{"id":6276,"date":"2015-11-19T15:44:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-19T15:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/?p=6276"},"modified":"2016-03-17T10:18:05","modified_gmt":"2016-03-17T10:18:05","slug":"how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"How much does the Russian information war cost?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>InformNapalm international volunteer community presents our readers an interesting analytic material prepared by Vyacheslav Gusarov, one of the informational security experts of &#8216;<\/strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/sprotyv.info\/en\/news\/kiev\/russians-came-pt2-how-much-does-russian-information-war-cost\" target=\"_blank\">Information Resistance<\/a>&#8216;\u00a0group, who\u00a0lifted the veil on the amount of money annually spent by Russia on the information war against Ukraine.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The war unleashed by Russia on Ukraine has been waged only partly by traditional weapons &#8211; machine guns, tanks and cannons. Meanwhile, the information component of the Russian aggression stays behind the scenes of battles.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HvZ0Q9ZonFg\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In the <a href=\"http:\/\/focus.ua\/country\/336578\/\">previous scheme<\/a> we deliberately did not indicate the part of combat support regarding information operations, which are: military signals intelligence systems (radio intercept) and jamming, printery for printing flyers or simulation wireless repeater systems, which sent provocative SMS messages to the Ukrainian soldiers and others.<\/p>\n<p>So now we will try to calculate how much does Russia spend on information operations to support the war in Donbas.<\/p>\n<p>We start off with some clauses: to the Russian information operations conducted in Ukraine we include the whole range of communicative influence Russia makes. We don\u2019t exclude the possibility that we missed some details, since the spectrum of tools of the information influence is quite broad. Our aim is to assess the overall picture of the Russian information war, which is waged within the frameworks of occupation of Donbas, and also the information expansion in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>We start with the <strong><em><u>military support of the Russian terrorist troops<\/u><\/em><\/strong> in Donbas:<\/p>\n<p>a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the Russian arsenal of electronic warfare which has been spotted in the ATO zone:<\/p>\n<p>three complexes of electronic warfare systems \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/warfiles.ru\/show-75978-na-territorii-lnr-zasekli-sverhmoschnye-rossiyskie-sistemy-rtut-bm.html\">Rtut-BM<\/a>\u201d (code: 1\u041b262\u042d \u2013 for suppressing communication lines and remote control fuses with range of 95 \u2013 420 MHz ) \u2013 70 million rubles each<\/p>\n<p>electronic warfare complex <a href=\"http:\/\/elise.com.ua\/?p=54248\">\u201eKrasukha-4\u201d<\/a> (code: 1\u0420\u041b257 \u2013 to cover from radar detection and to counter long-range radar detection and control of unmanned aircraft) \u2013 258 million rubles<\/p>\n<p>complex <a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/11087-reb-borisoglebsk-2\">\u201eBorisoglebsk-2\u201d<\/a> (code: \u0420\u0411-301\u0411 \u2013 for reconnaissance and suppression of mobile system and wireless or radio communications in the range of 1.5 &#8211; 1000 MHz) &#8211; 500 million rubles .;<\/p>\n<p>b)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 tools of radio intelligence spotted in zone ATO:<\/p>\n<p>radio intelligence system <a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/12200-kompleks-radyorazvedky-torn-dap\">\u00ab\u0422\u043e\u0440\u043d\u00bb<\/a>\u00a0 \u2013 100 million rubles.;<\/p>\n<p>drone \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/11497-bpla-orlan-10-yly-prytcha-o-staruhe-marshale-nedelyne-y-akademyke-saharove\">\u201cOrlan-10\u201d<\/a> (<u>onboard elecronic warfare complex \u201eLeer-3\u201d<\/u> &#8211; for GSM network jamming) \u2013 336 million rubles.;<\/p>\n<p>c)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 means of psychological warfare spotted in zone ATO:<\/p>\n<p>issuing <a href=\"http:\/\/forum.pravda.com.ua\/index.php?topic=825158.0\">flyers<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ostro.org\/general\/politics\/news\/444181\/\">newspapers<\/a> \u2013 10 million rubles per year (0,2 million USD)<\/p>\n<p><strong><em><u>Support of the pro-Russian ideological movements<\/u><\/em><\/strong> in the occupied Donbas region<\/p>\n<p>(\u201eFree Donbas\u201d, \u201eRepublic of Donetsk\u201d, \u201eOplot\u201d, \u201eWorld of Luhansk\u201d, \u201eNovorossiya\u201d, \u201eSouth-East\u201d, \u201eEconomic Union of Luhansk\u201d and others) \u2013 about 80 million rubles per year<\/p>\n<p><strong><em><u>Support of the regional pro-Russian media:<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 TV (Luhansk-24\u201d, \u201eNovorossiya TV\u201d, \u201e1st Republican TV channel\u201d, \u201eOplot TV\u201d, \u201eUnion DNR\u201d, \u201eAR-TV\u201d \u2013 about 180 million rubles per year.;<\/p>\n<p>b)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 internet online channels (\u201e1st Republican DNR TV\u201d, \u201eInformbureau\u201d, \u201ePatriotic Forces of Donbas\u201d, \u00abNews-Front\u00bb and others \u2013 about 5 million rubles per year.;<\/p>\n<p>c)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 FM radio (\u201cRadio Novorossiya\u201d, \u201cRadio DNR\u201d \u2013 about 5 million rubles per year<\/p>\n<p>d)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Relay package for the federal TV channels and radioprograms \u2013 2 million rubles per year<\/p>\n<p>e)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 print media (\u201c21<sup>st<\/sup> Century\u201d, \u201cMunicipal Newspaper\u201d, \u201cPeople\u2019s voice\u201d and others \u2013 about 1 million rubles per year<\/p>\n<p>f)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 support of electronic media (<a href=\"http:\/\/lugansk-online.info\/\">lugansk-online.info<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.novorosinform.org\/\">novorosinform.org<\/a>, komitet.net.ua, dnr.today, rusvesna.su. and others) \u2013 about 1 million rubles per year<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s easy to count up that the Russian federal budget\u2019s annual spending on information operations of propaganda to support separatism in the occupied Donbas is approximately 274 million rubles per year (5,5 million USD).<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the cost of military equipment imported from Russia to Ukraine makes up to 1.4 billion rubles (25 million USD)<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the war in the Donbass region, Russia is waging an information campaign in the European information space. The diversity of the methods of information influence and the scope of their application demonstrate the Kremlin\u2019s intentions to form a pro-Russian audience in Europe and use it as a platform for their own foreign policy interests in the future.<\/p>\n<p>First of all, what should be told about <strong><em><u>the system of the Russian media influence:<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/economics.lb.ua\/business\/2015\/07\/15\/310949_krupneyshiy_mediaholding_kremlya_stal.html\">All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company<\/a>(VGTRK)<\/p>\n<p>(TV channels such as\u00a0 \u201cRussia-1\u201d, \u201cRussia-2\u201d, \u201cRussia-24\u201d, \u201cRTR Planet\u201d, \u201cEuroNews\u201d; internet-projects\u00a0 \u201cRussia\u201d, Vesti.ru, Strana Druzey, Digitalrussia.tv, Strana.ru and others) in 2014 has spent 52,9 billion rubles (about 1,3 billion USD). A few months ago in the annexed Crimea, the Crimean Tatar Public TV and Radio Company has been launched by the support of VGTRK. The aforementioned Company includes the channel \u201cMillet\u201d and radio station \u201cVatan Sedasy\u201d. According to approximate estimates, the budget of VGTRK for 2015 is planned to be about 55 billion rubles, from which 12,2 billion rubles will be spent on the<a href=\"http:\/\/top.rbc.ru\/technology_and_media\/15\/01\/2015\/54b7cd499a79470b1946a879\">special program<\/a> called \u201cFormation of an objective image of Russia abroad\u201d and additional 3,5 billion rubles on \u201censuring international activities\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>b) The international news agency \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com.ua\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=5&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CDEQFjAEahUKEwia1sDaiYDIAhVCjnIKHalwD_U&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fria.ru%2Fdocs%2Fabout%2F&amp;usg=AFQjCNEg4IjR7ViejI3j3d9iKcN291tW6A&amp;sig2=IIPuqdCCC9oY-Y6JBf20bw\">Rossiya Segodnya<\/a>\u201d (TV channel Russia Today, news video agency Ruptly, international web studio Sputnik, RIA Novosty, site Ria.ru and others) <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vedomosti.ru\/politics\/articles\/2014\/09\/23\/finansirovanie\">has increased its expenditure by 41%<\/a> compared to 2014. This is connected to the opening of the RT Company\u2019s office in London and the launching of day-and-night channels\u2019 broadcasting in German and French. Besides that, the agency of \u201eRossiya Segodnya\u201d has also incorporated \u201eRIA Novosti\u2019. According to the official data:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; the budget of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com.ua\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=5&amp;ved=0CDYQFjAEahUKEwjN1dHm2IjIAhXI1iwKHQfCAMg&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fshar.gomel-sat.net%2F21574-vlasti-rf-uvelichili-subsidii-russia-today-v-2015-godu-na-41.html&amp;usg=AFQjCNHJ_XyCXeQ6aREH_xhm9qcXY\">Russia Today<\/a> in 2014 was about 500 million USD<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; the budget of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vedomosti.ru\/politics\/news\/2015\/01\/16\/minkomsvyazi-finansirovanie\">RIA Novosti<\/a> and \u201e<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vedomosti.ru\/politics\/news\/2015\/01\/16\/minkomsvyazi-finansirovanie\">Sputnik<\/a>\u201d news agency in 2014 was almost 4,5 million USD<\/p>\n<p>According to various reports, the estimated overall budget figure of the international news agency &#8220;Russia Today&#8221; in 2015 is 650 million USD<\/p>\n<p>c) <a href=\"https:\/\/slon.ru\/posts\/53406\">Channel One Russia<\/a> (\u201cFirst Channel. Global Network\u201d) runs the \u201eFirst Baltic Channel\u201d branched to Lativa (\u201cPBK Latvia\u201d), Estonia (\u201cPBK Estonia\u201d) and Lithuania (\u201cPBK Litva\u201d) Besides that, under the contract with the Swedish company \u201eSES\u201d, the First Baltic Channel pays for the signal transmission by satellite and for the connection to broadcast on the Baltic states\u2019 cable television networks. For all these purposes the Channel One received 150 million USD in 2014 from the budget. For 2015 the same amount of money has been allocated for the channel, plus an additional funding of 3,5 billion rubles (64 million USD), which would cover the course difference of the \u201esagging\u201d ruble.<\/p>\n<p>d) Financing of the <a href=\"http:\/\/russianproperty.info\/federalnaya-sobstvennost-1\/news_post\/gazprom-media-priobretet-sportbox-vmeste-s-chastotami-rossii-2\">Gazprom-media<\/a> holding (TV channels \u201eNTV\u201d, \u201eTNT\u201d, satellite TV company \u201eNTV Plus\u201d, radio stations \u201eCity-FM\u201d, \u201eEcho Moskvy\u201d, \u201eAvtoradio\u201d, 101.ru; publishing office \u201eSeven Days\u201d, cinema studio \u201eNTV Kino\u201d, \u201eCentral Partnership\u201d, internet portals Rutube and Now.ru and others) through the Gazprom corporation. At the present time, <a href=\"https:\/\/vc.ru\/n\/gazprommedia-sport-channel\">&#8220;Gazprom-Media&#8221; is expanding its broadcasting<\/a>by launching new channels. It is estimated that its annual funding may be about 300 million USD;<\/p>\n<p>e) The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com.ua\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=2&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CCEQFjABahUKEwi2pYO-sv3HAhUHZ3IKHTI7DBY&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fnm-g.ru%2F&amp;usg=AFQjCNEZ4tXJ956yeHGXmnFU544YW4hTPw&amp;sig2=mLsQ11vgkcyDuYDkvwv3lg\">National Media Group<\/a> has positioned itself as a private media holding. It includes: TV channels \u201eFifth Channel\u201d, \u201eREN TV\u201d, LifeNews TV; newspaper \u201eIzvestiya\u201d, site\u0442 LifeNews.ru; studio \u201eRussian News Agency\u201d. It is financed through its beneficiaries, as \u201eSogaz\u201d company, \u201eRussia\u201d bank and \u201eSurguntneftgaz\u201d. Channel LifeNews partly owned (49%) by the National Media Group, and receives funding from &#8220;Surgutex.&#8221; It is estimated that the annual funding for the National Media Group could not be less than 300 million USD.<\/p>\n<p>g)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/2013.mate-expo.ru\/sites\/default\/files\/presentation\/312\/Ivanova.pdf\">Russia Beyond the Headlines<\/a>, an international publishing project of the \u201eRussian Newspaper\u201d, which is published periodically in free printed version, and with electronic supplements to the most famous newsletters in the world in 16 languages \u200b\u200b(The Washington Post (USA), The New York Times (USA), The Daily Telegraph (UK), Le Figaro ( France), S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), The Economic Times (India), Folha de Sao Paolo (Brazil), La Repubblica (Italy), JoongAng Ilbo (South Korea), China Business News (China) and others). The budgeting of the project is in the framework of the &#8220;Russian newspaper&#8221; and may be approximately 10-12 million USD.<\/p>\n<p>In general, for the Russian system of media influence the Kremlin spends 2626 million USD.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em><u>The Russian tools of network communication<\/u><\/em><\/strong> play a great role in the information influence:<\/p>\n<p>The Russian social networks, such as \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/ru.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mail.Ru_Group\">Odnoklassniki<\/a>\u201d, <a href=\"https:\/\/ru.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mail.Ru_Group\">VKontakte<\/a>\u201d, \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/ru.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mail.Ru_Group\">Moi Mir<\/a>\u201d and also the instant messenger \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/ru.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mail.Ru_Group\">Agent Mail.Ru<\/a>\u201d and email service \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/ru.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mail.Ru_Group\">ICQ<\/a>\u201d have been entirely incorporated by the Russian internet company group \u201eMail.ru\u201d. Figuratively, they form a single social Internet platform under \u201eone roof&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The Mail.Ru Group is controlled by the Russian oligarch <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gezitter.org\/society\/1678_kto_takoy_alisher_usmanov_milliarder_sdelavshiy_sostoyanie_na_tsellofanovyih_paketah\/\">Alisher Usmanov<\/a> (45% stake), having close ties to the Kremlin.<\/p>\n<p>The estimated funding for the Russian social online platform can be up to 50 million USD.<\/p>\n<p>The Kremlin\u2019s <strong><em><u>influence through PC softwares and networks <\/u><\/em><\/strong>is carried out by the following well-known groups:<\/p>\n<p>\u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/slon.ru\/posts\/49532\">Kaspersky lab<\/a>\u201d, operating in the interests of the Russian FSB by \u201e<a href=\"http:\/\/www.kavkazcenter.com\/russ\/content\/2012\/07\/27\/92141\/kiberchekizm--kasperskij-opravdyvaetsya-chto-on-ne-rabotaet-na-fsb.shtml\">active measures<\/a>\u201d on the Internet;<\/p>\n<p>project \u201eCyberBerkut\u201d, a group of Russian hackers who upload and spread hacking materials on the Internet. According to several data, the \u201eCyberBerkut\u201d organization is actually a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com.ua\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=5&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CDIQFjAEahUKEwjttPG71f3HAhULnXIKHXXYCq4&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fru.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F%25D0%259A%25D0%25B8%25D0%25B1%25D0%25B5%25D1%2580%25D0%25B1%25D0%25B5%25D1%2580%25D0\">project of the Russian secret services<\/a>;<\/p>\n<p>the special branches of cyber security of the FSB, MVD, MO and other structures are financed at the expense of their own framework.<\/p>\n<p>The approximate financing of the Russian hackers could be around 100 million USD per year.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, a branch of <a href=\"http:\/\/nr2.com.ua\/video\/Gde-iskat-rossiyskih-internet-trolley-FOTO-VIDEO-92018.html\">Internet troll organization<\/a> also operates in Russia, with the task to make the necessary posts on the social networks. Their offices are placed in different\u00a0 regions of Russia, in the following settlements: villages &#8211; Olgino (Saint Petersburg), Yablonovskiy (Republic of Adygeya), Perekatniy (Republic of Adygeya), Zeleniy Gorod (Nizhegorodskaya region); cities &#8211; Belgorod, Ryazan, Khabarovsk, Kaliningrad and others. The most famous of these organisations is the \u201eInternet Research Ltd.\u201d (Saint Petersburg). By average <a href=\"http:\/\/fakty.ictv.ua\/ru\/index\/read-news\/id\/1532712\">estimates<\/a>, for the payment of the 3 thousand operators working in social networks in Russia 1800 million rubles (32,4 million USD) is needed.<\/p>\n<p>In general, for the influence through PC softwares and networks 132,4 million USD is required per year.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em><u>The Russian system of social formation of public opinion <\/u><\/em><\/strong>is represented by the<a href=\"https:\/\/ru.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%D0%92%D1%81%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D1%86%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%80_%D0%B8%D0%B7%D1%83%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%89%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%BE%25\">Russian Public Opinion Research Center<\/a> (VCIOM), and also by the research agency \u201e<a href=\"http:\/\/www.eurasiamonitor.org\/rus\/\">Eurasian Monitor<\/a>\u201d, sociological service \u201e<a href=\"http:\/\/corp.fom.ru\/kompanija\/istorija.html\">Public opinion Foundation<\/a>\u201d, analytical center \u201e<a href=\"http:\/\/www.levada.ru\/\">Levada Center<\/a>\u201d and other entities.<\/p>\n<p>These structures form the basis for modeling the necessary opinion of the audience through the results of social research.<\/p>\n<p>In Ukraine, the activity of VCIOM and its structures have been spotted in preparation for the &#8220;Crimean referendum&#8221; in 2014 and &#8220;elections&#8221; in the annexed Crimea.<\/p>\n<p>To give credibility to the polls, the VCIOM staff has figured out and created a \u201csponsored institute\u201d called <a href=\"http:\/\/sprotyv.info\/ru\/news\/5502-zombirovanie-vatnikov-ili-neskolko-slov-o-vnutrenney-informacionnoy-politike-kremlya\">Crimean Institute of Political and Social Research<\/a>, to which they referred at the announcement of the plebiscite. And in the summer of 2015, in the LC and DNI two sociological research centers appeared almost simultaneously and under the same name (\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/sprotyv.info\/ru\/news\/kiev\/informacionnaya-voyna-rossii-na-donbasse-novaya-faza\">Special Status<\/a>\u201d, which also dictates the opinion in the occupied regions).<\/p>\n<p>Activities of these Russian entities forming public opinion are repeatedly spotted also abroad, in the publication of their research results in the local media.<\/p>\n<p>The Kremlin\u2019s approximate budget for conducting \u201ccustom social researches\u201d and content of these controlled frameworks in the unrecognized territories could reach about 100 million USD per year.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em><u>The social and national foreign influence<\/u><\/em><\/strong> is implemented mainly through the \u201eFederal Agency of the Commonwealth of Independent States\u201d and \u201e<a href=\"http:\/\/old.rs.gov.ru\/node\/611\">Rossotrudnichestvo<\/a>\u201d (compatriots living abroad). Its regional offices operate in 80 countries.<\/p>\n<p>The Rossotrudnichestvo is a division of the Russian Foreign Ministry. According to<a href=\"http:\/\/rs.gov.ru\/sites\/default\/files\/buklet_final.pdf\">official data<\/a>, for the foreign \u201esoft power\u201d activities has been allocated almost 330 USD. Thus, it must be assumed that the expenses for 2014 have been similar. Regarding 2015, the Russian government has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.interfax.ru\/russia\/444825\">increased the funding<\/a> of Rossotrudnichestvo\u2019s projects aimed to promote the Russian language to 2 billion rubles (36 million USD).<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the formation of public, political and business climate abroad is implemented by the institutions of civil society. This is realized through activities of governmental foundations operating as public organizations. The task of these governmental foundations is to familiarize the foreign audience with the Russian culture, history and politics. The main ones are:<\/p>\n<p>NGO \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com.ua\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CBsQFjAAahUKEwjss93Mm4jIAhUow3IKHdQoB9I&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fru.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F%25D0%25A0%25D1%2583%25D1%2581%25D1%2581%25D0%25BA%25D0%25B8%25D0%25B9_%25D0%25BC%25D\">Russkiy Mir<\/a>\u201d (Russian World) foundation, which popularizes the Russian history, language and culture in different countries of the world. The founders of the Foundation (on behalf of the Russian Federation) are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Science of the RF. The activities of the NGO are extended to all countries of Europe and the CIS. The annual budget for the Foundation\u2019s activities is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kommersant.ru\/doc\/2753934\">750 million rubles<\/a>, plus funding for the Internet television and radio station &#8220;Russkiy Mir&#8221; is about <a href=\"http:\/\/russkiymir.ru\/media\/radio2\/programs\/all\/186128\/\">10 million rubles<\/a>. (15.2 million Dollars. USA)<\/p>\n<p>NGO \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com.ua\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CBsQFjAAahUKEwi8qK_Cm4jIAhUjKXIKHXERAa4&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fru.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F%25D0%25A4%25D0%25BE%25D0%25BD%25D0%25B4_%25D0%25BF%25D0%25BE%25D0%25B4%25D0%25B4%25D\">Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund<\/a>\u201d, aimed to improve Russia\u2019s foreign policy image. The Foundation has been established by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The organization supports the media and electronic information resources of foreign countries, providing financial, methodological and organizational support to foreign domestic organizations. The Gorchakov Fund supports the currently active project \u201e<a href=\"http:\/\/www.publicdiplomacy.su\/2015\/10\/31\/issledovaniya-fonda-predstavlenyi-na-forume-liderxxiveka\/\">Public Diplomacy<\/a>\u201d, which has been launched in the post soviet countries. The annual budget of the Fund is <a href=\"http:\/\/webcache.googleusercontent.com\/search?q=cache:c58WIt9vKcwJ:www.mid.ru\/bdomp\/activity.nsf\/0\/A3AFC50F5AB72D4543257E5E0051BE63+&amp;cd=4&amp;hl=ru&amp;ct=clnk&amp;gl=ua\">55 million rubles<\/a> (1,1 million USD).<\/p>\n<p>Non-profit organization \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com.ua\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CBwQFjAAahUKEwj5_vGym4jIAhWFqXIKHXTtBJE&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fru.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F%25D0%25A0%25D0%25BE%25D1%2581%25D1%2581%25D0%25B8%25D0%25B9%25D1%2581%25D0%25BA%25D0\">Russian Council of Foreign Affairs<\/a>\u201d on foreign policy and international relations. It has been established by the RF\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Science, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the news agency &#8220;Interfax&#8221;. This is one of Russia\u2019s tools of public diplomacy and \u201esoft power\u201d in Europe and the world. The main task of the Council is to test the social climate of the elite and people and form the necessary opinion in the interest of Russia&#8217;s policy. The annual budget of the Council is about 5 million USD.<\/p>\n<p>NGO \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/ru.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%D0%A4%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B4_%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B2%D1%8B\">Historical Perspective Foundation<\/a>\u201d, established to finance the European (Paris) and the US (New York) branches of the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation. The Institute\u2019s activities are focused to propagate Russian ideologies and assist the RF in conducting its foreign policy in matters of international relations, geopolitics, history and media. The annual budget of the Foundation is about 3 million USD.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, Moscow\u2019s annual cost of social and national foreign influence activities is approximately 390.3 million USD.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em><u>Influencing the foreign audience through nationalist and ultra-radical movements<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, conducted by creating a channel of communication between the Kremlin and the leadership of particular European socio-political organizations. These are: \u201eFront National\u201d (France), \u201eUKIP\u201d (United Kingdom) \u201eBNP\u201d (United Kingdom) \u201eAfD\u201d (Germany), \u201eJobbik\u201d (Hungary), \u201eLatvijas Krievu savieniba\u201d (Latvia), \u201eAtaka\u201d (Bulgaria), \u201eForza Italia\u201d (Italy) and others. Many of these entities have their own representatives in the national and European parliaments. The Kremlin does not only finance their activities and election campaigns, but their own media organs (newspapers, TV) as well.<\/p>\n<p>Apparently, we may count in the same category the Kremlin\u2019s attempts to spread the Russian biker\u2019s movement (led by the Moscow-based \u201eNight Wolves\u201d organization) abroad. Their obvious goal is to find the like-minded people abroad and create new channels of communication in the interests of Russia&#8217;s policy.<\/p>\n<p>According to rough estimates, this support to the Kremlin costs at least 200 million USD.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>So, to conduct an information campaign Moscow utilizes a full range of tools of information warfare &#8211; military equipment in Donbass and \u201esoft power\u201d elements on foreign audiences.<\/p>\n<p>Consequently, it can be assumed that to conduct information campaign <strong>the Russian Federation spends annually no less than 3,5 billion USD.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/RUSSIAN-en.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6266\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6266 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/RUSSIAN-en.png\" alt=\"RUSSIAN-en\" width=\"1024\" height=\"724\" srcset=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/RUSSIAN-en.png 1024w, https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/RUSSIAN-en-300x212.png 300w, https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/RUSSIAN-en-768x543.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And if we consider the factor that in the past three years the Russian information machine has been operating in the most extreme mode, it becomes clear what did US Congressman Dan Mike mean. That 9 billion USD mentioned by him completely fits the scheme of Russia\u2019s expenses of its information war.<\/p>\n<p>The information about Russia\u2019s alleged budget cuts to \u201emedia support\u201d for 2016 should be understood as a banal populism, for if the Kremlin\u2019s information machine is already running, then it\u2019s just impossible to abruptly stop it. Furthermore, the Kremlin\u2019s projects for spreading propaganda are not suspended but open. &#8220;In order to reduce the budget&#8221; they have just simply shifted the timing of their completion.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Viacheslav Gusarov, Centre of Military-Political Studies (CMPS), expert of information security, Information Resistance (IR) section.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sprotyv.info\/en\/news\/kiev\/russians-came-pt2-how-much-does-russian-information-war-cost\"><em>Original article<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>InformNapalm international volunteer community presents our readers an interesting analytic material prepared by Vyacheslav Gusarov, one of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":6266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,528,2],"tags":[548,166,357],"class_list":["post-6276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mainnews","category-news","category-summaries","tag-infographics","tag-russia","tag-russian-aggression"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How much does the Russian information war cost? - InformNapalm.org (English)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Consequently, it can be assumed that to conduct information campaign the Russian Federation spends annually no less than 3,5 billion USD.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How much does the Russian information war cost? - InformNapalm.org (English)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Consequently, it can be assumed that to conduct information campaign the Russian Federation spends annually no less than 3,5 billion USD.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"InformNapalm.org (English)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-19T15:44:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-03-17T10:18:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/RUSSIAN-en.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"724\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"informnapalm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"informnapalm\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"informnapalm\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/0261f1f4bc0b4dfc0f937ef6b9df433c\"},\"headline\":\"How much does the Russian information war cost?\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-19T15:44:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-17T10:18:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/\"},\"wordCount\":2600,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/RUSSIAN-en.png\",\"keywords\":[\"infographics\",\"Russia\",\"Russian aggression\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Main News\",\"News\",\"Summaries\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/\",\"name\":\"How much does the Russian information war cost? - InformNapalm.org (English)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/RUSSIAN-en.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-19T15:44:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-17T10:18:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/0261f1f4bc0b4dfc0f937ef6b9df433c\"},\"description\":\"Consequently, it can be assumed that to conduct information campaign the Russian Federation spends annually no less than 3,5 billion USD.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/RUSSIAN-en.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/RUSSIAN-en.png\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":724},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How much does the Russian information war cost?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/\",\"name\":\"InformNapalm.org (English)\",\"description\":\"Latest News from Ukraine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/0261f1f4bc0b4dfc0f937ef6b9df433c\",\"name\":\"informnapalm\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e6c2ff9fb0c7a300f1993bd8b7822f75370453035bf6d8018765e82692cfa7a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e6c2ff9fb0c7a300f1993bd8b7822f75370453035bf6d8018765e82692cfa7a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"informnapalm\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/author\/informnapalm\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How much does the Russian information war cost? - InformNapalm.org (English)","description":"Consequently, it can be assumed that to conduct information campaign the Russian Federation spends annually no less than 3,5 billion USD.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How much does the Russian information war cost? - InformNapalm.org (English)","og_description":"Consequently, it can be assumed that to conduct information campaign the Russian Federation spends annually no less than 3,5 billion USD.","og_url":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/","og_site_name":"InformNapalm.org (English)","article_published_time":"2015-11-19T15:44:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-03-17T10:18:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":724,"url":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/RUSSIAN-en.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"informnapalm","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"informnapalm","Est. reading time":"13 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/"},"author":{"name":"informnapalm","@id":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/0261f1f4bc0b4dfc0f937ef6b9df433c"},"headline":"How much does the Russian information war cost?","datePublished":"2015-11-19T15:44:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-03-17T10:18:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/"},"wordCount":2600,"commentCount":1,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/RUSSIAN-en.png","keywords":["infographics","Russia","Russian aggression"],"articleSection":["Main News","News","Summaries"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/","url":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/","name":"How much does the Russian information war cost? - InformNapalm.org (English)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/RUSSIAN-en.png","datePublished":"2015-11-19T15:44:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-03-17T10:18:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/0261f1f4bc0b4dfc0f937ef6b9df433c"},"description":"Consequently, it can be assumed that to conduct information campaign the Russian Federation spends annually no less than 3,5 billion USD.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/RUSSIAN-en.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/RUSSIAN-en.png","width":1024,"height":724},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/how-much-does-the-russian-information-war-cost\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How much does the Russian information war cost?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/","name":"InformNapalm.org (English)","description":"Latest News from Ukraine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/0261f1f4bc0b4dfc0f937ef6b9df433c","name":"informnapalm","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e6c2ff9fb0c7a300f1993bd8b7822f75370453035bf6d8018765e82692cfa7a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e6c2ff9fb0c7a300f1993bd8b7822f75370453035bf6d8018765e82692cfa7a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"informnapalm"},"url":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/author\/informnapalm\/"}]}},"post_src":"<strong>InformNapalm international volunteer community presents our readers an interesting analytic material prepared by Vyacheslav Gusarov, one of the informational security experts of '<\/strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/sprotyv.info\/en\/news\/kiev\/russians-came-pt2-how-much-does-russian-information-war-cost\" target=\"_blank\">Information Resistance<\/a>'\u00a0group, who\u00a0lifted the veil on the amount of money annually spent by Russia on the information war against Ukraine.<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe war unleashed by Russia on Ukraine has been waged only partly by traditional weapons - machine guns, tanks and cannons. Meanwhile, the information component of the Russian aggression stays behind the scenes of battles.\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HvZ0Q9ZonFg\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\nIn the <a href=\"http:\/\/focus.ua\/country\/336578\/\">previous scheme<\/a> we deliberately did not indicate the part of combat support regarding information operations, which are: military signals intelligence systems (radio intercept) and jamming, printery for printing flyers or simulation wireless repeater systems, which sent provocative SMS messages to the Ukrainian soldiers and others.\r\n\r\nSo now we will try to calculate how much does Russia spend on information operations to support the war in Donbas.\r\n\r\nWe start off with some clauses: to the Russian information operations conducted in Ukraine we include the whole range of communicative influence Russia makes. We don\u2019t exclude the possibility that we missed some details, since the spectrum of tools of the information influence is quite broad. Our aim is to assess the overall picture of the Russian information war, which is waged within the frameworks of occupation of Donbas, and also the information expansion in Europe.\r\n\r\nWe start with the <strong><em><u>military support of the Russian terrorist troops<\/u><\/em><\/strong> in Donbas:\r\n\r\na)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the Russian arsenal of electronic warfare which has been spotted in the ATO zone:\r\n\r\nthree complexes of electronic warfare systems \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/warfiles.ru\/show-75978-na-territorii-lnr-zasekli-sverhmoschnye-rossiyskie-sistemy-rtut-bm.html\">Rtut-BM<\/a>\u201d (code: 1\u041b262\u042d \u2013 for suppressing communication lines and remote control fuses with range of 95 \u2013 420 MHz ) \u2013 70 million rubles each\r\n\r\nelectronic warfare complex <a href=\"http:\/\/elise.com.ua\/?p=54248\">\u201eKrasukha-4\u201d<\/a> (code: 1\u0420\u041b257 \u2013 to cover from radar detection and to counter long-range radar detection and control of unmanned aircraft) \u2013 258 million rubles\r\n\r\ncomplex <a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/11087-reb-borisoglebsk-2\">\u201eBorisoglebsk-2\u201d<\/a> (code: \u0420\u0411-301\u0411 \u2013 for reconnaissance and suppression of mobile system and wireless or radio communications in the range of 1.5 - 1000 MHz) - 500 million rubles .;\r\n\r\nb)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 tools of radio intelligence spotted in zone ATO:\r\n\r\nradio intelligence system <a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/12200-kompleks-radyorazvedky-torn-dap\">\u00ab\u0422\u043e\u0440\u043d\u00bb<\/a>\u00a0 \u2013 100 million rubles.;\r\n\r\ndrone \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/11497-bpla-orlan-10-yly-prytcha-o-staruhe-marshale-nedelyne-y-akademyke-saharove\">\u201cOrlan-10\u201d<\/a> (<u>onboard elecronic warfare complex \u201eLeer-3\u201d<\/u> - for GSM network jamming) \u2013 336 million rubles.;\r\n\r\nc)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 means of psychological warfare spotted in zone ATO:\r\n\r\nissuing <a href=\"http:\/\/forum.pravda.com.ua\/index.php?topic=825158.0\">flyers<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ostro.org\/general\/politics\/news\/444181\/\">newspapers<\/a> \u2013 10 million rubles per year (0,2 million USD)\r\n\r\n<strong><em><u>Support of the pro-Russian ideological movements<\/u><\/em><\/strong> in the occupied Donbas region\r\n\r\n(\u201eFree Donbas\u201d, \u201eRepublic of Donetsk\u201d, \u201eOplot\u201d, \u201eWorld of Luhansk\u201d, \u201eNovorossiya\u201d, \u201eSouth-East\u201d, \u201eEconomic Union of Luhansk\u201d and others) \u2013 about 80 million rubles per year\r\n\r\n<strong><em><u>Support of the regional pro-Russian media:<\/u><\/em><\/strong>\r\n\r\na)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 TV (Luhansk-24\u201d, \u201eNovorossiya TV\u201d, \u201e1st Republican TV channel\u201d, \u201eOplot TV\u201d, \u201eUnion DNR\u201d, \u201eAR-TV\u201d \u2013 about 180 million rubles per year.;\r\n\r\nb)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 internet online channels (\u201e1st Republican DNR TV\u201d, \u201eInformbureau\u201d, \u201ePatriotic Forces of Donbas\u201d, \u00abNews-Front\u00bb and others \u2013 about 5 million rubles per year.;\r\n\r\nc)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 FM radio (\u201cRadio Novorossiya\u201d, \u201cRadio DNR\u201d \u2013 about 5 million rubles per year\r\n\r\nd)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Relay package for the federal TV channels and radioprograms \u2013 2 million rubles per year\r\n\r\ne)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 print media (\u201c21<sup>st<\/sup> Century\u201d, \u201cMunicipal Newspaper\u201d, \u201cPeople\u2019s voice\u201d and others \u2013 about 1 million rubles per year\r\n\r\nf)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 support of electronic media (<a href=\"http:\/\/lugansk-online.info\/\">lugansk-online.info<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.novorosinform.org\/\">novorosinform.org<\/a>, komitet.net.ua, dnr.today, rusvesna.su. and others) \u2013 about 1 million rubles per year\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s easy to count up that the Russian federal budget\u2019s annual spending on information operations of propaganda to support separatism in the occupied Donbas is approximately 274 million rubles per year (5,5 million USD).\r\n\r\nAt the same time, the cost of military equipment imported from Russia to Ukraine makes up to 1.4 billion rubles (25 million USD)\r\n\r\nIn addition to the war in the Donbass region, Russia is waging an information campaign in the European information space. The diversity of the methods of information influence and the scope of their application demonstrate the Kremlin\u2019s intentions to form a pro-Russian audience in Europe and use it as a platform for their own foreign policy interests in the future.\r\n\r\nFirst of all, what should be told about <strong><em><u>the system of the Russian media influence:<\/u><\/em><\/strong>\r\n\r\na)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/economics.lb.ua\/business\/2015\/07\/15\/310949_krupneyshiy_mediaholding_kremlya_stal.html\">All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company<\/a>(VGTRK)\r\n\r\n(TV channels such as\u00a0 \u201cRussia-1\u201d, \u201cRussia-2\u201d, \u201cRussia-24\u201d, \u201cRTR Planet\u201d, \u201cEuroNews\u201d; internet-projects\u00a0 \u201cRussia\u201d, Vesti.ru, Strana Druzey, Digitalrussia.tv, Strana.ru and others) in 2014 has spent 52,9 billion rubles (about 1,3 billion USD). A few months ago in the annexed Crimea, the Crimean Tatar Public TV and Radio Company has been launched by the support of VGTRK. The aforementioned Company includes the channel \u201cMillet\u201d and radio station \u201cVatan Sedasy\u201d. According to approximate estimates, the budget of VGTRK for 2015 is planned to be about 55 billion rubles, from which 12,2 billion rubles will be spent on the<a href=\"http:\/\/top.rbc.ru\/technology_and_media\/15\/01\/2015\/54b7cd499a79470b1946a879\">special program<\/a> called \u201cFormation of an objective image of Russia abroad\u201d and additional 3,5 billion rubles on \u201censuring international activities\u201d.\r\n\r\nb) The international news agency \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com.ua\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=5&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CDEQFjAEahUKEwia1sDaiYDIAhVCjnIKHalwD_U&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fria.ru%2Fdocs%2Fabout%2F&amp;usg=AFQjCNEg4IjR7ViejI3j3d9iKcN291tW6A&amp;sig2=IIPuqdCCC9oY-Y6JBf20bw\">Rossiya Segodnya<\/a>\u201d (TV channel Russia Today, news video agency Ruptly, international web studio Sputnik, RIA Novosty, site Ria.ru and others) <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vedomosti.ru\/politics\/articles\/2014\/09\/23\/finansirovanie\">has increased its expenditure by 41%<\/a> compared to 2014. This is connected to the opening of the RT Company\u2019s office in London and the launching of day-and-night channels\u2019 broadcasting in German and French. Besides that, the agency of \u201eRossiya Segodnya\u201d has also incorporated \u201eRIA Novosti\u2019. According to the official data:\r\n\r\n- the budget of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com.ua\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=5&amp;ved=0CDYQFjAEahUKEwjN1dHm2IjIAhXI1iwKHQfCAMg&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fshar.gomel-sat.net%2F21574-vlasti-rf-uvelichili-subsidii-russia-today-v-2015-godu-na-41.html&amp;usg=AFQjCNHJ_XyCXeQ6aREH_xhm9qcXY\">Russia Today<\/a> in 2014 was about 500 million USD\r\n\r\n- the budget of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vedomosti.ru\/politics\/news\/2015\/01\/16\/minkomsvyazi-finansirovanie\">RIA Novosti<\/a> and \u201e<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vedomosti.ru\/politics\/news\/2015\/01\/16\/minkomsvyazi-finansirovanie\">Sputnik<\/a>\u201d news agency in 2014 was almost 4,5 million USD\r\n\r\nAccording to various reports, the estimated overall budget figure of the international news agency \"Russia Today\" in 2015 is 650 million USD\r\n\r\nc) <a href=\"https:\/\/slon.ru\/posts\/53406\">Channel One Russia<\/a> (\u201cFirst Channel. Global Network\u201d) runs the \u201eFirst Baltic Channel\u201d branched to Lativa (\u201cPBK Latvia\u201d), Estonia (\u201cPBK Estonia\u201d) and Lithuania (\u201cPBK Litva\u201d) Besides that, under the contract with the Swedish company \u201eSES\u201d, the First Baltic Channel pays for the signal transmission by satellite and for the connection to broadcast on the Baltic states\u2019 cable television networks. For all these purposes the Channel One received 150 million USD in 2014 from the budget. For 2015 the same amount of money has been allocated for the channel, plus an additional funding of 3,5 billion rubles (64 million USD), which would cover the course difference of the \u201esagging\u201d ruble.\r\n\r\nd) Financing of the <a href=\"http:\/\/russianproperty.info\/federalnaya-sobstvennost-1\/news_post\/gazprom-media-priobretet-sportbox-vmeste-s-chastotami-rossii-2\">Gazprom-media<\/a> holding (TV channels \u201eNTV\u201d, \u201eTNT\u201d, satellite TV company \u201eNTV Plus\u201d, radio stations \u201eCity-FM\u201d, \u201eEcho Moskvy\u201d, \u201eAvtoradio\u201d, 101.ru; publishing office \u201eSeven Days\u201d, cinema studio \u201eNTV Kino\u201d, \u201eCentral Partnership\u201d, internet portals Rutube and Now.ru and others) through the Gazprom corporation. At the present time, <a href=\"https:\/\/vc.ru\/n\/gazprommedia-sport-channel\">\"Gazprom-Media\" is expanding its broadcasting<\/a>by launching new channels. It is estimated that its annual funding may be about 300 million USD;\r\n\r\ne) The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com.ua\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=2&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CCEQFjABahUKEwi2pYO-sv3HAhUHZ3IKHTI7DBY&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fnm-g.ru%2F&amp;usg=AFQjCNEZ4tXJ956yeHGXmnFU544YW4hTPw&amp;sig2=mLsQ11vgkcyDuYDkvwv3lg\">National Media Group<\/a> has positioned itself as a private media holding. It includes: TV channels \u201eFifth Channel\u201d, \u201eREN TV\u201d, LifeNews TV; newspaper \u201eIzvestiya\u201d, site\u0442 LifeNews.ru; studio \u201eRussian News Agency\u201d. It is financed through its beneficiaries, as \u201eSogaz\u201d company, \u201eRussia\u201d bank and \u201eSurguntneftgaz\u201d. Channel LifeNews partly owned (49%) by the National Media Group, and receives funding from \"Surgutex.\" It is estimated that the annual funding for the National Media Group could not be less than 300 million USD.\r\n\r\ng)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/2013.mate-expo.ru\/sites\/default\/files\/presentation\/312\/Ivanova.pdf\">Russia Beyond the Headlines<\/a>, an international publishing project of the \u201eRussian Newspaper\u201d, which is published periodically in free printed version, and with electronic supplements to the most famous newsletters in the world in 16 languages \u200b\u200b(The Washington Post (USA), The New York Times (USA), The Daily Telegraph (UK), Le Figaro ( France), S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), The Economic Times (India), Folha de Sao Paolo (Brazil), La Repubblica (Italy), JoongAng Ilbo (South Korea), China Business News (China) and others). The budgeting of the project is in the framework of the \"Russian newspaper\" and may be approximately 10-12 million USD.\r\n\r\nIn general, for the Russian system of media influence the Kremlin spends 2626 million USD.\r\n\r\n<strong><em><u>The Russian tools of network communication<\/u><\/em><\/strong> play a great role in the information influence:\r\n\r\nThe Russian social networks, such as \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/ru.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mail.Ru_Group\">Odnoklassniki<\/a>\u201d, <a href=\"https:\/\/ru.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mail.Ru_Group\">VKontakte<\/a>\u201d, \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/ru.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mail.Ru_Group\">Moi Mir<\/a>\u201d and also the instant messenger \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/ru.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mail.Ru_Group\">Agent Mail.Ru<\/a>\u201d and email service \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/ru.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mail.Ru_Group\">ICQ<\/a>\u201d have been entirely incorporated by the Russian internet company group \u201eMail.ru\u201d. Figuratively, they form a single social Internet platform under \u201eone roof\".\r\n\r\nThe Mail.Ru Group is controlled by the Russian oligarch <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gezitter.org\/society\/1678_kto_takoy_alisher_usmanov_milliarder_sdelavshiy_sostoyanie_na_tsellofanovyih_paketah\/\">Alisher Usmanov<\/a> (45% stake), having close ties to the Kremlin.\r\n\r\nThe estimated funding for the Russian social online platform can be up to 50 million USD.\r\n\r\nThe Kremlin\u2019s <strong><em><u>influence through PC softwares and networks <\/u><\/em><\/strong>is carried out by the following well-known groups:\r\n\r\n\u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/slon.ru\/posts\/49532\">Kaspersky lab<\/a>\u201d, operating in the interests of the Russian FSB by \u201e<a href=\"http:\/\/www.kavkazcenter.com\/russ\/content\/2012\/07\/27\/92141\/kiberchekizm--kasperskij-opravdyvaetsya-chto-on-ne-rabotaet-na-fsb.shtml\">active measures<\/a>\u201d on the Internet;\r\n\r\nproject \u201eCyberBerkut\u201d, a group of Russian hackers who upload and spread hacking materials on the Internet. According to several data, the \u201eCyberBerkut\u201d organization is actually a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com.ua\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=5&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CDIQFjAEahUKEwjttPG71f3HAhULnXIKHXXYCq4&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fru.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F%25D0%259A%25D0%25B8%25D0%25B1%25D0%25B5%25D1%2580%25D0%25B1%25D0%25B5%25D1%2580%25D0\">project of the Russian secret services<\/a>;\r\n\r\nthe special branches of cyber security of the FSB, MVD, MO and other structures are financed at the expense of their own framework.\r\n\r\nThe approximate financing of the Russian hackers could be around 100 million USD per year.\r\n\r\nIn addition, a branch of <a href=\"http:\/\/nr2.com.ua\/video\/Gde-iskat-rossiyskih-internet-trolley-FOTO-VIDEO-92018.html\">Internet troll organization<\/a> also operates in Russia, with the task to make the necessary posts on the social networks. Their offices are placed in different\u00a0 regions of Russia, in the following settlements: villages - Olgino (Saint Petersburg), Yablonovskiy (Republic of Adygeya), Perekatniy (Republic of Adygeya), Zeleniy Gorod (Nizhegorodskaya region); cities - Belgorod, Ryazan, Khabarovsk, Kaliningrad and others. The most famous of these organisations is the \u201eInternet Research Ltd.\u201d (Saint Petersburg). By average <a href=\"http:\/\/fakty.ictv.ua\/ru\/index\/read-news\/id\/1532712\">estimates<\/a>, for the payment of the 3 thousand operators working in social networks in Russia 1800 million rubles (32,4 million USD) is needed.\r\n\r\nIn general, for the influence through PC softwares and networks 132,4 million USD is required per year.\r\n\r\n<strong><em><u>The Russian system of social formation of public opinion <\/u><\/em><\/strong>is represented by the<a href=\"https:\/\/ru.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%D0%92%D1%81%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D1%86%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%80_%D0%B8%D0%B7%D1%83%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%89%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%BE%25\">Russian Public Opinion Research Center<\/a> (VCIOM), and also by the research agency \u201e<a href=\"http:\/\/www.eurasiamonitor.org\/rus\/\">Eurasian Monitor<\/a>\u201d, sociological service \u201e<a href=\"http:\/\/corp.fom.ru\/kompanija\/istorija.html\">Public opinion Foundation<\/a>\u201d, analytical center \u201e<a href=\"http:\/\/www.levada.ru\/\">Levada Center<\/a>\u201d and other entities.\r\n\r\nThese structures form the basis for modeling the necessary opinion of the audience through the results of social research.\r\n\r\nIn Ukraine, the activity of VCIOM and its structures have been spotted in preparation for the \"Crimean referendum\" in 2014 and \"elections\" in the annexed Crimea.\r\n\r\nTo give credibility to the polls, the VCIOM staff has figured out and created a \u201csponsored institute\u201d called <a href=\"http:\/\/sprotyv.info\/ru\/news\/5502-zombirovanie-vatnikov-ili-neskolko-slov-o-vnutrenney-informacionnoy-politike-kremlya\">Crimean Institute of Political and Social Research<\/a>, to which they referred at the announcement of the plebiscite. And in the summer of 2015, in the LC and DNI two sociological research centers appeared almost simultaneously and under the same name (\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/sprotyv.info\/ru\/news\/kiev\/informacionnaya-voyna-rossii-na-donbasse-novaya-faza\">Special Status<\/a>\u201d, which also dictates the opinion in the occupied regions).\r\n\r\nActivities of these Russian entities forming public opinion are repeatedly spotted also abroad, in the publication of their research results in the local media.\r\n\r\nThe Kremlin\u2019s approximate budget for conducting \u201ccustom social researches\u201d and content of these controlled frameworks in the unrecognized territories could reach about 100 million USD per year.\r\n\r\n<strong><em><u>The social and national foreign influence<\/u><\/em><\/strong> is implemented mainly through the \u201eFederal Agency of the Commonwealth of Independent States\u201d and \u201e<a href=\"http:\/\/old.rs.gov.ru\/node\/611\">Rossotrudnichestvo<\/a>\u201d (compatriots living abroad). Its regional offices operate in 80 countries.\r\n\r\nThe Rossotrudnichestvo is a division of the Russian Foreign Ministry. According to<a href=\"http:\/\/rs.gov.ru\/sites\/default\/files\/buklet_final.pdf\">official data<\/a>, for the foreign \u201esoft power\u201d activities has been allocated almost 330 USD. Thus, it must be assumed that the expenses for 2014 have been similar. Regarding 2015, the Russian government has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.interfax.ru\/russia\/444825\">increased the funding<\/a> of Rossotrudnichestvo\u2019s projects aimed to promote the Russian language to 2 billion rubles (36 million USD).\r\n\r\nIn addition, the formation of public, political and business climate abroad is implemented by the institutions of civil society. This is realized through activities of governmental foundations operating as public organizations. The task of these governmental foundations is to familiarize the foreign audience with the Russian culture, history and politics. The main ones are:\r\n\r\nNGO \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com.ua\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CBsQFjAAahUKEwjss93Mm4jIAhUow3IKHdQoB9I&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fru.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F%25D0%25A0%25D1%2583%25D1%2581%25D1%2581%25D0%25BA%25D0%25B8%25D0%25B9_%25D0%25BC%25D\">Russkiy Mir<\/a>\u201d (Russian World) foundation, which popularizes the Russian history, language and culture in different countries of the world. The founders of the Foundation (on behalf of the Russian Federation) are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Science of the RF. The activities of the NGO are extended to all countries of Europe and the CIS. The annual budget for the Foundation\u2019s activities is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kommersant.ru\/doc\/2753934\">750 million rubles<\/a>, plus funding for the Internet television and radio station \"Russkiy Mir\" is about <a href=\"http:\/\/russkiymir.ru\/media\/radio2\/programs\/all\/186128\/\">10 million rubles<\/a>. (15.2 million Dollars. USA)\r\n\r\nNGO \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com.ua\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CBsQFjAAahUKEwi8qK_Cm4jIAhUjKXIKHXERAa4&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fru.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F%25D0%25A4%25D0%25BE%25D0%25BD%25D0%25B4_%25D0%25BF%25D0%25BE%25D0%25B4%25D0%25B4%25D\">Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund<\/a>\u201d, aimed to improve Russia\u2019s foreign policy image. The Foundation has been established by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The organization supports the media and electronic information resources of foreign countries, providing financial, methodological and organizational support to foreign domestic organizations. The Gorchakov Fund supports the currently active project \u201e<a href=\"http:\/\/www.publicdiplomacy.su\/2015\/10\/31\/issledovaniya-fonda-predstavlenyi-na-forume-liderxxiveka\/\">Public Diplomacy<\/a>\u201d, which has been launched in the post soviet countries. The annual budget of the Fund is <a href=\"http:\/\/webcache.googleusercontent.com\/search?q=cache:c58WIt9vKcwJ:www.mid.ru\/bdomp\/activity.nsf\/0\/A3AFC50F5AB72D4543257E5E0051BE63+&amp;cd=4&amp;hl=ru&amp;ct=clnk&amp;gl=ua\">55 million rubles<\/a> (1,1 million USD).\r\n\r\nNon-profit organization \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com.ua\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CBwQFjAAahUKEwj5_vGym4jIAhWFqXIKHXTtBJE&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fru.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F%25D0%25A0%25D0%25BE%25D1%2581%25D1%2581%25D0%25B8%25D0%25B9%25D1%2581%25D0%25BA%25D0\">Russian Council of Foreign Affairs<\/a>\u201d on foreign policy and international relations. It has been established by the RF\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Science, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the news agency \"Interfax\". This is one of Russia\u2019s tools of public diplomacy and \u201esoft power\u201d in Europe and the world. The main task of the Council is to test the social climate of the elite and people and form the necessary opinion in the interest of Russia's policy. The annual budget of the Council is about 5 million USD.\r\n\r\nNGO \u201e<a href=\"https:\/\/ru.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%D0%A4%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B4_%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B2%D1%8B\">Historical Perspective Foundation<\/a>\u201d, established to finance the European (Paris) and the US (New York) branches of the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation. The Institute\u2019s activities are focused to propagate Russian ideologies and assist the RF in conducting its foreign policy in matters of international relations, geopolitics, history and media. The annual budget of the Foundation is about 3 million USD.\r\n\r\nThus, Moscow\u2019s annual cost of social and national foreign influence activities is approximately 390.3 million USD.\r\n\r\n<strong><em><u>Influencing the foreign audience through nationalist and ultra-radical movements<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, conducted by creating a channel of communication between the Kremlin and the leadership of particular European socio-political organizations. These are: \u201eFront National\u201d (France), \u201eUKIP\u201d (United Kingdom) \u201eBNP\u201d (United Kingdom) \u201eAfD\u201d (Germany), \u201eJobbik\u201d (Hungary), \u201eLatvijas Krievu savieniba\u201d (Latvia), \u201eAtaka\u201d (Bulgaria), \u201eForza Italia\u201d (Italy) and others. Many of these entities have their own representatives in the national and European parliaments. The Kremlin does not only finance their activities and election campaigns, but their own media organs (newspapers, TV) as well.\r\n\r\nApparently, we may count in the same category the Kremlin\u2019s attempts to spread the Russian biker\u2019s movement (led by the Moscow-based \u201eNight Wolves\u201d organization) abroad. Their obvious goal is to find the like-minded people abroad and create new channels of communication in the interests of Russia's policy.\r\n\r\nAccording to rough estimates, this support to the Kremlin costs at least 200 million USD.\r\n\r\n***\r\n\r\nSo, to conduct an information campaign Moscow utilizes a full range of tools of information warfare - military equipment in Donbass and \u201esoft power\u201d elements on foreign audiences.\r\n\r\nConsequently, it can be assumed that to conduct information campaign <strong>the Russian Federation spends annually no less than 3,5 billion USD.<\/strong>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/RUSSIAN-en.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6266\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-6266 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/RUSSIAN-en.png\" alt=\"RUSSIAN-en\" width=\"1024\" height=\"724\" \/><\/a>\r\n\r\nAnd if we consider the factor that in the past three years the Russian information machine has been operating in the most extreme mode, it becomes clear what did US Congressman Dan Mike mean. That 9 billion USD mentioned by him completely fits the scheme of Russia\u2019s expenses of its information war.\r\n\r\nThe information about Russia\u2019s alleged budget cuts to \u201emedia support\u201d for 2016 should be understood as a banal populism, for if the Kremlin\u2019s information machine is already running, then it\u2019s just impossible to abruptly stop it. Furthermore, the Kremlin\u2019s projects for spreading propaganda are not suspended but open. \"In order to reduce the budget\" they have just simply shifted the timing of their completion.\r\n\r\n<strong>Viacheslav Gusarov, Centre of Military-Political Studies (CMPS), expert of information security, Information Resistance (IR) section.<\/strong>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/sprotyv.info\/en\/news\/kiev\/russians-came-pt2-how-much-does-russian-information-war-cost\"><em>Original article<\/em><\/a>","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6276"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7775,"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6276\/revisions\/7775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}