Who turns Russia into a creative agency and what it means

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Presidential elections were held in Russia. Chairman of the European Council Charles Michelle before they began to congratulate Putin on the victory, commenting: “There is no opposition. There is no freedom. There is no choice. " And yet Putin does not care what his image is in his eyes: Nits.

Creative agencies, a blogger: Ki-Millionni: TSI and media holdings like Gazprom-Media are working on the advance of Putin and his ideas. How do they all begin to work to create a “fashionable” image of Putin, what are the premises about the presidential candidate and how much money they receive for this? In the investigation, DOXA figured out who turns Russia into one large PR campaign to promote Putin and war.

• Author

  

  Author

  Window

• Author

  

  Author

  Nina Nezvanova

• Illustrator

  Illustrator

  The flower is yard

• Designer

  Designer

  Vitya Ershov

• Publication

  March 15, 2024

"Help become popular personalities"

On December 14, 2023, at the Putin’s press conference, the MMA fighter and blogger Sasha Stone asked the president as a blogger: a camp to work in such a way that the state has “no questions for them”. Putin replied that the modern blogosphere is a democratized field where there is no control from the state.

Blogger-millionaire Sasha Stone is a resident of the Production Center of the Insight People . Now with the agency, as indicated on the site, more than two thousand blogroiro work: K. Many of them take off short Lifestail-Video or participate in entertainment television shows: discuss the outfits of the main character: the yin of the film “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, lay out vogi from trips to Thailand or Ai version of their songs performed by better famous musician: to, for example, oximiron.

Spaces for resident: to Insight People has already opened in more than 50 regions of Russia.

In January 2022 Victoria The name has been changed for the safety of the heroine. , editoring of a large Russian media, turned to Insight People The agency did not respond to DOXA's request about the comment. Just for help with this content: its publication needed a noticeable blogger: ki for light entertainment formats. According to Alina Zinnatullina, CEO of Insight, “attracting youth attention to popular personalities” is one of the key tasks of the production center. InSight “popular personalities” actively helps to become “intellectual Russian youth”. For example, they invite them to the “ Call ” community, which gives “access to resources to create exclusive content” in the “popularization of science and art”, and also releases the reality show with a blogger: Kami and scientists on STS.

True, the second important task of Insight, according to Zinnatullina, is to promote the “cultural and patriotic values ​​of Russia”. Therefore, among the last posts of Insight in social networks:

• a track about who needs Bali when there is a “Tula with gingerbread and samovar”;
• Congratulations on March 8, where the plot is in the center of the plot is the story of a family in which the son is “proud of the Western father”;
• Video from the boxing tournament in honor of "Hero of Russia, participant of his Dmitry Litvinov." "Could such an event do without us?" - asks Insight.

I did not do without a resident: to Insight and the recently ended World Youth Festival, where the center had a separate zone. In the reports from the festival a blogger: Ki rejoice that a foreign guest: they got rid of the “stereotypes about Russia”, and they remind that strength is in folk unity. And they proudly say that Sergey Kiriyenko , deputy head of the presidential administration and the chief ideologist of youth policy in the country, visited the Insight zone at the festival.

“Everything is intertwined in this area. And the roof is somewhere very upstairs "

“The bloggers themselves do not understand at all who is smaller than [younger] - so for sure,” explains Victoria. - The main thing for them to subscribe [conclude a contract with the agency] so that there is a flow of tasks and money. And what else do they need? They have managers who tell them, where to stand, where to go, what to sing. ”

When Victoria turned to the Insight People, at first communication went with ordinary cooperation: Tsami of the Production Center. Our interlocutor requested lists potentially suitable for her tasks Blogero: K, and the agency provided them. But as soon as the editoring began to contact the blogger: Kami, the process, according to her, was joined by the media manager Ivan Kudryavtsev . Since then, all cooperation with Insight has been carried out only through it.

In the description of the personal profile on Instagram, Kudryavtsev represents himself as an InSight, VK, Easy Agency manager, as well as several Karina Cross, Dava, Mia Boyka and Jony Blogero: K and Sing: Iz. Among the events to which the media manager goes with his wards- VK Fest , the pop-musical contest " New Wave " in Sirius, the All-Russian Youth Festival , master classes of the Knowledge Society The Enlightenment of NGOs headed by Sergei Kiriyenko, which “forms intellectual content” and holds events “in the field of education and social support”. , the exhibition "Russia", promoting the "achievements" of Russian regions and government agencies. In March 2022, speaking about the future of Bloging after the start of a full-scale war and sanctions against Russia, Kudryavtsev noted : “Now there will be a large cleaning of the market, but part, namely, a self-mide, it will emerge.”

Kudryavtsev himself “sailed”: in March 2022, he launched his own PR agency “ 13-agency ”. The producer had enough experience by that time: in addition to Insight People, it is connected Affiliation with Invite can be found in the old mirror of a personal instagram account Kudryavtsev: https://instaproprofi.ru/profile/ivan_kudr and another large Russian media agency- Invite . Since December 2022, Invite has been part of VK, and headed by the agency of the media manager Roberto Panchvidze , the creator of one of the most popular MDK public social networks in the history. The public was born as a collection of memes built on black and incorrect humor, but eventually politicized: he began to illuminate opposition protests and even chose a photo of Alexei Navalny as an avatar.

“The Internet was completely different. Then there was no such thing at all as Hay-Spic. And now 80% of the topics that we used for communication will not only be blocked, but, probably, a criminal case will be opened, ”MDK recalled in an interview with the end of 2021. Now the 12-million MDK is "the international youth community, [...] in whose hands the future of this world." And its creator is managed by Invite, among the “successful cases” of which is the promotion of the holiday of the graduation: CC “Scarlet Sails”, “Improving the recognition” of the Taurida Art festival and “Destroying the stereotypes about Russia” Roller for the World Cup 2018.

InSight PEOPLE and Invite: Ivan Kudryavtsev, Roberto Panchvidze, Alina Zinnatullina

Personal Instagram

Our interlocutor editors Victoria turned not only to Insight, but also to another agency with a similar name - Invite The agency did not respond to DOXA's request about the comment. . It was founded in 2017 by the head of the Simferopol unit of the propaganda media “Russia Today”, five years later, who died at the training ground in the Crimea from the “Small bullet”. Invite, editor -in -chief of Victoria, as well as from Insight, needed top blogger: ki for entertaining content. To the surprise of the editor, she was not offered to agree on cooperation with the ordinary work: Tsami, but with Maxim Ixanov-the chief of the two millionth telegram channel Mash and the head of News Media The media holding, which includes Media Life, Mash telegram channel, as well as publications about the life of stars. . “On a call with us is the head of News Media? Wasn't anyone more lower? - recalls Victoria. - But in this area everything is intertwined. And the roof is somewhere very upstairs, not even at the level of Ixanov. ”

Ixanov is not publicly connected with either with InSight. But there is an organization that does not hide cooperation simultaneously with large media holdings, agencies and the presidential administration. This is the Institute for the Development of the Internet (IRI) , which annually on a competitive basis gives out multimillion -dollar grants for content For example, on the project of the Life publication “Heroes of Operation Z” - a series of video interviews with the Russian military. awakening “interest in national heroes, roots and literary sources”, including sponsored Putin’s election campaign. Invite President Roberto Panchvidze and the head of News Media Maxim Iksanov are part of the IRI Production Council in 2024. General Directing Insight Alina Zinnatullina was a member of the competitive committee Both the bankruptcy committee and the production council participate in the assessment of applications and determine the winners of the IRI contests. In 2023, and now Insight is represented by another employee. Elena Lapina, the former head of News Media, works as an executive director of Iri.

Support for the "Youth Community" is a value not only for Iri and creative agencies, but also for Katerina Tikhonova - daughter of Vladimir Putin. Tikhonova is headed by the Innopractics Institute, whose mission is to “disclose the potential of researchers and innovators in Russia.” Remember the “Calling” community for young scientists who operate on the Insight base? Innopractics Putin's daughter is his co -founder.

At the next Congress of Innopractics, at the end of 2022, the “Call” presented the Zone “New Faces” - a studio in which those who wish could record a video forces, which would then advance in Rutube and “through media resources” of the “producers”. And the "media resources" are not limited to two creative agencies. In November 2023, Gazprom-Media became a co-owner of Insight. It also controls Invite: in 2022, the VK holding bought the agency, and the main share of VK since 2021 also belongs to the Gazprom state energy company. Since 2020, the General Director of Gazprom-Media is the former head of Roskomnadzor Alexander Zharov. Now he is entering the supervisory board of Iri.

“Yesterday I visited Iri Awards and even presented it! And the festival itself has turned into a real platform to build ties between young people, ”shares the Russian figure skater of Camila Valiev and reprost the producer Ivan Kudryavtsev. “ And all this became possible thanks to our president .”

Neuroputin and urban industries

Not only the state functions are engaged in the advance of Putin and the war: the federal level and the blogger: Ki, who "do not understand nihuya." In the evening of January 1, the public "in the case will understand | Kazan ” laid out the New Year's appeal of Putin in neurosetic processing: instead of the Russian language, he now spoke Tatar. “ Without bergә We are together, and this is the most reliable support for the future of Russia. , һәm bru Russians Kilәchәgena ily yshanychly nigeshee, ”said Putin listener: NIC. Author: Ki post-first-handed person asked 500 thousand subscribers: “Would they be very surprised if Putin congratulated you like that yesterday?” During the evening, the posts with the video appeared in thirty publics of VK and telegram channels, and two days later the same resource published a similar video in the Bashkortic language.

But they did DOXA was told about this by a source associated with the agency. The second video is not in Bashkortostan, but in the same place as the Tatarizer, in the creative agency K9. K9 is based in Kazan, works for the Volga Federal District The Volga Federal District includes: Bashkortostan, Kirov region, Mari El, Mordovia, Nizhny Novgorod region, Orenburg region, Penza region, Perm Territory, Samara region, Saratov region, Tatarstan, Udmurtia, Ulyanovsk region, Chuvashia. And, as the agency’s instagram says , “solves complex problems”. At the turn of 2023 and 2024, one of these tasks was the creation and promotion of “positive, interesting, creative” information farms associated with Putin. The elections were nearing.

Photo 1: The Tatarizer Rapper, known for the support of political prisoners of Azat Miftakhov, acts at the Festival of City Industries. Photo 2: Daniil Gubaidullin, editor -in -chief media Enter (in the center) and his colle: Zhanka at the Enter and K9 awards

1 - 116.ru, 2 - K9

According to the interlocutor of DOXA, related to the agency, in the election period K9 worked in several directions:

• emphasized the unity of the peoples of multinational Russia;
• connected the construction of new facilities in cities and republics with presidential grants;
• It was noted that Putin supports the Russian military and their families.

On Instagram, K9 calls his “assets” a magazine about the city Lifestail and creative industries Enter, the newsletter of Kazanfirst and a video project with reports and historical videos on YouTube Tatarstand. The agency also mentions the “network of the largest news and entertainment communities in the Republic of Tatarstan”-that is, VK publics and, presumably, telegram channels. According to the source, some of them belong The purchase of K9 Popular publics was confirmed by DOXA by another source. Muravyov himself spoke about this in an interview with “Idel. Realities ”in 2018, however, then denied the presence of telegram channels. K9, while others have an agency’s team regularly buying advertising.

• The intercom congratulates women on March 8 by the voice of Putin;
• A clip for the song “Such as Putin” with the participation of foreign students: K;
• The post that the federal highway, part of the corridor between Russia and China, was built thanks to Putin;
• The post on how Putin praised Tatarstan, having arrived at the opening ceremony of the Games of the Future.

We collected a complete overview of the distribution of election campaigning on the grid in the table .

But Putin's advance before the elections is not what K9 does publicly. The agency holds dozens of events related to creative industries, media and city festivals. One example is the festival in September 2023, whose program includes discussions and lectures on the history of the street, swap market The space for the exchange of clothes. , Tournaments in e -sports, chess and table tennis, theatrical productions, a market of books and vinyl records. An even brighter example of public activities K9 is a annual prize that has been collected by hundreds of a representative from 2017: the NIC "Creative Industrials of the City". In the 2023rd coffee houses of the year , Skuratov Coffee became the statuette of the best festival took the festival of audiovisual art , and the nomination “Mad men of the decade” received a non-governmental center of modern art, which has supported local artists since 2013: C.

“In the building of the 19th century, where official solemn events are usually held, the prize turned out to be truly royal,” the Tatarstanda Prize, owned by K9, began a report. The nomination “Creative of the Year” received K9 for the project “1018 years of love” for Kazan Day. In August 2023, they placed art objects with a recognition of Kazan’s love-including a quote from the song of the Ukrainian group Quest Pistols: “You are so beautiful, unbearable”.

Natal map of Russia

“The state begins to understand that it needs a presence on the World Wide Web,” said Media manager Yaroslav Muravyov in an interview with his own publication Enter. It is Muravyov who belong to both the creative agency K9 and all his “assets”. “We must understand that we are not engaged in politics. We are engaged in the product. We sell advertising, ”Muravyov said a year earlier, in 2018.

In 2022, K9 sold advertisement to the state and reported this on the State Zakupka portal. The subject of purchases of two million rubles was the “distribution of content on the passage of military service under a contract on social networks.” The agency also shared a report on work, including a list of dozens of publics in which the performer: Nitsa promoted positive memes about military service and vacancies for real men. It was in these publics in 2023 and 2024 that the election positive content about Putin also came out.

Muravyov confirmed the possession of one of the publics during interrogation in the prosecutor's office. In 2016, the Tatarstan Portal “Business Online” published an article on how the Putin “All -Russian Popular Front” issued grants for “independent journalism” publications from the republican media holding, as well as the Muravyov portal. An hour after the publication in the public of the VK Kazan/Social Group, a survey appeared, which of the two authorities of the article is the most ugly girl of Tatarstan. The portal filed a lawsuit to protect dignity, Muravyov admitted to involvement in the publication. In 2024, in the public “Kazan/Social Group”, DOXA found each of the four pre -election creatives that are common in the “grid”.

“Everything has become much worse. Around Putin, war ... complete trash, in short, ”says Victoria in a conversation with Doxa. When she was just starting to cooperate with Insight and Invite, she did not see in their activities a bright -aged propaganda vector. According to the source associated with the K9, within the agency, still with irony, they relate to the current government and discuss news with each other in this spirit: "Again, the leader said some kind of garbage." According to the source, the K9 leadership can easily be re -profiled to serve the regime with the opposite Putin by the political program.

But while the agencies serve the current regime. According to the editor -in -chief of Victoria, state requests have become much more tough since the beginning of a full -scale war in Ukraine and tightened even more tightly after mobilization. The video on the YouTube Canal of the InSight People confirm the impressions of our interlocutor: if the 2021 video is focused on the personal stories and dreams of different people united by one citizenship, then in 2022 the theme is “national unity”, which includes different ethnicities and cities, including the occupied Donetsk. In the frame is a man in military uniform and a girl in a T -shirt with a St. George ribbon and the inscription “Za of our”.

Among the main achievements of Insight in 2023, the general director of the production center Alina Zinnatullina allocated the opening of the studio in Sevastopol. In 2024, on the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the production center released the documentary “with its own eyes” - about the “true gaze of the deep people of Russia on his own”. Ivan Kudryavtsev promotes the former son -in -law Shoiga Bloger Alexei Stolyarov, who went to the occupied territories to “help refugees”, and “Star astrologer” Julia Gikis, whose predictions are not limited to horoscopes for all the signs of the zodiac, but include the analysis of the natal chart of Russia for the entertainment publication of Peopletalk.

Julia Gikis in December 2022. This video collected 51 views.

According to the astrologer from Insight, Mars in Aries gave Russia “will, assertiveness, militancy and sharpness” and the future president must be able to direct this energy “in the right direction”. He should also offer the “impulsive” Russian people a “specific plan of action”, otherwise - “the more freedom the people have, the more problems in the country”. But in the end, the astrologer advises not to worry, because “Russia responds very quickly to all provocations. And some ill -wishers of our country have to make sure of this. ”