More than two gigabytes of files stolen from the so-called Ministry of Information of the Donetsk republic reveal the techniques of pro-Russian disinformation: nd how it’s linked to Italy.
One summer day, a Twitter account that had been very little active before that published a Dropbox link to more than 1,400 emails stolen from the account of Tatiana Egorova, an analyst for what the DNR claims to be its Ministry of Information.
The emails contain a huge amount of attachments, which focus on the exchange of information between Egorova and the press centre where journalists who arrive in Donetsk need to be accredited. There are thousands of copies of passports and personal documents. But among these there also appear some Excel files by Janus Putkonen, director of the DONi news agency, listing ‘friends’ and ‘enemies’. There is a triage system based on colour codes ranging from red, for journalists who are not given accreditation (“Russophobe” or “NATO agent”), green for those deemed useful to the cause (“good friend”), yellow ( “so-so”) and white (“neutral”).
Putkonen, a Finnish national, is head of DONi, a news agency founded in DNR by Russian businessman Andrey Stepanenko and active “thanks to the support of Moscow”.
The files have proved authentic. The information corresponds to that provided by many journalists who have worked in the DNR, including me.
The Italians
The system was uncovered through a long investigation by the German newspaper Zeit. The analysis of the files, however, is far from complete. It turns out that the Italian journalists in the list are almost all marked as “neutral”. The only one ranked with the green colour is Maurizio Vezzosi, a freelancer who writes for the geopolitical magazine Limes and the anti-American website “L’antidiplomatico”. Putkonen suggests that the Information Ministry should use him: “A good reporter, meet with him.” And in fact Vezzosi often appears on local media. Then, once back in Italy, Vezzosi writes regularly to Egorova and sends her his own articles.
The yellow colour is used for the “La Repubblica” reporter, Paolo Brera. ” We have risks with him. He did interviews with [the Interior Minister of Ukraine Arsen] Avakov”, Putkonen writes.
A yellow code was also assigned to reporters of “Gli occhi della guerra“, the crowdfunded reportage subsidiary of “il Giornale”, with which it shares an editorial line and political orientation.
These four reporters received special attention during their last visit. The press centre sent an email to Egorova wondering how to deal with them. “And these?” Putkonen gives all four a “Yes”, also reporting the opinion of Vittorio Nicola Rangeloni, a young Italian who joined the DNR as a volunteer reporter and to whom the same “il Giornale” recently devoted a long interview.
The journalists of “Gli occhi della guerra” also enjoy the intercession of Angelo Mandaglio, another Italian who is at home in Donetsk, from where he writes reports for pseudo information sites like The Saker Italia and the conspiracy blog Boyblu, run by Claudio Messora, former head of communications of the Parliamentary Group of the “Movimento 5 stelle” party in Italy.
A thread linking Italy to Moscow
Putkonen is very active in packaging the narrative of the DNR to get it into the Western media, with the help of friendly journalists. He advises not to allow the team from the BBC and the most authoritative foreign reporters to work, but gives his consent to a whole range of freelancers of proven loyalty. Italy is one of the channels used to bring out the “different truth” of the separatist Republics.
The pro-Russian journalist Sergei Dyachuk is one of the emissaries to Italy. In February 2015 Dyachuk took part in numerous anti-Ukrainian events, often along with other Italian journalists, such as Giulietto Chiesa. During his stay in Italy, Dyachuk reports diligently to Tatiana Egorova, sending copies of leaflets, newspaper clippings and local TV reports of his meetings with local politicians.
The Ukrainian journalist seems to have a strange connection with Rangeloni. On his first accreditation form the name of Dyachuk appears as the “company” for which he works. Reached by Facebook, Rangeloni told me he had nothing to do with him and that he had only met him when they got the accreditation on the same day, by coincidence.
But the thread that links the pro-Russian propaganda in the breakaway territories in Ukraine to Italy also passes through Moscow: because Putkonen and other people around DONi who report regularly to the Ministry of Information seem to take orders directly from Moscow. Besides what the Zeit journalists have discovered, it emerges that there is an important figure called “Manekin”.
On April 5, David Simpson, a former CIA official now working for the DNR, sent Putkonen an email with the subject line ‘top secret’, saying that “Manekin is the *** Officer assigned to me by Moscow. If you know something I don’t I’m happy to listen, but it is my understanding this is the guy I report to and am responsible to here”.
In short, more than a news agency, DONi seems to be a control room for foreign journalists, sorting information from Moscow.
@daniloeliatweet
