Russia Spreads Propaganda in Europe Through So-Called Citizens’ Rights Protection Fund

This information was revealed in a publication by The Guardian.

More than 40 internal documents from Pravfond indicate that the foundation has funded propaganda websites targeting Europeans, assisted in financing the legal defense of convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout and assassin Vadim Krasikov, and employed several former intelligence officers to oversee its operations in various European countries.

Danish public broadcaster DR received similar information from European intelligence sources and data provided to a consortium of European journalists.

“The documents show that the group spent millions of euros funding propaganda and legal campaigns. Public data also shows that local partners of Pravfond received millions in state subsidies from several European countries where the foundation has local branches,” the publication states.

According to the report, the documents confirm that the organization’s leadership includes several former Russian intelligence agents. Among them are:

• Vladimir Pozdorovkin, identified by European sources as an agent of the SVR (Russian Foreign Intelligence Service) and described in public documents as the curator of Pravfond’s operations in Northern Europe and the Baltic countries.
• Anatoly Sorokin, who, according to the documents, is an SVR officer and oversees Pravfond’s operations in the Middle East, Moldova, and Transnistria.
• Sergey Panteleev, sanctioned in EU countries as a member of a Russian military intelligence unit specializing in psychological operations. He is the head of the Institute of the Russian Diaspora, listed in official documents as a project executor for Pravfond.

The report also mentions that, in a 2020 national security report, Estonian security services described Pravfond as a “pseudo-legal protection system” that is actually a “fund for influence operations,” and claimed that the FSB uses these groups to recruit allies abroad.

Photo: open sources