The founder of PMC Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, confirmed that he is the creator of the Internet Research Agency, which is called the “troll factory” in the media. Employees of this organization were engaged in writing propaganda posts.
“I have never been just the financier of the Internet Research Agency. I invented it, I created it, I managed it for a long time. It was created to protect the Russian information space from boorish aggressive propaganda of anti-Russian theses by the West,” Prigozhin said.
Earlier, Prigozhin sued the media, which called him the founder of the Internet Research Agency. In particular, Prigozhin filed a defamation lawsuit against the British newspaper The Guardian and the chief executive officer of the UK state digital service, Tom Reid, over an article that referred to a connection between him and the “troll factory.”
Prigozhin also sued journalists who pointed to his connection with the Wagner PMC, but later he admitted that he was indeed its founder. However, on February 6, the court refused to review Prigozhin’s claim against Alexei Venediktov, despite the fact that the PMC founder openly stated that his claims against the journalist were unfounded:
“There was a time when I had to go and sue Venediktov and others, because there was a conspiratorial need to say that the Wagner PMC does not exist. First, because the work that Wagner PMC did could not always be public. Secondly, because PMC Wagner, both in Russia and abroad, has always had many enemies and envious people. <...> Today, when the regime of silence on the PMC Wagner has fulfilled its task, I am pleased to present Comrade Venediktov with victory in this court. And if there is a desire, then to all those from whom I won them.