Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Leaked interrogation transcripts have revealed that the Kremlin has secretly taken over dozens of popular Russian Telegram channels, deanonymising their administrators on Putin's direct orders and 'persuading' them to hand control to the Russian presidential administration. ⬇️

2/ In July 2023, the FSB detained one of its own – former FSB colonel Mikhail Polyakov – on charges of extortion from politicians and businessmen. He is accused of using Telegram channels to publish discrediting information on companies unless they bribed him not to do so.

3/ Polyakov reportedly told interrogators that he had forced the administrators of dozens of anonymously run Telegram channels to hand control over to the Russian Presidential Administration's Internal Policy Directorate so that they could be turned into pro-Kremlin mouthpieces.

4/ He says that he worked for the FSB between 1991– 2021, before working on Internal Policy Directorate projects under its Deputy Head, Timur Prokopenko. According to Polyakov, Putin ordered the FSB to identify popular anonymous Telegram bloggers in order to seize their channels.

5/ Polyakov and his colleagues compiled reports on each channel and established who its owners and administrators were. He then personally met them to force them to hand over administration rights.

6/ He says: "Previously, these Telegram channels wrote posts about the political situation in a negative format, but after I found them, they began to write in a positive format."

7/ He told his interrogator that he used the admin rights "for the purpose of timely removal of negative information as directed by the Russian presidential administration."

8/ Polyakov also administered a number of channels for "fun", as he says. These included "Kremlin Laundress", "True Truth" and "Postovoy" (also part of a wider network). He personally launched the still-popular "Two Majors" warblogging channel.

9/ He says that as well as posting "patriotic articles" several times a day, he is paid to post or repost articles "at the suggestion of various citizens" for between 20,000-45,000 rubles at a time ($235-529, equivalent to between 19-42% of the average Russian monthly salary).

10/ Polyakov is said to have become the "largest intermediary between PR people and state, propaganda channels, as well as channels close to the security forces. Through "Uncle Misha" you could put/remove a post or buy a block [on negative information]."

11/ However, Polyakov may have gotten too greedy. He says that he and his patron Prokopenko were targeted by the 2nd Service of the FSB Internal Security Department, which carries out counterintelligence activities in central government organisations.

12/ Polyakov is said to have extorted 40 million rubles ($470,000) from the Lanit company for deleting materials from the "Nezygar" channel and the "Kompromat Group" channel and website. He is currently in Moscow's notorious Lefortovo Prison, awaiting trial. /end

Sources:
🔹 t.me/vchkogpu/39945
🔹 t.me/vchkogpu/40446
🔹 t.me/vchkogpu/45243
🔹 rucriminal.info/ru/material/ot…