Prigozhin's "troll factory" has been out of business for a week, looking for a new head
Yuriy Kovalchuk's National Media Group is considered a possible new owner of the Patriot holding.
The Patriot media holding, the so-called "troll factory" of Yevheniy Prigozhin, has been out of business for almost a week and may soon change ownership.
Source. This was reported by The Bell, citing former and current employees of Prigozhin's media organizations.
After the mutiny began last weekend, most employees of the Patriot media holding in St. Petersburg did not go to work, the source said. At the same time, the building of the holding was searched, law enforcement officers seized servers and took them away.
"If you see updates on websites and social media, it is the initiative of individual teams, there is no centralized management anymore," one of the sources explained.
At the time of Prigozhin's rebellion, his media assets were managed by Ilya Gorbunov, a former employee of RIA Novosti and Komsomolskaya Pravda in St. Petersburg, The Bell reports.
At the beginning of the week, Gorbunov was in talks with potential new owners of Prigozhin's Patriot media holding, established in 2019. It includes the key media outlet of the "troll factory", the Federal News Agency (RIA "FAN") and others. After the coup began, RIA FAN's website was blocked in Russia.
Three of The Bell's sources believe that Yuriy Kovalchuk's National Media Group (NMG) is the most likely new owner of the Patriot holding.
RIA FAN staff cannot contact Horbunov himself, and assume that he has left the country.
In February 2021, the US FBI put Prigozhin on a wanted list on suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud against the United States, interfering with the US domestic policy through a "troll factory" and attempting to influence the presidential election between 2014 and 2016.
The FBI has set a reward of up to $250,000 for information that could lead to the businessman's arrest.
Later, the US State Department offered a reward of up to $10 million for information on foreign interference in the US elections.
Background. As a reminder, after Prigozhin's failed coup, the Kremlin is trying to take control of Wagner PMC militants in African and Eastern countries.
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