Wars of the 21st century are mainly hybrid and technological: the fate of confrontations is decided not only directly on the battlefield, but also in the information and media plane. And if earlier Kremlin agents promoted their messages through newspapers and television channels, and with the spread of the Internet to the masses, numerous websites and social networks were added to them, now Moscow is actively lobbying for its own geopolitical and economic interests and “wetting” Ukrainian business through... Western media.
What organizations help Russian intelligence services expand their zone of influence in Europe? Who “ordered” the information campaign regarding Ukrainian coal magnate Vitaly Kropachev? And what does British “media consultant” Harry Cartwright have to do with it?
Although enemy intelligence services have been using media resources in Western countries for quite a long time to lobby narratives and even interfere in local politics, the information front in Europe became most active with the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The story of “Voice of Europe”
At the end of spring and beginning of summer, the story of the Voice of Europe resource hit the top news headlines. The new online platform was accused of working for Russia, which even resulted in searches and accusations of espionage among the political establishment of a number of EU countries.
“According to Spiegel and the Belgian daily De Tijd, investigators in Belgium and France have been searching the offices of the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg since this morning. The raids are related to the case surrounding the pro-Russian news portal Voice of Europe, which is said to be at the center of a Russian influence operation,” German publication Spiegel reported.
But what is really behind these searches?
“This news was eagerly picked up by the Ukrainian media with reference to respectable Western colleagues. Our editors were also interested in the topic, but wanted to dig a little deeper than just another repost of one piece of news,” says journalist Igor Khmury.
Thus, the StopCor team came across the material from EU Today. In the extensive article, the authors used information from the searches, but described a much broader investigation, mentioning a number of names. Among others were Viktor Medvedchuk, his entourage, the media pool and a number of businessmen from different countries.
“At the same time, many of these facts were quite interestingly and professionally wrapped in reference to other publications. But after fact-checking, we discovered that almost half of the exclusive information still had no confirmation when clicking on hyperlinks. journalists,” the investigator notes.
It is noteworthy that the “red thread” in the EU Today publication was the topic of energy.
But, if you look closely, you can see how the author of the article in this European publication carefully leads to perhaps the main goal - tying the Ukrainian coal magnate Vitaly Kropachev to Russia. At the same time, EU Today used news about the subject’s previous corruption problems to create the impression that it based further essentially its own conclusions on other media.
“Journalists also discovered that Kropachev appears to have Russian citizenship and, perhaps in an attempt to hide this, he also changed his last name,” EU Today claims.
However, if you follow the hyperlink from this quote, you will see not an article by the same journalists, but... a file that was uploaded directly to the EU Today website.
It is also interesting that the author of the material used news about the alleged detention of a businessman on a resource that nine years ago had another news about Kropachev.
“Kropachev helped evacuate the authors of the photographs and cameras from the occupied territory. Now these are witnesses and evidence in a trial. The examination easily established the authenticity of the photographs. Thanks to the photo, the missile launch site was also established,” said the material about the downing of the Malaysian Boeing.
How is this explained in the publication itself?
The editors of StopCor decided to contact the management of the EU Today website or ask for an interview and confirmation of the facts stated above.
However, the journalists were not responded to on Twitter. The same as for letters to the specified email addresses. Many letters were returned by moderators of email resources with the wording that the recipients’ addresses were not relevant.
“This created even more interest. We looked into the British registries, because it was there that the EU Today website, which was serious from outside, was registered. At the registration address, Google maps showed something that didn’t look very much like an office,” comments Igor Khmury.
He also points out that this material was published on EU Today on June 12. And the next day the same article with similar photos and message appeared on the Partners EU website.
What kind of resource is this?
The contacts of this portal include an email address. And this same email is the contact of the PR-first agency, which provides image services, including commercial placement of articles on controlled sites.
“We began to wonder, who is behind the EU Today website and is manipulating the tragedy of our country in order to actually kill a businessman chosen by someone? According to the registers, this man is Harry Cartwright. And as it turned out, this is a very interesting character. For example, they appear in an investigation by Politico, which truly has world-class authority,” notes Khmury.
Who is Harry Cartwright?
According to Politico, the Briton appears to have used officially non-profit organizations and journalistic cover to engage in business lobbying.
He repeatedly spoke at the European Parliament, talking about the problems of Kazakhstan, the production of mineral wool, and was even a senior media consultant in a very dubious platform - the Belarusian-European Business Council. The latter is actually considered a cover for lobbying the trade interests of Alexander Lukashenko’s empire in Europe.
Mr. Cartwright was especially interested in energy. According to the same Politico, in the second half of the 2010s he was an active person in the Brussels Energy Club, positioning himself as an expert journalist.
In 2020, elections were held for the head of the Energy Charter Secretariat, an organization that was supposed to save the environment against the backdrop of global warming. The EU promoted a candidate who supported “green technologies”. But Cartwright is the opposite.
“However, Cartwright’s site supported the incumbent Slovakian president, whose position was supported by several countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia with large interests in oil and gas,” Politico claims.
In whose interests exactly did this happen and are the Kremlin’s ears sticking out here?
Politico allegedly tried to question Cartwright himself about these sensitive issues, as well as about his lobbying connections. However, he never answered a number of questions.
And just a few days after the release of the same investigation into the pro-Russian media bloc in Europe, articles on other resources appeared on his website EU Today, accusing the journalist-lobbyist himself of being probably an agent of Kremlin interests. And he is not alone.
“His wife, a Ukrainian who claims to be an employee of the Ukrainian secret service, is also involved. She used this false identity to spread pro-Russian messages, pretending they originated from Ukrainians,” European reporters suggest.
How reliable these assumptions are is still unknown, but the facts remain facts.
“Publications of the Politico level are considered recognized in the world and have a good reputation. But the suspicious lack of communication with EU Today, cooperation with online pro-Russian resources and Cartwright’s own trail in the political and commercial battles of post-Soviet countries raise a number of doubts. Especially if you consider that Mr. Cartwright has devoted many years to lobbying the energy sector, and the main target of the medical advertising article on his website is a representative of this particular industry,” sums up Igor Khmury.
