How a Russian Operative Worked to Shape Moscow’s Story in Europe

  • Agent had frequent contacts with journalists about Ukraine
  • US and EU are stepping up efforts to combat disinformation

The Kremlin in Moscow.

Photographer: Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images
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A Russian intelligence operative who’s leading a Kremlin disinformation campaign in Africa has helped run influence operations in Europe for years, according to documents seen by Bloomberg and government officials familiar with the matter.

Artem Kureyev, identified as a Russian Federal Security Service agent in an Estonian court case in 2022, has had frequent contacts with at least half a dozen European journalists, arranged and covered travel costs for some of them to visit occupied territories in Ukraine, and at times appears to have offered to pay for planted news articles, the documents show.