Leaked documents reveal Kremlin funding for influence in Europe

Danish public broadcaster DR has received from a confidential source more than 49,000 emails and more than 22,000 documents belonging to a state-backed Russian organization called the Fund for the Support and Protection of the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad. The fund, established in 2011 by presidential decree, is often referred to as the Pravfond. According to a previous DR investigation, as well as several European intelligence agencies, the Pravfond has been identified as a Kremlin tool for conducting propaganda, disinformation and other influence operations across Europe.

DR shared the documents with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which is conducting a joint investigation with 28 media partners, including EUalive’s partner BIRD.BG. The project is called “Dear Compatriots”

The emails cover the period from the beginning of Pravfond’s activities in 2012 to November 2024, and contain emails sent and received by at least 21,043 people.

The documents reveal more than 360 grant agreements, with at least 260 of them awarded between 2020-2024. Pravfond has awarded at least $6.6 million to grantees in Europe and other countries. The grant numbering system suggests that there may have been another 713 grants that do not appear among the leaked documents.

In addition to this information, the Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism Re:Baltica received more than 35,000 emails and almost 2,300 documents originating from the Latvian-based and Kremlin-funded Russian-language opinion site IMHOclub.

BIRD.bg analysed the Bulgaria-related documents. Accordingly, Bulgarian entities received over $486,000 for the period 2014–2024. This is roughly 7 percent of the subsidies distributed by Pravfond. Emails mention other grants, but the respective documents do not appear among the leaks.

The funding mainly went to media outlets and the organization of events promoting Kremlin policy and ideology. Grants for lawyers providing legal assistance to Russian citizens, which should actually be Pravfond’s main activity, are much more modest.

The main beneficiaries of the grants, paid by bank transfer in euros or dollars, are the following legal entities registered in Bulgaria:

Federation “Union of Compatriots” of Marina Dadikozyan – organisation of conferences and events
National Association Together with Russia of Marina Dadikozyan – organszation of conferences and events
Interros Media Association of Marina Dadikozyan – publisher of the Russian-language portal “Vsemirnaya Rossiya” www.vseruss.eu
BRIP OOD /Bulgarian-Russian Information Pool/ of Svetlana Sharenkova – publisher of the weekly “Russia Today” and organiser of conferences and events
Forum Bulgaria – Russia Association of Svetlana Sharenkova – organisation of conferences and events

BIRD is preparing further publications with details of the financing and activities of the projects subsidised by Pravfond in Bulgaria.

List of all project partners:

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) (Australia) (TV3, Latvia), NRK (Norway), OCCRP, DER SPIEGEL (Germany) DER STANDARD (Austria), ZDF (Germany), Paper Trail Media (Germany), Re:Baltica (Latvia), RISE Moldova, SVT (Sweden), YLE (Finland), Frontstory.pl / VSquare.org (Poland / Central Europe)

Illustration: James O’Brien / OCCRP