Database of Propagandists Is Now in YC World
The Database of Propagandists is now in YC World (ex. RuAssets) because Russia sees information as its new Hybrid War weapon. There’s so much noise out there because Russia is actively funding and promoting media organizations, bloggers, YouTubers, and others who are willing to promote their agenda while keeping their financial backing a secret.
At this moment, you may be wondering what precisely a propagandist is. In simple terms, someone who specializes in propagating ideas or beliefs.
Keep reading to learn more about the Database of Propagandists and why we need it now more than ever.
The volunteer initiative "How Not to Become a Vegetable" created a database of Russian propagandists, traitors, and collaborators. These people have been supporting the Russian-Ukrainian war and spreading the anti-Ukrainian narratives for the last eight years. We integrated the database into the system.
Who is this database useful for?
The database simplifies the work of journalists, lawyers, and entrepreneurs.
It provides data for investigations, finding proofs and analyzing business links. They can analyse company connections with propagandist influence. The state bodies can also quickly unmask new "candidates for sanctions".
Who is in the base of propagandists?
The database includes persons who are creating and spreading pro-kremlin disinformation against Ukraine. These are mainly Russians, belarusian journalists, representatives of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and collaborators from Crimea. Citizens of Ukraine were also included in the list.
Propagandists are grouped by categories and type of activity:
🧐 Experts: speakers of talk shows, radio broadcasts, political scientists, sociologists, historians, economists, philosophers, military experts and specialists in other fields. Former Ukrainian public figures, collaborators of different years.
👀 Army: representatives of the armed forces of the Russia, who are the speakers of the relevant ministries and law enforcement agencies and make public statements about the progress of the "special operation."
🧟♂️ Bloggers who have their platforms, mainly on Instagram, Telegram, and YouTube. Famous bloggers were initially unrelated to news and politics but started spreading Russian propaganda after the full-scale invasion. Bloggers who use humour to spread propaganda.
Click here to view the full list of data.
🧻 Mass media: ordinary employees of TV channels, correspondents and authors of propaganda articles in the mass media, and top management of media holdings that maintain and shape the propaganda machine.
🎥 Cinema and television: directors and actors who expressed their support for the "special operation" at the beginning of the war or took part in the filming of propaganda films.
🎙 Music: stars of the stage which either supported the war on social networks or participated in propaganda events.
📎 Scientists: representatives of higher educational institutions or scientific and educational institutions.
📌 War correspondents: correspondents reporting from the hot spots of the Russian-Ukrainian war and from the occupied territories (for example, on humanitarian aid to the population).
✍️ Writers: signers of the open letter in support of the full-scale invasion "Who Wants Victims?". The letter reads: "The special military operation currently underway in the Donetsk and some parts of Ukraine has been brewing for a long time. The West has not left the attempts to one way or another hurt Russia, blacken and ultimately dismember it." Significantly, most of the writers from this part of the database are little-known authors and members of the Union of Writers of Russia.
🤡 Politics: Russian politicians, as well as representatives of terrorists from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, most actively make various kinds of Ukrainophobic statements in the public space.
⚽️ Sportspeople. In particular, members of the movement "Putin Team" organized by the hockey player Ovechkin and the Olympians who participated in the concert at the Luzhniki Stadium managed to support the war and the occupation of Crimea.
🎭 Theatre: actors and actresses, ballet representatives.
🔮 Church: representatives of the clergy who regularly and systematically work out the narrative of the unique mission of the aggressor country.
⛏Youth propaganda: functionaries of the organizations "Yunarmiia" ("Young Army") and "Moloda hvardiia" ("Young Guard").
⚪️ Other: several artists (painters, sculptors), members of Russian and separatist NGOs, and just the public figures who made statements in support of the war against Ukraine.
The database does not include the so-called liberal Russians. Those public figures position themselves as oppositionists and condemn specific aggressive actions of the Russia.
The database also does not include those who chose "keeping silence". Excepting who visited the temporarily occupied by Russia Ukrainian territories.
How Propagandists were determined?
➔ Assessment of the Russian-Ukrainian war from February 2014 to the reaction to the full-scale military invasion of the rf and subsequent events.
➔ Attitude towards the occupation of Crimea and/or visiting the occupied peninsula violates Ukrainian legislation.
➔ Attitude towards the Revolution of Dignity, the Ukrainian people, and their right to self-determination.
➔ Participation in propaganda events, including those dedicated to the cult of the victory of Russians in the "Great Patriotic War" (the so-called "pobedobesie" ("victory devildom"), glorification of the "special operation" and the "incorporation" of Crimea.
➔ Spread of various pro-kremlin narratives: unmotivated and unjust russophobia, the ineffectiveness of sanctions, accusations against the collective West and the USA, the civil war in Ukraine, foreign governance in Ukraine, etc.
➔ Support for the aggressive foreign policy of the Russian government.
➔ Signing collective appeals in support of the war.
➔ Work for the Russian propaganda mass media.
Public statements, comments in the mass media, posts on social networks, and participation in propaganda events such as concerts, round table meetings, etc., became proofs of their pro-Russian orientation.
Presence in other similar databases, for example, in "Spisok Putina" ("Putin's List") or "Myrotvorets" ("Peacemaker"), was also considered as proof. Proofs are links to publications, videos, screenshots, etc. The evidence base will continue to be updated and supplemented.
How the Database of Propagandists Is Built
The database is organized according to a logical structure:
- country;
- surname and name;
- type of activity (sport, music, theater, mass media, politics, bloggers, "experts," etc.);
- place of work, if available;
- reference – a brief description of professional activity, their anti-Ukrainian actions or messages;
- social networks: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Telegram, Twitter;
- links to the proofs of participation in the creation or spread of anti-Ukrainian propaganda or public support for the war against Ukraine. Most of the proofs are posted on Russian websites that are prohibited in Ukraine. You will need a VPN to open them.
- folder with proofs. Here screenshots and videos are contained.