A Soviet physicist who came to the U.S. as a refugee and made a very public new life for himself, Lozansky would organize some of the most prominent events and organizations whose stated goal was to improve relations between the U.S. and Russia. Lozansky was well-acquainted with many important American conservative figures over time, including Bob Weyrich, Jack Kemp, Bob Dole and others.
Lozansky was the driving force behind Russia House, the World Russia Forum and the American University in Moscow, on top of being involved in multiple other initiatives. He wrote a Russian-language book about lobbying, sued then-U.S. President Barack Obama to lift sanctions on Russia, and has written multiple articles about Russia and the West. Some of these were published on websites associated with the Kremlin.
Lozansky may have closer ties with the Kremlin than he let on. The American University in Moscow counts many spreaders of Russia’s misinformation among its fellows. The organization once shared the same address as a think-tank founded by Aleksandr Kazakov, who worked with Russia’s occupation authorities in Donetsk Oblast.
Lozansky is also personally acquainted with the former Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak, having gone to the same prestigious National Research Nuclear University.
Branson is a Russian-American dual citizen who had married the Princeton University economist William Branson and reportedly made use of his resources and connections, according to media reports.
Branson was active in the diaspora organization KSORS and also founded Russian Center NY, which did lots of Russian cultural outreach activities. People familiar with these organizations said that Russian spying, propaganda and political influence were part of their activities.
The U.S. government charged Branson with leading ”a years-long campaign to identify the next generation of American leaders, cultivate information channels, and shape U.S. policy in favor of Russian objectives”.
council
and associates
Aleksandr Kazakov is a Russian political operative and politician who served as a PR adviser to the Russian proxies occupying Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast.
Kazakov was also a member of several political parties together with other politicians including Aleksandr Babakov, a Russian politician who has been charged in the U.S. with trying to set up an influence ring. Both men led organizations purported to be think-tanks: Kazakov’s Center for Liberal-Conservative Politics and Babakov-affiliated Institute for International Integration Studies.
Malofeev
A wealthy Russian businessman with media holdings, one of Putin’s supporters. Malofeyev owns TV channel Tsargrad which often espouses the topics of conservatism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. He also controls the Russian think-tank Katehon, which publishes misleading and incorrect information on various global topics. Malofeyev is under sanctions from the U.S. Charles Bausman’s propaganda outlet Russia Insider allegedly asked Malofeyev for money.
in Moscow
Edward Lozansky’s organization counted many fellows who have written false, extremist or misleading information on varying platforms, according to an archived version of the site from 2017.
These include Mark Sleboda, an associate of Russian political philosopher Alexander Dugin, who has written fascist ideas that reportedly influenced Putin. They also include Gilbert Doctorow, James Jatras, Sergei Markov, Alexander Mercouris and others.
Lozansky’s American University in Moscow, despite its name, has no specific courses or faculty listed on its site. It claims to have a single course in U.S.-Russia relations, in which well-written essays (that have to be around 600 words) can merit a “Certificate of Achievement” in the subject. The certificate appears to have no seals or other distinguishing features.
The “university” also once appeared to have the same address as the Russian think-tank Center for Liberal-Conservative Politics. Its director is Russian political operative Alexander Kazakov.
After Russia invaded Donbas in 2014, Kazakov became a PR adviser to the head of the occupation authority, Aleksandr Zakharchenko. After Zakharchenko was killed in an explosion in 2018, Kazakov returned to Russia. On at least one occasion, Kazakov reported to Putin’s adviser Vladislav Surkov, according to Surkov's leaked emails.
Lozansky has not replied to a request for comment about the university.
Foundation
Many Western writers of disinformation are published by the Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF), which is directed by Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service and is closely affiliated with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to the U.S. State Department. International Affairs, the flagship journal of the ministry, states that SCF is its partner.
According to the State Department, SCF’s core tactic is to legitimize fringe thinkers from the West.
Its Western contributors include Michael Averko, who writes content for Eurasia Review and other sites.
Analyst Patrick Armstrong also contributes. He made a video in February, days before the invasion saying “Russia is not going to invade Ukraine”. He later corrected himself, saying he underestimated NATO’s hostility and the conspiracy theory about Ukraine’s supposed biolabs that make biological weapons to attack Russians.
Contributors also include Pepe Escobar, a Brazilian journalist. The State Department's Global Engagement Center said that outlets that publish or republish Escobar's work are being used by Russia for propaganda and disinformation. These include SCF and Global Research. Escobar frequently appears on RT and Sputnik News.
SCF has yet to reply to a comment request.
Raymond McGovern was a CIA analyst turned political activist. He often writes articles and joins other experts, some mentioned in this story, on panels. He has appeared at Edward Lozansky’s World Russia Forum events. McGovern typically blames the U.S. or NATO for their growing tension with Russia.
He helped found Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) in 2003. The group, made up of former intelligence pros, opposed the U.S. war in Iraq. Over time, it increasingly held forth on subjects related to Russia — almost always defending Moscow.
He has said that the 2014 EuroMaidan Revolution was a Western coup rather than the removal of a corrupt, Russia-dependent leader from power, organized by Ukrainians. He refuses the findings of the international investigations that Russia shot down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, instead blaming Western actors.
McGovern and VIPS denied Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in August 2014, saying it is not “supported by reliable intelligence.” By that time, the invasion was ongoing for over four months, with mounting evidence of Russian own troops fighting alongside Russian proxies.
McGovern continued publishing his ideas throughout 2022. In July, he appeared on an RT program with the subject “Kiev (sic) is losing” where he told the host that the “Russian military advance is inexorable right now” and predicted it would get “very bad” by October.
He also quoted Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov as saying that Russia's aims "broadened" beyond the Donbas, blaming this “escalation” on Washington's supply of HIMARS to Ukraine. Russia's goal since the very beginning was to take all of Ukraine, which became clear when it tried to blitzkrieg Kyiv.
McGovern regularly traveled to Russia, he told Russian media. During one visit, he and VIPS members gave an award to American whistleblower Edward Snowden in Moscow. In his media interviews, McGovern blamed the U.S. for the escalating tensions and called the post-EuroMaidan government of Ukraine “proto-fascists.” He has not replied to a request for comment.
Few Americans appeared on Russian TV to talk about Ukraine more often than Scott Ritter, a former U.S. Marine intelligence officer and UN weapons inspector. Among his other claims, he falsely said that the National Police of Ukraine was responsible for the Bucha massacre.
The killings of civilians, including in Bucha, were conducted by the Russian occupying forces, according to investigations by Ukraine, the UN, Human Rights Watch and multiple news organizations.
He also claimed that Russia was not responsible for the missile attack that killed 60 civilians at the Kramatorsk train station on April 8. Occupation authorities in Donetsk published photos of the launches minutes before impact in Kramatorsk and falsely claimed that they struck an airfield. They quickly changed the narrative to claim the whole attack was a Ukrainian hoax.
He also claimed that Ukrainians don’t know how to use weapons given by the U.S., even as Ukrainians caused massive destruction with American-donated systems. More recently, he claimed that “Russia will still win” despite Ukraine’s successful counter-offensives. Like many, he has accused the government of Ukraine of being Nazis.
Ritter used to serve in the Soviet Union as a weapons inspector to enforce the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. He married a young Russian woman he’d met there. According to the Washington Post, she had to report to her country's intelligence services and “Ritter knew he was imperiling his security clearance.”
Ritter is a convicted sex offender. He served time for exposing himself to whom he thought was a minor on the internet, but turned out to be an undercover police officer.
He appears in the media or on panels with other people in this piece. He was on Consortium News with The Duran founder Alexander Mercouris; and with Ray McGovern and ACURA executive director James Carden at a Covert Action Magazine event in April, among others. Ritter has yet to respond to a request for comment.
Sergey Gladysh often worked as an organizer for Russia diaspora-related events and initiatives in the U.S., being especially active on the west coast.
He was on the board of the Coordinating Council of Organizations of Russian Compatriots, known by its Russian acronym KSORS. He was active largely on the west coast of the U.S. Former KSORS chairman Igor Baboshkin characterized him as a crafty man who got into organizing Russian events because he saw money and opportunities to be made. His work was under the direct supervision of the Russian consulate there, according to Baboshkin.
Gladysh founded the Russian-American Cooperation Initiative in Seattle, to “help build professional ties, advance dialogue and cultivate trust” between Americans and Russians. One banner on his organization showed Putin and Trump shaking hands.
He and Branson were members of a Facebook group that organized a Trump rally in Portland, Oregon, in 2020. The group encouraged violence against demonstrators protesting police brutality.
Gladysh also ran a program in which he took delegations of young Americans to Russia, in partnership with the Russian embassy.
For two years, Gladysh was the editor of The Duran, a disinformation outlet directed by Peter Lavelle, host of RT's political debate program CrossTalk. Some of his short content was also published on the conspiracy propaganda site Global Research. Gladysh has yet to reply to a message asking for his comment.
Bausman
The founder of Russia Insider, Bausman went from being a relatively unknown financial manager to openly writing fascist content. Along the way, his publication has been a major source of pro-Russian disinformation, running many different authors that spread lies on the Kremlin’s behalf. It allegedly got some funding from Russian oligarch Konstantin Maloveev.
An American whose father served as the Moscow bureau chief for the Associated Press, Bausman grew up fond of Russia and spent much of his life there. According to a book by Craig Copetas about the post-Soviet business era, Bausman worked with Russians who were the forerunners of oligarchs as a sort of fixer.
Bausman began to reinvent himself around 2014, when he launched Russia Insider just in time to defend Russia’s annexation of Crimea. He continued to write pro-Russian content, while criticizing the West and Ukraine using false or misleading information.
Bausman received a Russian literature award in 2016. The award is named after Oles Buzyna, a pro-Russian journalist killed in Ukraine. Bausman also spoke at a Kremlin-sponsored youth conference in occupied Crimea.
He later became a strong Trump supporter and right-wing organizer, hosting white supremacists at his property in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, having moved back there by 2018.
His articles on Russia Insider became increasingly antisemitic, with titles like "Adolf Hitler's Spot-on 1936 Speech on the Evil of Soviet Bolshevism" and "It's Time to Drop the Jew Taboo."
During the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol Building in the U.S., video footage appeared to show Bausman in the crowd. He reportedly fled to Russia after the event, neglecting to even take down the Christmas lights on his Lancaster home.
In Moscow, he appeared in Russian media to criticize the West’s response to the war in Ukraine. When asked by the host if he was still a Trump fan, Mr. Bausman said he was not, adding his loyalty can be restored “When [Trump] pardons me for Jan. 6”. Nevertheless, he continued to falsely insist that Trump’s election victory was stolen from him.
Bausman made appearances at Lozansky’s World Russia Forum events and sat on panels with other people from these dossiers. He also spoke, seemingly regularly at the Russian Center New York.
Jatras
Jatras, a lawyer, lobbyist and political expert, has a long history of producing information for Russian organizations and allies.
In April, he appeared on RT, where he said that the Bucha massacre of March 2022 is “Ukrainian propaganda.” Multiple investigations by foreign media and independent organizations found that Russians gunned down hundreds of civilians in and around the city.
In 2003, he worked with the law firm Venable LLP and signed a lobbying agreement with Alex Kiselev, the representative of then-President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, a corrupt leader under Moscow’s thumb, who was driven out of Ukraine during the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2014.
Under the agreement, Yanukovych would get “access to high-level figures” in the executive and legislative branches, the media and think tanks, raising his profile. Venable also registered to do work for Russia’s far-right party Rodina.
In 2004, Jatras testified as an expert in defense of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic during his genocide tribunal at the Hague. He said that there was not enough exposure of what he called a "militant islamic network" in Bosnia. He later served as the director of the American Council for Kosovo, which lobbies against Kosovo's independence.
Jatras is a contributor to the Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF), a Russian think tank that produces factually incorrect content promoting Russian narratives. SCF is directed by Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service and is closely affiliated with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to the U.S. State Department.
He is a fellow at Edward Lozansky’s American University in Moscow. He was also head of the similarly-named American Institute in Ukraine, a pro-Russian organization, which consisted of Yanukovych's PR people, according to Ukrainska Pravda.
Jatras also contributed to the now-defunct blog GI Analytics. A New York Times investigation has connected GI Analytics to Russia’s infamous troll farm, the Internet Research Agency. Jatras has not replied to a comment request.
Varoli
John Varoli is an American media and public relations consultant with journalism experience in Russia. While over there, he produced for Reuters and contributed content to the New York Times and Bloomberg, according to his LinkedIn.
Varoli interacted with Elena Branson and her Russian Center New York, speaking at its events. He reportedly helped Branson as an interpreter during her organization’s trip to Hawaii.
Since the full-scale invasion began, Varoli accused Kyiv of “renewed ethnic cleansing against pro-Russian separatists in the Kharkov (sic) Region”. He called Russia’s invasion of Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts as an expression of those regions’ desire for independence from Ukraine.
Varoli appears on Russian media. In April, he participated in an RT show, calling Ukraine “a protectorate of the United States, NATO empire” and said that the main goal of NATO is to “destroy Russia.” He complained of heightened “Russophobia” in the U.S., calling it a “deep, psychological disease” in an interview for the state-owned Russia-24 in 2021.
A 2019 opinion in The Washington Post’s columnist recalled Varoli’s appearance on the “60 Minutes” program on the Russia-1 channel. In an interview with Russian propagandists Yevgeny Popov and Olga Skabeeva about Trump’s telephone conversation with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Varoli said “Zelensky (and Ukraine) will do as Trump says” — except that Zelensky didn’t.
Varoli has yet to comment to the Kyiv Independent.
Markov
Sergei Markov is a Russian political scientist and journalist, who served as Vladimir Putin’s adviser. In 2008, he received the Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation award for developing public institutions and defending human rights. He also served on Russian Center New York’s advisory board.
Markov was a doctor of political science at Moscow State University, a professor at the prestigious International Affairs University, known in Russia as MGIMO, and a director of the Institute of Political Studies. He also chairs an impressive range of Russian councils. In 2008, he was elected to Russia’s parliament.
Markov said many false things. Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he said that "It will not be a war against Ukraine, but to liberate Ukraine" from the pro-Western government that took power in 2014.
In March 2022, Markov said that Russia’s invasion is not a "war between Russia and Ukraine, it’s a war between Russia and (the) United States puppet who now occupy Ukraine. It's the liberation of Ukraine and it’s a proxy war of the United States against Russia. We believe there’s no independent Ukrainian government and this government is wholly under the control of the United States security community."
The fake narrative of the Ukrainian government being a U.S. puppet has been at the center of Russia’s state anti-Ukrainian and anti-Western propaganda. As for Russia’s war, Putin and top Russian officials have said on multiple occasions that its goal is capturing Ukraine and absorbing it into Russia.
If that wasn’t enough, Markov called on Russians to be as cruel in Ukraine as possible.
“The harder Russia beats Ukraine today, the more Russia will be loved there tomorrow”, he said. “The masses despise softness and love cruelty.”
The Kyiv Independent is waiting for his comment.
The Duran was founded in 2016 by Alexander Mercouris, a disbarred attorney from London, who became a Russian mouthpiece. The publication's director is Peter Lavelle, host of RT's political debate program CrossTalk, which has featured other people from these dossiers.
The Duran regularly publishes hoaxes and fake news, citing questionable sources without any fact checking. This includes stories like “Hillary Clinton sold weapons to ISIS,” and “the U.S. government intentionally engineered the novel coronavirus, overseen by Dr. Anthony Fauci.”
On Ukraine, it published misleading videos titled "Ukraine counter-offensive, this might be Zelensky's last stand," "Russian economy strengthens, EU economies in tatters." It sometimes copy-pastes content from other questionable sites like Zerohedge and the Strategic Culture Foundation. Many articles are sourced from RT and Sputnik.
The website is owned by the Cyprus-based DRN Media PLC. Moscow native Alex Christoforou is the president and chairman. Funding for The Duran supposedly comes from PayPal and Patreon donations and advertising. On Patreon, the organization is currently raising only $2,688 a month.
When reporting on Russia’s illegal "referendums,” the Duran had this to say:
“It may be that by this time next week Russia will have expanded rather significantly. This has a direct impact on the course of the military operations as well, as it transforms “Ukrainian territory” into “Russian territory.”
“The West can scream and fume all it wants… but this is a clever bit of strategy for Russia to move the ball on this conflict in full compliance with United Nations protocols and the Charter, and to also make its case for a much more robust military operation.” In reality, there was nothing about those “referendums” that complied with the UN charter.
The Duran has not replied to a request for comment.
Founded by Charles Bausman, Russia Insider has a history of publishing falsehoods and inflammatory content, its own and republished from other sources. It was founded in 2014, right when Putin needed outlets to justify Russia’s annexation of Crimea and invasion of parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Bausman claimed that support for Russia Insider was crowdfunded. But leaked emails published by The Interpreter revealed that he had asked for money from Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev, who is close to the Kremlin and owns disinformation network Tsargrad.
Russia Insider is aimed at English-speakers and runs stories like “Putin to Obama: You’re Turning the U.S.A. Into a Godless Sewer”, “The Latest Russian Fighter Jet Blows America’s Away”, and “Anti-Christian Pogrom Underway in Ukraine”.
The site often aggregated content, including from the state-owned network RT. Eventually, its articles got so anti-semitic that RT disavowed it. These articles included direct defenses of Adolf Hitler and long rants against Jewish people. One tag read “Hitler was a great man”.
Another title from 2022 stands out: “Russians Are the Nicest Colonizers You Can Hope For”. There are also many articles glorifying Putin.
The Southern Poverty Law Center found that Russia Insider shared a Google Analytics account with extreme right-wing U.S. websites used by The Right Stuff, a white nationalist group Charles Bausman helped found. All three sites, Russia Insider, National Justice and Truth to Power News attacked Jews, women, nonwhites, LGBTQ people and leftists.
Bausman and Russia Insider have not replied to a comment request.
The Center for Research on Globalization, also known by its website name, globalresearch.ca, is the top platform for Russian propaganda. With potential readership in excess of 350,000 per article, the site has the biggest reach among "Kremlin-aligned" disinformation sites, according to the U.S. government’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) report.
The platform reportedly had 275,000 followers on Facebook, but has since been kicked off the platform.
"No other outlet had half as much reach as Global Research", the GEC said in an August 2020 report.
The center was founded by Michel Chossudovsky, a professor emeritus of economics at the University of Ottawa. It gave a platform to conspiracy theory writers on multiple different topics, from the Sept. 11 attacks and Osama Bin Laden to vaccines, global warming and Ukraine. Chossudovsky’s status as an academic helped burnish the image of Global Research and its contributors.
The site published an impressive slew of disinformation about Ukraine, from accusing the government of running Nazi indoctrination summer camps to denying Russia’s involvement in eastern Ukraine.
The State Department report stated that the website has “published or republished seven authors attributed by Facebook to be false online personas created by The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, popularly known as the GRU”.
Global Research republished articles of Kremlin-aligned websites, such as the Strategic Culture Foundation and Russia Insider. Chossudovsky contributed to Global Independent Analytics, which the New York Times linked to Russia’s troll farm, the Internet Research Agency.
Global Researcha and Chossudovsky have not replied to requests for comment.
RT, formerly known as Russia Today, is a Russian state-controlled TV network that operates internationally. It is widely seen as an important propaganda arm of the Kremlin, airing misleading or false stories and commentary on a variety of issues. Its chief editor Margarita Simonyan claimed in 2012 that RT was waging an information war on behalf of Russia. RT often courts U.S. commentators who claim to challenge the prevailing view in the West.
One of the many Russian diaspora organizations, branches of a central Russian body meant to foster stronger connections between Russian expatriates and state authorities, as well as promote Russian culture and interests.
The U.S. chapter reportedly asked its members to sign a document in favor of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014, according to documents seen by the Kyiv Independent. A former chairman who refused to sign it said he was rotated out, possibly in retaliation. He added there was Russian spy activity within the organization.
This U.S. branch also received money from the Russian embassy. Some people associated with the KSORS engaged in political organizing, such as the administration of a Facebook group promoting former U.S. President Donald Trump.
New York
Russian Center NY was an unofficial nonprofit in New York City that threw a variety of events celebrating Russian culture and hosting panel speakers. It was founded by Elena Branson, who is suspected by the United States of doing intelligence and propaganda work for Moscow, in part through her center. The center's advisory board members and guests included people who spoke or published misleading information about Russia and its adversaries or had ties with far-right groups.
Russia Forum
An annual event created by Russian-American academic Edward Lozansky, to bring together important people from Russia and the U.S. It was held in Washington and once attracted many prominent individuals, including lawmakers and business leaders.
Gilbert Doctorow is a Brussels-based writer who positions himself as a Russia expert. He is currently with the Russian Center of Science and Culture in Brussels, managed by Russia’s soft power network Rossotrudnichestvo.
He has articles in the National Interest, The Nation, Russia Insider, Russian media and on his website. Most controversy was created by his defense of an anti-semitic article in Russia Insider titled “It’s time to drop the Jew taboo”.
Together with the late American academic Stephen Cohen, Doctorow helped found ACURA, which once named him a "frequent participant" in events about the "East-West confrontation over Ukraine". He later left the organization and his name appears to have been removed from much of the website. Cohen would later comment that Doctorow’s views do not reflect the organization’s.
Both Cohen and Doctorow knew Edward Lozansky and appeared at his forums. On his site, Doctorow writes that he travels to Russia.
While he has written misleading articles on many topics, Doctorow often returns to one: falsely saying Russia invaded because of the persecution of Russian-speakers in Ukraine. This “persecution” was invented by Moscow’s mouthpieces. In fact, it’s Russia that’s been indiscriminately killing civilians in Ukrainian cities with large Russian-speaking populations.
“The Russophobia and ‘cancel Russian culture’ movements that have swept Europe during 2022 mean that Russians are the Jews of today,” Doctorow wrote in one of his pieces. “They are what the Hitlerites called Untermenschen, against whom all manner of rights violations if not outright murder can be practiced. This arises in its worst form in Ukraine”.
Doctorow was the only person in the dossiers to have replied to a request for comment by publication time, saying “go f*ck yourself… your so-called questions are a crock of sh*t”.