Structure of the Internet Research Agency

Structure of the Internet Research Agency

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The growth of the organization also led to a more detailed organizational structure. The IRA's 2013 organizational sti11cture included seven depaiiments: finance, human resources,

Social Media Influence in the 2016 US. Election, Hearing Before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 115th Cong. 13 (11/ 1/17) (testimony of Colin Stretch, General Counsel of Facebook) ("We estimate that roughly 29 million people were se1ved content in their News Feeds directly from the IRA's 80,000 posts over the two years. Posts from these Pages were also shared, liked, and followed by people on Facebook, and, as a result, three times more people may have been exposed to a sto1y that originated from the Russian operation. Our best estimate is that approximately 126 million people may have been se1ved content from a Page associated with th e IRA at some point dming the two-year period."). The Facebook representative also testified that Facebook had identified 170 Instagram accounts that posted approximately 120,000 pieces of content dming that time. Facebook did not offer an estimate of the audience reached via Instagram.

¶Twitter, Update on Twitter's Review of the 2016 US Election (Jan. 31, 2018).

¶See SM-2230634, serial 92.

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See 11/5/ 13 Email, [Redacted: (b) (7)(A), (b) (7)(E), (b) (3)] See SM-2230634, serial 86 [Redacted: (b) (7)(A), (b) (7)(E)] advertising, mass media an alytics an d monitoring, info1mation technology, search engine optimization, and infon nation. By 2014, management oversaw eighteen departments: finance, human resources, design an d graphics, infographics, an alytics, mass media monitoring, social networks, info1m ation technology, search engine optimization, bloggers and commentators, mass media commentators, two "special department[s ]," two night shifts, fonnns, LiveJomnal (asocial­ networking service), an d a department focused on U.S . operations (known as the "translator" department). 13

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Two individuals headed the IRA's management: its general director, Mikhail Bystrov, and its executive director, Mikhail Burchik. IRA documents show Burchik made staffing and personnel decisions; approved plans for th e IRA's physical and electronic infrastrncture; and received repo1is from man agers in the IRA' s depaiiments, including the depaiiment responsible for U.S. operations.14 Bystrov developed policy documents for the IRA, made administrative decisions, and signed tax fo1ms an d cmporate documents. 15

As eai·ly as the spring of 2014, the IRA began to hide its funding and activities. A second entity, Internet Reseai·ch, LLC, was incorporated in Russia on March 26, 2014, and the Internet Research Agency, LLC as a legal entity was dissolved, effective June 30, 2014. During Febrnaiy 2015 , two new entities, GlavSet, LLC, an d Mixlnfo, LLC, were incmporated, followed by another entity, Azimuth, LLC, in July 2016. These cmporate entities were used to pay employees (often through multiple other entities) .16

The IRA's U.S . operations are paii of a larger set of interlocking operations known as "Project Lakhta," the naine of the St. Petersburg neighborhood where the IRA first staiied. Project Lakhta operated a number of organizations designed to "cany out information activity," in the words of one internal IRA document. 17 In addition to U.S. operations, some Lakhta organizations unde1iook a number of media projects that appeai·ed to tai·get "all-Russian" audiences, with names including "Federal News Agency," ''Nation News," an d "Economy Today." 18

Funding and Oversight from Concord and Prigozhin

Until at least Febrnaiy 2018, Y evgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin an d two Concord companies funded the IRA. Prigozhin is a wealthy Russian businessman who served as the head of Concord.

¶4/ 10/ 14 Email , [Redacted: (b) (7)(A), (b) (7)(E), (b) (3)] (attachment).

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¶See, e.g. , SM-2230634, serials 9, 113 & 180 [Redacted: (b) (7)(A), (b) (7)(E)]

¶See, e.g. , 5/7/ 14 Email, [Redacted: (b) (7)(A), (b) (7)(E), (b) (3)]

4/22/ 15 Email , [Redacted: (b) (7)(A), (b) (7)(E), (b) (3)] (attachment). 18 [Redacted: (b) (7)(A), (b) (7)(E)] [Redacted: (b) (7)(E), (b) (3)] [Redacted: (b) (7)(A), (b) (7)(E)]

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Prigozhin has significant contacts to the Russian militaiy and Russian Ministiy of Defense. For .. I • ... .. I . . . . [Redacted: (b) (7)(A)], (b} ( . . IL b} (7}(A}, [Redacted: (b) (7)(E), (b) (3)]

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. I I . I I I !I ... I I .•, together in public photographs.

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■ [Redacted: (b) (7)(A), (b) (7)(E)] [Redacted: (b) (7)(A), (b) (7)(E), (b) (7)(C), (b) (6)] [Redacted: (b) (7)(A), (b) (7)(E)] fil{D) {/){A), {D) {/){t:)

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U.S. Treasmy Department, "Treasmy Sanctions Individuals and Entities in Connection with Russia's Occupation of Crimea and the Conflict in Ukraine" (Dec. 20, 2016).

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See, e.g. , Neil MacFarquhar, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian Oligarch Indicted by US., Is Known as "Putin's Cook", New York Times (Feb. 16, 2018). [Redacted: (b) (7)(E), (b) (3)] 24 [Redacted: (b) (7)(A), (b) (7)(E)] [Redacted: (b) (7)(E), (b) (3)] [Redacted: (b) (7)(A), (b) (7)(E)] [Redacted: (b) (7)(E), (b) (3)] see also SM-

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¶In May 2016, IRA employees, claiming to be U .S. social activists and administrators of Facebook groups, recmited U.S. persons to hold signs (including one in front of the White House) that read " Happy 55th Birthday Dear B oss," as an hom age to Prigozhin (whose 55th bi1i hdaywas on June 1, 2016). 31 Similarly, in December 2016, IRA employees- again without revealing their tiue identities­ convinced a U.S. activist from Charlotte, No1i h Carolina, to pose with a sign that read " Happy New Year, Brother Eugene!" 32

The IRA Targets U.S. Elections