{
  "id": 15863827,
  "title": "Putin’s “Doppelgängers”: The Insider gets inside the operations of the Kremlin's foreign disinformation network",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/21/putins-doppelgangers-the-insider-gets-inside-the-operations-of-the",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-21T08:20:49.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Insider",
    "slug": "the-insider",
    "url": "https://theins.press/en/inv/298359"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In December 2023, Ohio Senator JD Vance sparked controversy on Steve Bannon's podcast by questioning who would cut Social Security benefits and harm the elderly for the benefit of Zelensky's ministers and their yachts. Shortly after, Russian propaganda outlet Komsomolskaya Pravda published a story about \"Zelensky's yacht\" based on \"documents from the Mediterranean Association of Yacht Brokers.\" The story quickly spread to various fake-news websites, including DC Weekly, founded by former U.S. Marine John Mark Dougan.\n\nThe Insider obtained documents from Russia's Agency for Social Design (ASP), where the Kremlin coordinated disinformation efforts. The ASP held a folder titled \"Collection of publications on the work of the Doppelgänger group,\" containing reports on various fake stories aimed at damaging Ukraine and its leadership. These included the fabricated story about \"Zelensky's yacht,\" graffiti campaigns in Paris, and a fake video inciting attacks against Olympic visitors in Paris.\n\nThe ASP reports detailed the group's efforts to discredit figures like Olena Zelenska, the wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, by spreading false claims about her shopping at high-end stores in Paris, Cannes, Dubai, and Madrid. The ASP also produced fake videos and reports linking Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov and his family to luxury properties and corrupt business deals.\n\nThe ASP's operations were overseen by Sergey Kiriyenko, who initiated the fake-news campaign, and his close collaborators Alexander Kharichev and Sofia Zakharova. Kharichev managed disinformation about Ukraine, while Zakharova focused on spreading it in Western countries. The ASP's influence extended beyond Ukraine, targeting European countries like France and Germany.",
  "summary": "Western journalists call them \"Doppelgänger,\" but the team of Russian propagandists spreading fake content under the banner of legitimate foreign news outlets describe themselves instead —as “ideological troops” and “social architects.” The team, set up in 2022 by the Presidential Administration under Sergei Kiriyenko and PR specialist Ilya Gambashidze, was tasked with “natively promoting Russian…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}