Pro-Putin group discredit opposition activists

A pro-Kremlin group runs a network of Internet trolls, seeks to buy flattering coverage of Vladimir Putin and hatches plans to discredit opposition activists and media, according to private emails allegedly hacked by a group calling itself the Russian arm of Anonymous.

The group has uploaded hundreds of emails it says are to, from and between Vasily Yakemenko, the first leader of the youth group Nashi -- now head of the Kremlin's Federal Youth Agency -- its spokesperson, Kristina Potupchik, and other activists. The emails detail payments to journalists and bloggers, the group alleges.

Potupchik declined to confirm or deny the veracity of the emails, but appeared to acknowledge that her computer had been hacked. "I will not comment on illegal actions."

Nikita Borovikov, Nashi's leader, said: "For several years I've got used to the fact that our email is periodically hacked. When I heard the rumors that it had been hacked, I wasn't shocked and have paid no attention to this problem. I'm a law-abiding person and have nothing to fear of hiding, so I pay no attention."

Apparently sent between November 2010 and December 2011, the emails appear to confirm critics' long-standing suspicions that Nashi uses sinister methods, funded by the Kremlin, to attack ­perceived enemies and pay for favorable reports.

The emails provide particular insight into Nashi's strategy to boost pro-Putin coverage on the internet, which, in contrast to television, is regarded as being ruled by the opposition.

Several emails sent from activists to Potupchik include price lists for pro-Putin bloggers and commenters, indicating that some are paid as much as 600 000 roubles for leaving hundreds of comments on negative press articles on the internet. One email, sent to Potupchik on June 23 2011, suggests that Nashi planned to spend more than R10-million to buy a series of articles about its annual Seliger summer camp in two popular Russian tabloids, Moskovsky Komsomolets and Komsomolskaya Pravda, and the daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

Arkady Khantsevich, deputy editor of Nezavisimaya Gazeta, denied that his journalists accepted money for articles, a widespread practice in post-Soviet Russia. "Yes, we wrote about Seliger and will continue to," he said. "But the paper has never entered into a financial contract, including with political parties."

A spokesperson for Moskovsky Komsomolets's press service declined to comment: "I don't read what they write on the internet about Moskovsky Komsomolets being paid for stories about Seliger. It doesn't interest us." Komsomolskaya Pravda has not responded publicly and could not be reached for comment. (Mail&Guardian online)