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Putin's Chef strikes again
How Russia’s Top Propagandist Foretold Putin's Justification For The Ukraine Invasion Through This Dramatic Film
“Putin’s chef” Yevgeny Prigozhin’s network of state media sites used commissioned Cameo videos from Donald Trump Jr. and Rudy Giuliani to publicize another film that reimagines Russia’s role in the 2016 election.
In August 2021, a film company associated with Russia's propaganda machine released Blazing Sun, a war film that glorifies Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea and has helped seed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s justification for invading Ukraine last month. The film depicts Russian mercenaries as saviors who prevent Ukraine’s government from committing a genocide against its own people — mirroring Putin’s claim that he invaded Ukraine in order to “prevent genocide” and “denazify” the country.
It’s just the latest example of a reality-bending new species of Russian propaganda that now includes dozens of videos of Ukrainian attacks on Russian citizens that appear to be faked, videos depicting a joint raid by the FBI and NYPD of a New York movie theater that the venue says never happened, and repurposed Cameo videos of Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump Jr. unwittingly congratulating a fictional film character on his achievements.
The man behind the camera: Yevgeny Prigozhin, an oligarch also known as “Putin’s chef,” who was recently sanctioned by the US and the EU for helping lead “a disinformation war against Ukraine.” His apparent motivation: to influence the course of Russia’s future by rewriting its past.
One of Putin’s close confidants, Prigozhin is believed to have been at the forefront of Russia’s disinformation apparatus since at least 2013. The FBI has put him on its Most Wanted list because he “allegedly oversaw and approved” the “political and electoral interference operations” of the country's infamous troll factory, the Internet Research Agency. He has also been linked to the Russian mercenary group Wagner, which European security officials believe helped lay the groundwork for last month’s invasion. Last week, the US Treasury Department added Prigozhin’s wife, daughter, and son to the list of Russian elites sanctioned for disinformation efforts around the Ukraine invasion. The role of his films in Russia’s propaganda offensive, meanwhile, has largely gone unexamined.
More: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/deansterlingjones/russia-yevgeny-prigozhin-ukraine-trump-giuliani-films
“Putin’s chef” Yevgeny Prigozhin’s network of state media sites used commissioned Cameo videos from Donald Trump Jr. and Rudy Giuliani to publicize another film that reimagines Russia’s role in the 2016 election.
In August 2021, a film company associated with Russia's propaganda machine released Blazing Sun, a war film that glorifies Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea and has helped seed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s justification for invading Ukraine last month. The film depicts Russian mercenaries as saviors who prevent Ukraine’s government from committing a genocide against its own people — mirroring Putin’s claim that he invaded Ukraine in order to “prevent genocide” and “denazify” the country.
It’s just the latest example of a reality-bending new species of Russian propaganda that now includes dozens of videos of Ukrainian attacks on Russian citizens that appear to be faked, videos depicting a joint raid by the FBI and NYPD of a New York movie theater that the venue says never happened, and repurposed Cameo videos of Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump Jr. unwittingly congratulating a fictional film character on his achievements.
The man behind the camera: Yevgeny Prigozhin, an oligarch also known as “Putin’s chef,” who was recently sanctioned by the US and the EU for helping lead “a disinformation war against Ukraine.” His apparent motivation: to influence the course of Russia’s future by rewriting its past.
One of Putin’s close confidants, Prigozhin is believed to have been at the forefront of Russia’s disinformation apparatus since at least 2013. The FBI has put him on its Most Wanted list because he “allegedly oversaw and approved” the “political and electoral interference operations” of the country's infamous troll factory, the Internet Research Agency. He has also been linked to the Russian mercenary group Wagner, which European security officials believe helped lay the groundwork for last month’s invasion. Last week, the US Treasury Department added Prigozhin’s wife, daughter, and son to the list of Russian elites sanctioned for disinformation efforts around the Ukraine invasion. The role of his films in Russia’s propaganda offensive, meanwhile, has largely gone unexamined.
More: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/deansterlingjones/russia-yevgeny-prigozhin-ukraine-trump-giuliani-films
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