{
  "id": 9348680,
  "title": "Czech journalists lure Russian propaganda project Rybar’s film crew to Prague to expose influence operation across Europe",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/23/czech-journalists-lure-russian-propaganda-project-rybars-film-crew-to",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-23T14:02:41.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Insider",
    "slug": "the-insider",
    "url": "https://theins.press/en/news/297421"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Czech journalists from the outlet Seznam Zprávy exposed a Russian propaganda project called Rybar's plan to film a documentary series across Europe. The journalists lured a Rybar film crew from Berlin to Prague by pretending to meet with a Czech media literacy expert. When the Russian crew arrived, journalists secretly recorded them and identified themselves, asking for their names and reasons for coming to Prague. Instead of answering, the Russians fled the scene. The investigation revealed that the Rybar project had conducted interviews in multiple European countries. One of the crew members, Igor Dolmatov, was later identified as a correspondent for Russian TV channels. Another man, Vitaly Chashchukhin, works for pro-Kremlin media outlets and confirmed the filming was for Rybar, a major Russian pro-war Telegram project. The project's founder, Mikhail Zvinchuk, is under EU sanctions, and the U.S. Rewards for Justice program offered rewards for information about Rybar employees. The journalists discovered that the operation was not a one-time event and that the crew had planned to travel across Europe to conduct more interviews.",
  "summary": "The Czech outlet Seznam Zprávy has exposed an operation by the Russian propaganda project Rybar to film a documentary series in Europe. The publication’s journalists lured a film crew working for Rybar from Berlin to a meeting in Prague and conducted secret recordings before identifying themselves and asking questions. The two Russians then ran off in different directions. The investigation…",
  "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."
}