Translators, psychologists, inventors

What managed to find out about the Russians accused of intervention in the US presidential election

On February 16, the US Ministry of Justice accused 13 citizens of Russia of interfering in the 2016 presidential election. Among the accused is businessman Evgeny Prigozhin, general director of the “Internet Research Agency”, which is more often called the “Troll Factory”. The remaining 12 defendants - businessmen, translators, analysts and managers; Some of them were also accused of fraud and illegal use of personal data. Some surnames were previously mentioned in investigations dedicated to the “Troll Factory”, almost nothing was known about others. "Medusa" tells what the Russians did from the prosecution of the US Ministry of Justice.

Mikhail Burchik

What is accused of:

According to the US Ministry of Justice ( the full text of the .pdf accusation ), having come to the “Internet Research Agency” in 2013, by 2014, Mikhail Burchik became the executive director of the organization and the second most senior official in it. He personally participated in planning operations to intervene in US affairs, including the 2016 election campaign.

What is known about him:

Mikhail Burchik appears in the investigation of RBC about the troll factory, which was published in March 2017. Some of his companies are also mentioned there, including the Commercial News Agency (registered in October 2013, was liquidated in December 2017, the occupation of activities is unknown). As an executive director of AI, he appeared in the Fontanka investigation based on the materials of the organization’s official correspondence published by hackers from the “anonymous international”.

According to the Service "Carder", Mikhail Burchik is an individual entrepreneur born in 1986. Burchik and the companies controlled by him several times won state contracts-so in 2015 he won a tender for 1.3 million rubles for the “provision of services for the production and distribution of the Smolninsky municipal district in St. Petersburg.

Alexandra Krylov

What is accused of:

Director and the third most senior official of the "Interior Research Agency". She worked in the organization from September 2013 at least to the end of 2014. He is also accused of visiting the United States under a false pretext for collecting information for AII.

What is known about her:

In 2014–2015, Alexander Krylov was the Director General of RIA Fan (“Federal News Agency”) - news agencies that many Western and Russian media associate with Evgeny Prigozhin, the “troll factory” and the private military company of Wagner (this, for example, in the investigation of RBC, explain the exclusives of RIA Fan about the occurring in Syria).

In July 2016, FAN officers tried to take all the seats in the courtroom during a meeting of Prigozhin’s lawsuit against Yandex - the entrepreneur demanded that the articles connecting him with the “troll factory” were removed from the issuance of the search engine. This was done so that journalists of other media could not get into the hall. RBC wrote that Evgeny Zubarev, who replaced Alexander Krylov as a general director of the agency, gave the order to the staff of the FAN.

In the material of RBC, the Fan Agency is called the most successful asset of the "media factory" into which the "troll factory" was transformed. The structure of the agency includes at least 16 Internet sites, due to the exchange of references with federal media, they often occupy high places in the citation ratings of the media.

Sergey Polozov

What is accused of:

As an IT manager, AII had direct involvement in the purchase of American servers, with the help of which the organization masked its activities in the United States. He worked in AII from 2014 to 2016.

What is known about him:

According to Spark-Interfax, three full namesakes of Sergei Pavlovich Polozov live in St. Petersburg. One of them owns several small construction companies, the second provides cargo transportation services, and the third at the end of 2013 registered the company “ Carrots. Useful web development . " The company's portfolio has the creation of several dozen sites for small St. Petersburg companies. However, since 2015, the company's website has not been updated. It was not possible to contact Polozov on the indicated phones.

Anna Bogacheva

What is accused of:

She worked in AII as a translator from April to July 2014. Visited the United States to collect information.

What is known about her:

Anna Bogacheva, a native of the Stavropol Territory, studied at the National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics, where in particular she was engaged in scientific research on the topic “Automation of the process of developing virtual laboratory workshops based on cloud computing”.

In 2014, I registered in St. Petersburg ITEBGger, which is engaged in website promotion and the development of PR campaigns, as well as, as the company described on the HeadHunter website , has “experience working with complex customers”. The partner of Bogacheva on IT GEBAGGER is the former commissar of the Prochrevsky movement “Our” Mikhail Potepkin.

Robert Bovda and Maria Bovda (Belyaeva)

What they are accused of:

According to the US Ministry of Justice, Maria Bovda (Belyaeva) worked at the “Internet Research Agency” from at least November 2013 to October 2014, in various positions, including the main translator.

Robert Bovda worked in an organization at the same time, he is called deputy chief translator. In addition, he is accused of trying to get into the United States to collect information (the accused could not do this, since he was denied a visa).

What is known about them:

Mention of Robert and Maria Bovda began to appear on the Internet in the summer of 2014, after the publication of the Fontanka investigation. In the material that was based on the documents posted into the network by hackers from the “Anonymous International” (hackers claimed to hack the electronic correspondence of the accounting department of the “Internet Research Agency”), in particular, it was said that 500 people work at the “Factory”, and the enterprise budget-a million dollars a month.

Robert and Maria Bovda on blogs and on the forums were called "paid commentators." In social networks, people who call themselves acquaintances and teachers of Robert and Mary wrote that both were students of the Psychological faculty of St. Petersburg State University. The faculty’s website says that in 2011, Robert Sergeyevich Bovda defended his thesis entitled “The experience of loneliness by elderly people depending on the conditions of social support”.

Jaykhun Aslanov

What is accused of:

He worked in AII since September 2014, was one of the leaders of the translators department, and also oversaw the intervention operations in the American presidential elections in 2016.

What is known about him:

According to the Card Layout service, Jaykhun Nasimi Ogly Aslanov was listed as the general director of Azimut. The materials of the US Ministry of Justice claimed that through this company the Kondord Holding, which belonged to Evgeny Prigozhin, financed the “Internet research agency”. In addition, two more companies belong to Aslanov (all three are registered in St. Petersburg): the advertising agency “Reputation Management Center” and Aslan LLC (liquidated in 2016).

Azimuth and Aslan companies, among other things, are the owners of several hundred patents for various inventions. So, in the intellectual property of the Azimut, the “computing module of the aviation complex” and “a way of damage to small aircraft” are included in the “Azimuth”. The company "Aslan" patented the frame for glasses on one hand and "a way to manufacture the subject of lower male underwear (options)."

Vadim Podkopaev

What is accused of:

He was responsible for monitoring the political situation in the United States and content in social networks, holding the post of analyst in the translator department.

What is known about him:

In the registers and open sources, almost no information about Vadim Podkopaev was found. The only coincidence is Vadim Vladimirovich Podkopaev, registered as an individual entrepreneur in the city of Stary Oskol. 32-year-old native of Ukraine, Podkopaev provides services in the field of oral and written translation.

Gleb Vasilchenko

What is accused of:

Working in AII from August 2014 to September 2016, Vasilchenko was responsible for publishing content from numerous accounts created by organizations on social networks. PREASED FOR SECTION of the US citizen.

What is known about him:

There are no people with the same name in the Russian registers of entrepreneurs, however, on vacancies sites you can find ads from the non -existent IP Gleb Igorevich Vasilchenko. Most often, an IP places vacancies of smokers. The organization promises the younger editor of social networks (with experience from a year to three years).

Irina Kaverzina

What is accused of:

Since October 2014, she worked in AII as a translator, started fake accounts of American citizens on social networks.

What is known about her:

On the forums you can find references to the student of St. Petersburg State University Irina Viktorovna Kaverzina. The indictment quotes the letter to Kaversin to one of the relatives, written on September 13, 2017: “We have a small crisis here: the FBI reached us (not a joke!). So my colleagues and I are involved in the fact that we notice traces. ” Kaverina also wrote that she created "all these pictures and posts, and the Americans thought they were writing by their people."

Vladimir Venkov

What is accused of:

He worked as a translator and placed posts on behalf of American users on social networks.

What is known about him:

A person named Vladimir Venkov (patronymic in the text of the US Ministry of Justice is not indicated) works as a project manager in EX Libris, which specializes in social networks monitoring for private customers. Among the company’s clients are Rostec holding, Beeline, Kaspersky and Rusnano State Corporation. Also, according to the profile in VKontakte, Wenkov works on the site d3.ru. The owner of d3.ru is the company Futuware Limited, registered in the British Virgin Islands. Futuware Limited also owns popular sites leprosorium.com and Dirty.ru.

Update of February 18 . The Managing Director of Ex Libris Albert Martirosyan told Medusa that the company employee Vladimir Venkov has nothing to do with the “Internet research agency”.

Update on February 19 . Vladimir Venkov himself, working in EX Libris, also told Medusa that he was “not that Vladimir Venkov” and is in no way connected with the “Internet research agency”.

Konstantin Benyumov, Taisiya Bekbulatova, Ivan Golunov, Denis Dmitriev