{"id":21447,"date":"2018-03-02T19:56:33","date_gmt":"2018-03-02T19:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/03\/02\/meet-russias-trolls-from-standup-comic-to-a-siberian-jay-z\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:03:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:03:02","slug":"meet-russias-trolls-from-standup-comic-to-a-siberian-jay-z","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/it-networks\/2018\/03\/02\/meet-russias-trolls-from-standup-comic-to-a-siberian-jay-z\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Russia&#8217;s trolls: From standup comic to a Siberian Jay Z"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ST. PETERSBURG, Russia \u2014 One tried his hand at standup comedy. Another wrote a psychological dissertation about loneliness among the elderly. A third, from eastern Siberia, studied economics and wildlife management, and was known to his work colleagues by the unlikely nickname of \u201cJay Z.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They are among the 13 Russians indicted by a grand jury in Washington in a sweeping conspiracy to defraud the United States and its political system, including the 2016 presidential election, via bogus social media posts and other \u201cinformation warfare.\u201d The indictment said they sought to support the campaign of Donald Trump and disparaged Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 13 Russians, most of them in their 20s, worked in St. Petersburg at what was known by the nondescript name of the Internet Research Agency, which has since become known as the \u201ctroll factory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/federal-oversight\/doj-fbi\/2018\/02\/16\/13-russians-charged-in-mueller-investigation\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18047674857381.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Russians charged with meddling in 2016 presidential race<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The indictment alleges that Russians used bogus social media postings and advertisements fraudulently purchased in the name of Americans to sway political opinion  in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the U.S. indictment, the operation was funded by 56-year-old magnate Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was among the 13. An oligarch who has ties to President Vladimir Putin, he has gotten hundreds of millions of dollars in Defense Ministry contracts in recent years for catering and other services, and also is linked to a shadowy company that employs private contractors to fight in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The agency began its work against the U.S. political system in 2014, the indictment said, and by September 2016, its monthly budget exceeded $1.2 million per month, not including bonuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those employed by the agency have either ignored or refused requests for interviews, but friends, colleagues, open source materials and media reports portray a group of bright men and women in their 20s who were eager to build their careers without worrying too much about the nature of their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey came to the factory and thanks to their personal qualities and knowledge of English, they were rapidly promoted,\u201d former agency worker Lyudmila Savchuk told The Associated Press. She had worked in the domestic section and was not among those charged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yevgenia Kotlyar, who has been investigating the agency since last year for independent Dozhd TV, believes that a lot of the trolls saw it as an easy way to earn money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey saw it as simple, well-paid work. &#8230; What they wrote was not necessarily how they felt inside,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was business and nothing personal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The indictment identified Mikhail Bystrov, its general director, as the agency\u2019s highest-ranking official, while Mikhail Burchik was executive director, its No. 2, in charge of operational planning of its U.S. activities. Russian media said Bystrov dealt with organizational issues and Burchik was its de facto chief of the operation, located in an inconspicuous office on the northern edge of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A 31-year-old tech entrepreneur, Burchik owned several companies, including the Commercial News Agency, which was dissolved in December 2017. According to public records, Burchik received several state contracts, including one in 2015 worth just over 1.3 million rubles ($23,000) for the distributing a local newspaper in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Contacted by phone by the AP, Burchik snapped: \u201cI have no idea what information you want from me, I am not up to speed with new events and I think that should be enough information for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking with Russian outlets, Burchik scoffed at the indictment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf several hundred million Americans are so worried about the activities of an ordinary Russian businessman involved in IT and website development, then it seems that the country is facing a grave situation,\u201d he told the RBK news outlet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because Russian law doesn\u2019t allow for the extradition of its citizens, those under indictment are safe as long as they don\u2019t travel to a country that would turn them over to the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Burchik didn\u2019t seem worried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI love my country. There are many beautiful places that you can go to in Russia,\u201d he told the daily newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Robert and Maria Bovda worked as top translators for the agency between November 2013 and October 2014. According to the indictment, Maria was chief of the agency\u2019s \u201ctranslator project,\u201d the core unit for the U.S. operations, and Robert served as her deputy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In social media photos posted by Robert Bovda, they are shown smiling and drinking beer on vacation in Crimea. Maria Bovda sports dreadlocks, while Robert posts about his love of music and memes. Their relationship is not clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Robert\u2019s former professor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, confirmed that he studied at St. Petersburg State University, specializing in the psychology of crisis and wrote a dissertation about the loneliness and dependency of the elderly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maria told RBC that she worked at the agency but denied meddling in the U.S. election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dzheykhun Aslanov, a native of Ust-Kut near Irkutsk in eastern Siberia, succeeded Robert Bovda as head of the agency\u2019s \u201ctranslation project,\u201d which also was called the \u201cAmerican department\u201d by the Russian media. He joined the agency in September 2014, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aslanov\u2019s English was not as strong as his co-workers\u2019 language skills. He graduated in 2012 from St. Petersburg\u2019s Russian State Hydrometeorological University where he studied economics and wildlife management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe was much younger than many of his colleagues. It\u2019s not really clear how a guy from a small town near Irkutsk got to such a senior position,\u201d said Kotlyar, the Dozhd TV reporter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The indictment lists aliases for Aslanov as \u201cJayhoon\u201d or simply \u201cJay,\u201d but he was known in the agency\u2019s office as \u201cJay Z,\u201d an apparent play on the name of the American entertainer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aslanov owned two companies: Azimut and Reputation Management Center. According to the indictment, Azimut was responsible for moving money from Concord, one of Prigozhin\u2019s businesses, to the Internet Research Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reputation Management Center curates clients\u2019 online reputations, monitoring their digital presence and \u201cdrowning negative reviews in a sea of positive information about the company.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gleb Vasilchenko was 22 when he joined the agency in 2014 after studying personal relations at St. Petersburg State University\u2019s journalism school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While a student, he took part in a university-wide comedy competition. Yevgeniy Karpov, a friend and fellow comedian, said Vasilchenko was a talented actor and fondly remembered him telling \u201cexcellent jokes\u201d onstage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe used to cross paths at university,\u201d Karpov said. \u201cI was always touched by his sincerity and goodwill. He would always help other participants of the competition and did so with total dedication.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Karpov added: \u201cIt was always nice to talk with him, joke together on this or that topic, and it was clear that he was a very educated and intelligent person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the U.S. indictment, Vasilchenko worked at the agency until September 2016, monitoring and posting on social media. He later headed two subgroups focused on operations to interfere in the U.S. political system, posing as different American citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Karpov said they didn\u2019t discuss politics, describing Vasilchenko as politically \u201cskeptical\u201d and \u201cstrictly analytical.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another worker on the \u201ctranslator project\u201d was Irina Kaverzina, a St. Petersburg State University graduate who operated multiple American personas that she used to post, monitor and update social media content, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After social media companies began working with U.S. investigators, the indictment said, Kaverzina confessed in a September 2017 email to a relative:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe had a slight crisis here at work: the FBI busted our activity (not a joke). So, I got preoccupied with covering tracks together with the colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She also wrote, \u201cI created all these pictures and posts, and the Americans believed that it was written by their people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Little is known of Sergey Polozov, identified in the indictment as the IT manager who oversaw the procurement of U.S. servers to conceal the troll factory\u2019s Russian location; Vadim Podkopaev, an analyst on the \u201ctranslator project\u201d; and Vladimir Venkov, who also posted comments while posing as various U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two of the agency workers \u2014 Anna Bogacheva and Alexandra Krylova \u2014 traveled around the U.S. for about two weeks in 2014 to collect information to help the operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bogacheva was a promising student who won a grant to study at St. Petersburg\u2019s ITMO university. She worked as an engineer at the eScience Research Institute, and has run a business called I.T. Debugger that says it work with \u201cdifficult clients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most students milling in and out of ITMO, a leading technological and scientific university, were unaware of the U.S. indictment and other related charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cProbably she worked there because she wanted better living standards, and it\u2019s hard to find a well-paid job here,\u201d says Nikolai Pleshkov, 22. \u201cOr maybe she wanted to feel like James Bond!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Irina Borogan, who co-authored \u201cRed Web,\u201d about cyber activities by Russian security services, said the workers\u2019 light-hearted attitude about their job was a way to cope with their involvement in sinister activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kotlyar said some of them probably didn\u2019t understand the consequences of their actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat does this list mean for these young, often open-minded people who want to travel and see the world?\u201d she said. \u201cNow they will not be able to do so easily and will have to look out for their security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After a pause, Kotlyar added: \u201cThese people really are not stupid &#8230; and this office wasn\u2019t a kindergarten.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Associated Press writer Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They are the 13 Russians indicted by a grand jury in Washington in a sweeping conspiracy to defraud the United States and its political system, including the 2016 presidential election, via bogus social media posts and other \u201cinformation warfare.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":62129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":14,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[106,31,110,14,33],"tags":[],"coauthors":[7520],"class_list":["post-21447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-it-cloud-report","category-it-networks","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"NY4DO7QC2VH3HNNCVIRZPASJFI","arc_canonical_url":"\/international\/2018\/03\/02\/meet-russias-trolls-from-standup-comic-to-a-siberian-jay-z\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Meet Russia&#039;s trolls: From standup comic to a Siberian Jay Z - Federal Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"They are the 13 Russians indicted by a grand jury in Washington in a sweeping conspiracy to defraud the United States and its political system, including the 2016 presidential election, via bogus social media posts and other \u201cinformation warfare.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet Russia&#039;s trolls: From standup comic to a Siberian Jay Z\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"They are the 13 Russians indicted by a grand jury in Washington in a sweeping conspiracy to defraud the United States and its political system, including the 2016 presidential election, via bogus social media posts and other \u201cinformation warfare.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/it-networks\/2018\/03\/02\/meet-russias-trolls-from-standup-comic-to-a-siberian-jay-z\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Federal Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-02T19:56:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T18:03:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Francesca Ebel, The Associated Press\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Francesca Ebel, The Associated Press\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta 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