The Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives, created by Vladimir Putin, distributed almost a billion rubles (953 million) as a result of the competition for propaganda projects and festivals dedicated to “cultural integration into a single cultural and historical space” of the annexed regions of Ukraine, as well as the popularization of cultural figures, education, science, and sports. The authors of the Sirena Telegram channel drew attention to this. A message on the foundation's website states that a total of 143 winners have been selected.
Most of all (90 projects) were submitted by NGOs, 21 projects of commercial organizations, 17 – municipal institutions and 15 projects of individual entrepreneurs also won.
For example, 24 million rubles will be spent on the Neowell ideological project for youth. The authors call this project the "little brother" of Russian television on the Internet. With the help of Neowell, the authorities were going to shape public opinion and defend Russian "cultural and moral values" that are "under attack."
“Particular attention will be paid to supporting the domestic and foreign policy of the state, justifying the fairness of our actions. Methods and schemes of informational and ideological struggle between the West and Russia will be considered . ”
Among the winners of the competition there is also the festival “Russian Summer. ZaRussia” with stars, which received 109 million rubles, organized by the pro-Kremlin ANO “Expert Institute for Social Research”. The list also includes the festival of school classical literature "Generation Z" for students and teachers of the occupied territories of Ukraine (35 million rubles), the historical project "Russian Azov", which will spend 29 million rubles, and within which a multimedia project will be created for holding exhibitions in different cities. The authors intend to historically substantiate the connection “with the Russian past” of the “liberated” Azov region, and make sure that the word “Azov” is not associated with the “nationalist battalion”.
The project “Sons of Chechnya on guard of the Russian State”, created on the initiative of Ramzan Kadyrov, will cost 20 million rubles, while only the first stage will cost this amount. So it is proposed to glorify "12 Chechen warriors", among which are participants in the war in Ukraine, including State Duma deputy Adam Delimkhanov.
In September, Sirena found out that since February 24, about a billion rubles had been allocated from the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives for propaganda activities in support of the war, including concerts with Z-symbols. Then the main "grantee" was also the project of the ANO "Expert Institute for Social Research", close to the curator of the fund Sergei Kiriyenko. EISI was created specifically to promote the propaganda ideas of the Kremlin.