Wagner PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin has resigned as head of the Patriot media group’s board, Russian media has drawn attention. On the media group website reported that now this position is occupied by the Russian international journalist Abbas Juma.
It is unclear when Prigogine left the post. The last fresh snapshot on the Internet Archive website Wayback Machine dates back to May 2, when PMC chief Wagner still appeared as head of the board. Russian media sent a request to the Prigozhin press service.
The Patriot media group appeared in October 2019, its founders were four media – the Federal News Agency, as well as the People’s News, Ekonomika Segodnya and Politika Segodnya news agencies.
All their RBC magazine in 2017 associated with the “troll factory”, allegedly led by Prigogine. Then he denied his involvement in these publications, but in early 2023 recognized who created and funded the Internet Research Agency. Then he said he had created a “troll factory” “to protect the Russian information space from the crude and aggressive propaganda of the West’s anti-Russian theses”.
Now the Patriot Coordinating Council has expanded to 11 media outlets, which, in addition to the above publications, include Slovo i Delo, Zhurnalistskaya Pravda, Politekspert, Inforeactor, New Inform, PolitRussia and Nevskiye Novosti.
Screenshot from mediapatriot.ru
US authorities accused the ‘troll factory’ of interfering in the 2016 presidential elections. According to US authorities, the Internet Research Agency created fake social media accounts through which it spread propaganda and attempted to manipulate public opinion. They called Prigozhin the founder and head of this structure.
The new head of the board, Abbas Juma, is an international journalist of Syrian origin, specializing in the Middle East, who has worked several times for Komsomolskaya Pravda and RIA FAN. Juma graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, speaks English and Arabic. He has worked in Iran, Iraq, the Baltic countries and Syria.
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