Troll farm hits ministers with pro-Putin propaganda

A HUGE Russian troll farm has been accused of using new tactics to flood Western politicians and websites with propaganda about the war in Ukraine.

British government-funded research has identified a dedicated centre housed in a former factory on the outskirts of St Petersburg as the origin of a wave of recent attacks.

The operation is suspected of being bankrolled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, nicknamed Putin’s chef.

The research found that, rather than relying on automated accounts known as bots, the centre seeks to recruit and coordinate supportive internet users via Telegram, the messaging service.

These users then target the social media profiles of Kremlin critics, spamming them with pro-Putin comments.

Targets have included the social media accounts of senior UK ministers.

A source close to the investigation said in just 23 occasions the factory issued orders for their “trolls” to the Twitter and Instagram accounts of politicians including Boris Johnson, Ben Wallace and Liz Truss, as well as British news websites.

Using real internet users rather than bots decreases the chances of detection and being blocked by the platforms.

The St Petersburg factory also directs users to turn on virtual private network (VPN) functions when flooding sites like YouTube with pro-Kremlin spin, making the source far harder to trace.

Last night Whitehall officials announced they would share the findings with social media platforms in an effort to negate the troll farm’s impact.