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• The propaganda company Social Design Agency in Moscow created a video on “information attacks” against the West, planned in close cooperation with the Kremlin.

In meeting after meeting, people from President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle have spent months planning how Russia can instill fear in Europe and the rest of the West.

This is done in close collaboration with a propaganda company in Moscow that spreads streams of disinformation, fake stories, and millions of pro-Russian comments on social media platforms like Facebook and Telegram.

The goal is to make Europeans fear nuclear war, hoping they will pressure their governments to stop supporting Ukraine.

This is revealed in internal documents, videos, and other materials from the Russian company Social Design Agency.

The company has fabricated stories, including claims that Europe will face power outages and a shortage of fever-reducing medicine, which will result in “a surge in child mortality,” according to a draft of an influence campaign.

Social Design Agency has also crafted numerous fake social media posts where imaginary Europeans express fear of nuclear war:

“I don’t want my country to enter an open confrontation with Russia. Isn’t it clear that our actions could lead to World War III? Russia is not our enemy,” reads one of the messages the company aims to spread through fake profiles.

Another document outlines how Social Design Agency plans to influence public opinion polls so that at least 50% of people in European countries feel “fear for the future.”

“If the Kremlin is unhappy with conditions in the international system, this is one of the channels they can try to influence. And the message in these campaigns is effective because we all fear nuclear war,” says senior researcher Flemming Splidsboel from the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), who studies information operations and has reviewed several of the documents for DR.

FACTS: The Basis of This Story

• The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, public service stations NDR and WDR, and the Estonian media outlet Delfi have accessed material from Social Design Agency and shared it with DR and other media.
• The material includes thousands of internal files from 2022, 2023, and 2024, such as employee lists, emails, campaign concepts, reports, meeting notes, texts for fake articles and social media posts, comments, memes, and cartoons, documentation for publications, and cost summaries.
• Together with newly released documents from the FBI about Social Design Agency, the material offers a deep insight into Kremlin propaganda strategies.

Documents Provide Deep Insight into Russian Operations

Page after page, the internal documents reveal how Social Design Agency operates.

On the one hand, the company meticulously monitors Western media and opinion-makers, producing daily reports on the news landscape.

Additionally, Social Design Agency analyzes the target audiences for Russian propaganda—mainly European citizens—to determine how they can be emotionally manipulated, according to one document.

Afterward, the company develops the actual content for the campaigns, which is then distributed through replicas of real news sites and on social media using artificial intelligence.

“By thoroughly preparing our information attacks and having a clear understanding of the project's goals, we firmly believe we will succeed,” states a message in a video from the internal material of Social Design Agency.

You can watch the video at the top of the article, where the founder of Social Design Agency explains the company’s work.

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• Here’s an example of one of the countless memes Social Design Agency has developed for social media. (© DR News)

Claims to Have Spread Millions of Fake Comments

The documents paint a picture of a company that produces vast amounts of disinformation to promote Russia’s cause.

In one report, Social Design Agency claims to have posted 33.9 million fake comments on social media in the first quarter of 2024 alone.

The company also claims that in the same period, it produced 39,899 original posts, including videos and memes or cartoons.

Many of the company’s comments and texts have limited reach. However, international media outlets that accessed the company’s material have found several instances of real people sharing content from Social Design Agency.

Senior researcher Flemming Splidsboel views the campaigns as an attempt to pressure Western governments to force Ukraine to submit to Russian demands:

“The goal could clearly be to initiate negotiations so that Russia can secure the areas in Ukraine they have already conquered and annexed,” he says.

Media Partners in the Investigation

• Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR and WDR in Germany, Delfi in Estonia, DR, Dossier Center, Schemes in Ukraine, De Standaard and Profil in Austria, NRC in the Netherlands, RFE/RL in the Czech Republic, Shomrim, VSquare, and Frontstory in Poland.

Multiple Meetings with Putin’s People

This is far from the first time Russia has been linked to influence operations targeting Western voters.

Recently, the FBI released documents specifically addressing Social Design Agency’s role in these efforts.

The FBI documents describe at least 20 meetings between Russia’s presidential administration and the Moscow-based company in recent years.

DR also has access to summaries from these meetings, which, according to the FBI, were written by Social Design Agency’s founder, Ilya Gambashidze.

These include notes from a meeting on March 12 of this year, where Ilya Gambashidze summarizes the thinking behind influence operations against Western countries:

“We need to scare them,” he writes in the meeting notes.

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• Content from Social Design Agency is meant to amplify Russia’s message that the U.S. has dragged Europe into a conflict over Ukraine with significant consequences, says Flemming Splidsboel. (Photo: © Meme from Social Design Agency)

Aims to Create a ‘Nuclear Psychosis’

According to the FBI, former Russian Prime Minister Sergey Kiriyenko coordinates Social Design Agency’s influence operations on behalf of the presidential administration.

This is confirmed by a European intelligence source to Süddeutsche Zeitung, with whom DR collaborated on the story.

Sergey Kiriyenko is now the First Deputy Chief of Staff for the Presidential Office and is often described as President Vladimir Putin’s right-hand man.

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• Here’s a picture of President Vladimir Putin with Sergey Kiriyenko from June of this year. (Photo: © Alexander Kazakov, Ritzau Scanpix)

According to the FBI, Kiriyenko participated in a meeting with Social Design Agency on April 16, 2022, where he discussed various topics to be spread as propaganda.

At this meeting, Sergey Kiriyenko reportedly summarized the goal of creating “a nuclear psychosis” in the West.

Involvement of such a high-profile figure underscores, according to Flemming Splidsboel, that Social Design Agency’s operations are deeply connected to the core of the presidential administration.

“All in all, this suggests a large Russian campaign that comes from the top and is clearly a high priority,” says Flemming Splidsboel.

Neither the Russian presidential administration, Social Design Agency, nor Ilya Gambashidze responded to questions from DR and the other media partners involved in the investigation.