Credit, Maryana Naumova
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Maryana Naumova sent a photo but did not want to speak to the BBC
Item information
- Author: Grigor Atanesian
- Scroll, by BBC Global Disinformation Team
2 hours ago
Russian social media influencers are earning huge advertising revenue from their proPutin government and prowar posts in Ukraine.
In addition to violent and graphic videos of drone strikes and false claims about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, they share advertisements for everything from cryptocurrencies to fashion.
In Russia they are known as “Z bloggers” because they support a war often symbolized by the letter Z. They are often allowed to accompany the Russian army and publish pictures from the front to encourage young Russians to serve in the military.
Since the fullscale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Russian prowar influencers have gained millions of followers on Telegram, the communications platform that many Russians turned to after President Vladimir Putin banned Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
This user explosion has led to a surge in Telegram’s advertising market.
War influencers took advantage of this. They sell advertising space to companies that want to reach a young audience.
To find out how much they charge, members of the BBC’s Global Disinformation Team posed as hotel owners interested in running advertising on their channels. We contacted some of the most famous influencers.
One of them was Alexander Kots, a veteran correspondent for a progovernment newspaper who became an influencer and has more than 600,000 followers on his personal Telegram channel. Kots said it would cost between 48,000 and 70,000 rubles ($3,542) per post on his channel, depending on how long the ad stayed at the top of his Telegram feed.
Semyon Pegov, known as WarGonzo, was another. He is perhaps the most famous “Zblogger” and has over 1.3 million followers. WarGonzo created a budget of the equivalent of R$9,657.
Top war influencers post at least one ad per day, putting their potential income well above Russia’s average monthly salary of 66,000 rubles.
Photo credit: ALEXANDER KOTS/TELEGRAM
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Alexander Kots charges up to R$3,500 per post
Wagner Group influencer
An advertising agent working with channels linked to the Wagner mercenary group quoted R$1,614 per ad on Gray Zone, a Telegram channel with exclusive access to the Wagner group and more than 600,000 followers.
Advertising on the channel of Alexander Simonov, correspondent for the Ria Fan website founded by the late Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, cost R$1,117 per post, according to the advertising agent.
Another Ria fan reporter, Alexander Yaremchuk, has fewer followers, so his odds are lower at R$533.
While some of the Z bloggers have extensive experience reporting on war for state media, others, like Maryana Naumova, have no professional training.
A former weightlifter, she completed a reporting course at a Wagner Group mercenary base and now hosts her own show on national television.
The BBC attempted to interview prominent war bloggers, but Alexander Kots was the only one who agreed to an interview.
Speaking from the occupied city of Bakhmut in Ukraine, he described himself as a reporter in an information war. However, he understood that Russian propaganda depended in part on people like him.
“The Ministry of Defense often listens to us, we have a direct channel to share information privately. It all happens behind the scenes; and that’s what I do,” he said.
The growing market for ZBlogger material is supported by a constant stream of exclusive videos. The images bring together a diverse audience, from national war advocates to Western and Ukrainian analysts trying to understand what is really going on in the Russian trenches.
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Semyon Pegov (left) was part of the group invited to a meeting with Putin
Fake news
However, some of the videos posted by war advocates are fake.
Last March, prominent influencers including Alexander Kots posted a car dashboard camera video that purportedly showed two Ukrainian soldiers stopping a car with a woman and a small child. The gunmen in the video call the woman a “pig” because she speaks Russian and threaten her. Z bloggers said the video was a perfect example of how Ukraine treats civilians.
But we geolocated this video to Makiivka, a town near Donetsk. This area of Ukraine has been occupied by proRussian forces since 2014. It is impossible that a uniformed Ukrainian soldier could have operated in this occupied territory.
Additionally, the use of dashboard cameras is illegal in Ukraine. The ban was imposed after the largescale Russian invasion to keep troop movements secret.
And the cross on the vehicle is different from that of the Ukrainian military. All of these elements indicate that the video was staged.
It is one of many fakes spread by Zbloggers to encourage young Russians to support the war, and there is evidence that they are succeeding.
In one video, a Russian man who came forward says he went to a recruiting center after watching a series of videos from Vladlen Tatarsky, a key influencer. Tatarsky was killed in April 2023 while meeting his fans.
Another Russian who volunteered to fight in Ukraine told a blogger that he did so after seeing many WarGonzo reports. “I follow all military news and analysis on Telegram,” he said, referring to ZBlogger.
We asked Telegram about the rise of proPutin war bloggers on the platform. Telegram said it was the “last platform through which Russians can access independent media, uncensored international news like the BBC or BBC speeches.” [presidente] Zelenskyy”.
A spokesman said that while all parties were “treated equally,” Telegram respected international sanctions and blocked Russian state media “where laws prohibit it.”
Throughout the war, President Putin showed his appreciation for the ZBloggers’ efforts. He appointed Alexander Kots to the Presidential Human Rights Council and appointed Semyon Pegov and several other bloggers as members of a working group on troop mobilization.
In June, he invited war supporters and state media reporters to the Kremlin for a twohour conversation.
“The information space is a crucial battlefield,” Putin said. “And I’m really counting on your help.”