenko, pre-election troll
Vasilchenko was accused in the indictment of posting under numerous social media accounts which the factory operated from 2014 until September 2016, two months before the election.
He went on to work for ‘sub groups’ which were also owned by Prigozhin and which also worked to interfere with the election, it is claimed.
As per the complaint, he ‘was responsible for posting, monitoring and updating the social media content of many organization-controlled accounts while posing as US persons or US grassroots organizations.
Irina Viktorovna Kaverzina, posed as ‘multiple US voters online’
The fourth woman sanctioned, Kaverzina is alleged to have used multiple social media accounts to pose as an American and make influential posts about politics and Donald Trump.
She joined in October 2014.
When US officials launched their investigation in 2017, Kaverzine allegedly let slip to a family member that they had been ‘busted’ and told how she had to spend time ‘covering her tracks’.
‘We had a slight crisis here at work: the FBI busted our activity (not a joke). So I got preoccupied with covering tracks together with colleagues. I created all these pictures and posts and the Americans believed it was written by their people,’ she wrote.
Vladimir Venkov, pre-election troll
Venkov, one of three designated trolls, allegedly shared the responsibilities of Kaverzina and Vasilchenko to post content online while posing as an American.
The Trump administration also sanctioned two entities and six individuals for performing cyber attacks on behalf of the Russian government.
All individuals involved were sanctioned for ‘acts for or on behalf of the Main Intelligence Directorate’ Russia’s top spy agency, according to a statement from the Treasury Department.
Below are the individuals and organizations involved:
Sergei Afanasyev, senior official at GRU
Afanasyev is a senior official at one of Russian’s top spy agencies, the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU).
Russian news agency TASS previously named him as a deputy chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
GRU, where Afanasyev reportedly works, is one of two Kremlin spy agencies that allegedly sent hackers into the Democratic National Committee’s network ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
While Afanasyev is relatively unknown outside of Russia, he apparently attended Russian peace talks for the syrian civil war Astana, Kazakhstan, in February.
It is believed to be his last public appearance, and he spoke via video call.
There is little known about Afanasyev’s work outside the Middle East and terrorism issues.
Igor Korobov is the current chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate General Staff (GRU) in the Ministry of Defense
Igor Korobov, Chief of the GRU
Korobov is the current chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate General Staff (GRU) in the Ministry of Defense.
He was sanctioned by Obama in 2016 for the hacking that disrupted the U.S. presidential election.
Prior to joining the GRU, Korobov served as head of the Strategic Intelligence Directorate and was an officer in the Soviet Air Forces.
Vladimir Alexseyev, First Deputy Chief at GRU
Alexseyev works on behalf of the GUR, and as of December 2016, he was a First Deputy Chief within the organization.
He was previously sanctioned by the President Barack Obama in response to the Russian government’s ‘aggressive harassment of US officials and cyber operations aimed at the US election in 2016’, according ot a White House press statement.
Sergey Gizunov, Deputy Head at GRU
Gizunov is a deputy head of the Main Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff.
He was previously sanctioned in December 2016 for alleged hacking during the presidential election.
Igor Kostyukov, First Deputy Chief at the GRU
Kostyukov is a first deputy chief in the Main Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff.
He was also sanctioned by Obama in December 2016 for election meddling.
Igor Kostyukov is a first deputy chief in the Main Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff
Grigoriy Molchanov, senior official at GRU
Molchanov is a senior official in the Main Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff.
He has been part of the GRU since April 2016.
Five organizations were also hit with sanctions on Thursday, including two Russian government agencies and the ‘troll factory’, Internet Research Agency.
The organizations are listed below:
Internet Research Agency
The ‘troll factory’ where 13 Russians accused of meddling in the Us presidental election is called the Internet Research Agency.
It is headed up by businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin’s ‘personal chef’ who gained access to Russia’s political power players through his luxury restaurants in St Petersburg in the mid 2000s.
In 2012, he landed a lucrative contract to provide the country’s military soldiers with meals. It only lasted a year but was rumored to be worth around $1.2billion.
With his money,from his buseinsses, Concord Catering and Concord Management and Consulting, the Agency, which was founded in 2013, flourished.
At one stage, former workers say 400 people were working there.
Their job began with pro-Putin posts on social media and, in one department, evolved into pro-Trump, anti-Clinton messages on fake accounts where they pretended to be American.
Concord Catering and Concord Management and Consulting were also sanctioned on Thursday.
Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU)
The GRU is Russia’s foreign military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.
The organization serves as Russia’s largest foreign intelligence agency.
Federal Security Service (FSB)
The FSB, which was once run by Vladimir Putin, was set up in 1995 to fight perceived threats to Russia.
It has fought separatist rebels from Chechnya in two wars, and aims to prevent pro-Western ‘colour’ uprisings in Russia such as Georgia’s Rose Revolution of 2003 and Ukraine’s Orange Revolution of 2004.
But it was thrust into the global spotlight during the murder case involving former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko who was poisoned at a hotel in London’s Mayfair in 2006 after being branded a ‘traitor’ in Russia.