Prigozhin tries to distinguish himself with the “Trollfarm” confession – what is behind it Prigozhin tries to distinguish himself with the “Trollfarm” confession – what is behind it

Prigozhin’s confession

The accusations from the US have been circulating for some time and in November 2022, the Russian Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin also admitted for the first time to have interfered in the US elections. It was the first time at the time that an influential Russian admitted that there had indeed been an attempt to influence the elections of the nemesis.

Now the unscrupulous businessman, ex-mafioso and convicted criminal has explained concretely for the first time how he became active in the presidential elections. On Tuesday, he explained that he had founded the Internet Research Agency (IRA) and continued to fund it, the Reuters news agency reported. The US government calls the network a “troll farm”.

“I was never just the funder of the Internet Research Agency. I came up with it, I made it, I managed it for a long time,” Prigozhin said in a post shared on social media by the press service of his catering group Concord.

According to Prigozhin, the creation of the network was to “protect the Russian information space from the indecent and aggressive anti-Russian propaganda of the West”.

More information about Prigozhin can be found here:

The “Troll Farm”

The Internet Research Agency (IRA) is, on paper, a normal St. Petersburg company. According to the Russian newspaper “Novaya Gazeta”, the IRA was founded in 2013 and is said to be headquartered in St. Petersburg’s posh Olgin district. The trolls’ job is simple: run online propaganda to make Russian political and economic concerns more socially acceptable. Reportedly, as many as 1,000 people worked for the IRA at a time.

Influence in favor of Donald Trump

In 2017, the US intelligence organization IC presented a report according to which the IRA had already campaigned online for Donald Trump as the future US president in 2014 and 2015 – and in return had harmed opponent Hillary Clinton.

Putin’s and Prigozhin’s trolls used fake accounts on social media, in major newspaper forums and other online exchange platforms to present Trump as more accepted by the public than he probably was.

Even then, the person responsible for the troll army was described as a “financier who is a close ally of Vladimir Putin and has ties to Russian intelligence.” Traits that suit Prigozhin. But he never officially admitted to being behind the troll factory – until February 14, 2023.

What does Prigozhin want to achieve with the confession?

This raises the question why Prigozhin, of all times, now, years after the actual propaganda attack, proclaims that he is responsible for the troll factory – and insists in a particularly autocratic way that he was the driving, decisive force behind the project. .

One possible reason could be the hesitant attack of Russian troops, and in particular Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenaries, on the small town of Bakhmut, which has been fighting for weeks.

According to the American think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), almost simultaneously with the press release on the IRA, Prigozhin released a blasphemy diatribe, stressing that his Wagner mercenaries would have a long way to go due to the reinforced The Ukrainian defenses in the area are not close to encircling the village. This is the stated goal of the Russians to capture the small city, the real strategic importance of which is disputed.

Prigozhin has made increasingly clear statements in Russia in recent months and has not shied away from criticism of senior Russian generals. With his performances, the 61-year-old managed to make a name for himself among the Russian public and gain influence in the Russian power structure.

Observers assume that Prigozhin has ambitions for a higher position in Russian politics and has his eye on an official post. If his forces failed at Bakhmut, as he hastily announced once before, his public reputation would suffer. So it’s entirely possible that he’s trying to countermeasures with the troll factory confession.

More about Prigozhin’s political ambitions: