Thread by @The_War_Economy

A BLITZ ON INTERNET RESEARCH AGENCY LLC

Internet Research Agency LLC has recently entered the news as Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein - under instruction from Special Counsel Robert Mueller - has indicted multiple Russians in connection with the organisation.

cnbc.com/2018/02/16/rus…

This is the complete list of Russians connected to the organisation. We will go through them all.

But before we do - Internet Research Agency LLC has multiple other names, including Mediasintez LLC... Glavset LLC... Mixinfo LLC... Azimut LLC... and Novinfo LLC.

Other companies indicted include Concord Management and Consulting LLC, and Concord Catering.

The social media company Facebook launched an initiative in December 2017 to combat any propaganda emanating from this organisation.

theguardian.com/technology/201…

One former employee, Vitaly Bespalov, spoke about the organisation with NBC News in November 2017, discussing their work in influencing the 2016 Presidential election.

nbcnews.com/news/all/russi…

They worked in a four-story building on Savushkina Street in St. Petersburg.

nbcnews.com/news/all/russi…

This is a description of the separation of work between the four floors. Part of its activities related to undermining Ukraine and boosting Russia.

nbcnews.com/news/all/russi…

Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch and alleged "chef" to President Vladimir Putin, is one of the key financiers behind Internet Research Agency LLC. He is also the first name listed on the indictment, so we will return to him later.

edition.cnn.com/2017/10/17/pol…

This is the organisation behind Twitter handles such as 10_GOP. There is a complete list at this article.

recode.net/2017/11/2/1659…

They also had a hand in attempting to influence Brexit.

And by this, I mean 73p was spent on Facebook adverts - three adverts to be precise - and were seen a total of 200 times.

westmonster.com/facebook-russi…

Looks as if Senator Feinstein questioned Facebook about Internet Research Agency's agenda.

judiciary.senate.gov/download/stret…

One Russian account, CalifroniaRep, was a backer of Calexit, a decision for California to become an independent state from the rest of America after the election of Donald Trump to President.

It still feels as if they seceded.

bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-tre…

According to an article from April 2015, the people working at Internet Research Agency LLC operate on 12 hour shifts, rotating at the end of their shift, essentially turning it into a 24/7 operation.

theguardian.com/world/2015/apr…

They are paid cash-in-hand, and have also influenced other websites such as LiveJournal and random chat forums to promote Russia.

theguardian.com/world/2015/apr…

This is one of their memes.

theguardian.com/world/2015/apr…

The New York Times also wrote an article about the Internet Research Agency in June 2015. It was written by Adrian Chen.

nytimes.com/2015/06/07/mag…

Adrian Chen had been working on investigating the organisation for a time. He travelled to St. Petersburg in April 2015 to learn more about their operations.

nytimes.com/2015/06/07/mag…

One former employee of Internet Research Agency LLC was Ludmila Savchuk.

nytimes.com/2015/06/07/mag…

According to Savchuk, Internet Research Agency was tasked with spreading propaganda that the Russian opposition party was involved in the murder of their own leader, Boris Nemtsov.

nytimes.com/2015/06/07/mag…

Russian Shareblue.

nytimes.com/2015/06/07/mag…

Employees working at Internet Research Agency LLC sign a non-disclosure agreement. They are also unaware of the name of the Chief Executive.

nytimes.com/2015/06/07/mag…

As it turns out, Savchuk actually infiltrated Internet Research Agency LLC, taking photographs, recording videos and moving documents which she leaked to Moi Raion.

nytimes.com/2015/06/07/mag…

Internet Research Agency LLC were involved in spreading false information about Columbian Chemicals during an incident, and some of their information was released by an organisation known as Anonymous International.

nytimes.com/2015/06/07/mag…

This is everything you need to know about the character "I Am Ass".

nytimes.com/2015/06/07/mag…

On July 27, 2016, Adrian Chen wrote a follow-up article about the Internet Research Agency. This was now during the 2016 Presidential election on the way towards election day itself.

newyorker.com/news/news-desk…

In the article, Leonid Volkov, an opposition activist, suggests that the ultimate goal of the Internet Research Agency is to make people hate the Internet itself and end it.

Unfortunately for Russia, everybody hated each other on the Internet anyway.

newyorker.com/news/news-desk…

Adrian Chen takes a moment out of his day to blame all pro-Trump information as Russian disinformation.

This article was written shortly after WikiLeaks had published thousands of e-mails from the Democratic National Committee.

newyorker.com/news/news-desk…

Oh, Adrian Chen is perfectly okay that Trump has been labelled as a Kremlin agent because "it couldn't happen to a nicer guy".

Realistically, Adrian Chen should resign immediately.

newyorker.com/news/news-desk…

According to Igor Osadchy and a number of leaks released in June 2014, Internet Research Agency also had a hand in attempting to convert opinion on the Internet during the Crimea situation.

buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/docu…

In or around October 2013, a Russian journalist visited Internet Research Agency LLC to learn about their work related to Russia and the United States, according to Olga Khazan's article in The Atlantic.

theatlantic.com/international/…

Internet Research Agency LLC is mentioned in the unclassified Director of National Intelligence report - "Background to 'Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections': The Analytic Process and Cyber Incident Attribution".

dni.gov/files/document…

Let's start going through the indictment list now.

This is Concord Management and Consulting LLC.

It is located at D 13 Litera A, Pom 2-N N4, Naberezhnaya Reki Fontanki, St. Petersburg, 191011.

bloomberg.com/profiles/compa…

Apparently, Concord Management and Consulting LLC co-owns the company Megaline with Lahti OOO. Megaline built a military camp on the border of Ukraine. It is apparently connected to Eugene Prigogine.

rusletter.com/articles/milit…

Dmitry Valeryevich Utkin became the CEO of Concord Management and Consulting LLC in November 2017, replacing Anastasia Sautina.

uawire.org/wagner-group-c…

This person may be connected to Concord Management and Consulting LLC - Jeremiah Z. Whapoe, who may have been a business consultant working in Illinois.

linkedin.com/in/jeremiah-z-…

Both Concord Catering & Concord Management and Consulting LLC were added to the Russian sanctions list on June 22, 2017 by the Department of Treasury, adding them in relation to Executive Order 13661, which was an Obama executive order.

federalregister.gov/documents/2017…

In November 2012, Chernomorsky Shipbuilding Yard agreed to build a floating restaurant for Concord Catering Holding Company. Concord Management and Consulting LLC is the holding company for this.

smart-holding.com/en/press-centr…

Concord Management and Consulting LLC also have connections with Kachkin & Partners, a real estate and investments practice firm, whose partner is Dmitry Nekrestyanov. This was in July 2013.

kachkin.com/news/concord-1…

This is Yevgeny Prigozhin serving Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin is a former hot dog seller. He apparently acted as both the state chef and the court jester.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3…

Prigozhin owned a £7.5 million estate in St. Petersburg, a private jet, and a yacht worth £4.4 million.

His daughter's wedding was held in a palace which was built by the Romanov Royal Family.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3…

This is Prigozhin's son and daughter, Pavel and Polina, and his estate and jet.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3…

Prigozhin was convicted of robbery in 1979, violent robbery in 1980, and was found guilty of fraud. He served nine years in prison.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3…

Prigozhin's yacht is named St. Vitamin.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3…

His rise, essentially, came out of nowhere. He opened a restaurant in St. Petersburg in 2001 when, later on, Putin himself walked in. Prigozhin then became friends with Putin's driver, his guard and then integrated himself.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3…

He organised Putin's birthday parties (because even Putin wants to party on down) and was placed in charge of Dmitry Medvedev's inauguration in 2008.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3…

As noted before with the catering company, Prigozhin eventually gained control of supplying army unit towns throughout Russia, and placed in charge of housing, repairs and maintenance, including on the border of Ukraine.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3…

The United States Department of Treasury moved to sanction Prigozhin in December 2016, a few weeks before the transfer of power between President Obama to President-elect Trump.

newsweek.com/russia-ukraine…

This is the Department of Treasury's press release. Prigozhin was sanctioned under Executive Order 13661.

Presumably while the man himself was sanctioned here, the Trump Administration elevated it to the companies he controlled in July 2017.

treasury.gov/press-center/p…

Mikhail Ivanovich Bystrov was the former head of Internet Research Agency LLC, who was in charge of Glavset LLC in September 2017.

As noted in the indictment, they are the same company.

wired.com/story/facebook…

Bystrov is a retired police colonel. He was in charge of Internet Research Agency in 2015.

businessinsider.com/putins-pesonal…

Mikhail Leonidovich Burchik is in charge of the executive decisions of the publications. He was 30 years old in March 2017. He may also be listed as an executive director.

meduza.io/en/feature/201…

ALQIMI did extensive research into Burchik. He was born on June 2, 1986. His e-mail address is [e-mail]. He is married to Renata Burchik. He is also the owner of Time2Post.

alqimi.com/ALQIM.pdf

Adrian Chen actually spoke with Burchik in February 2015 to discuss the connections between himself and Internet Research Agency, although Burchik denied it. Burchik was also connected to Add1.ru.

nytimes.com/2015/06/07/mag…

Burchik is also the owner of information technology companies VkAp.ru and GaGaDo. He also publishes numerous district newspapers.

memri.org/reports/russia…

I have no idea what this says.

As noted in the indictment, Burchik is also known as Mikhail Abramov.

I have no idea who Aleksandra Yuryevna Krylova is.

I also have zero information on Anna Vladislavovna Bogacheva.

I doubt she did any work on forensic analysis of polymorphism.

Bogacheva and Krylova apparently travelled to the United States in 2014 to gather intelligence for a project. They also travelled to New York, California, New Mexico and Texas between June 4 to June 26, 2016.

dailycaller.com/2018/02/16/mue…

I cannot find anything on Sergey Pavlovich Polozov either. I can find reference to a Sergey P. Polozov who works at the Saratov State Leonid Sobinov Conservatory and a member of the Composers' Union of Russia, but I doubt that is him.

journalpmn.com/index.php/PMN/…

I am simply working under the impression that the rest of the names on this list will be people who worked at Internet Research Agency LLC, with no known history or background (aside from assignments from the company itself).

I have no information on Maria Anatolyevna Bovda (also known as Maria Anatolyevna Belyaeva).

I can find no information on Robert Sergeyevich Bovda, although I presume he is related to Maria Anatolyevna Bovda (with Belyaeva being Maria's maiden name).

Dzheykhun Nasimi Ogly Aslanov was the manager of Internet Research Agency LLC. He was born in Azerbaijan, and is 27 years old. He was discussed in an interview by former employee Alan Baskayev.

Aslanov's nickname was Jay-Z.

themoscowtimes.com/news/former-ru…

As it turns out, Internet Research Agency LLC is the same organisation that hired a black man to have sex with a Hillary Clinton lookalike.

So I guess that's a thing that happened.

thedailybeast.com/russias-troll-…

Aslanov was also the manager of the American department specifically.

thedailybeast.com/russias-troll-…

I have zero information on Vadim Vladimirovich Podkopaev.

While I have no concrete information on Gleb Igorevich Vasilchenko, these may be his Foursquare and Google Plus accounts.

foursquare.com/artautumn

plus.google.com/11237100701202…

I have no information on Irina Viktorovna Kaverzina.

I also have no research on Vladimir Venkov.

This blitz slowed down by the end.

Internet Research Agency is also in WikiLeaks as part of Berat's Box, however it is in the context of Adrian Chen's article as a hyperlink and brief description.

wikileaks.org/berats-box/ema…

That is the end of the blitz as I cannot find any more information currently. I will add it to the spotlight pastebin.