Since September 1, a number of Russian universities have begun training specialists in “information warfare.” Such programs were “tested” before the full-scale invasion began, but it was this year that their number increased significantly. In terms of their content, they either repeat each other or are written by the same people. T-invariant found out which universities have such programs and who will teach students propaganda.
The first among hybrid
The first programs of this kind appeared two years ago, and Moscow State University became the “flagship”. On June 10, 2022, the first recruitment was announced for “the first and only unique program in Russia that trains specialists in countering information operations,” as its director Andrei Manoilo called it.
The program “Strategic Communications, Information and Hybrid Wars” for training master’s students was opened on the basis of the Faculty of Political Science. Since its formation in 2008, the Faculty of Political Science has been headed by historian Andrey Shutov, member of the Central Election Commission and chairman of the board of directors of the “Expert Institute for Social Research” (EISI), as well as co-chairman of the Russian Society of Political Scientists. It was EISI that was monitoring the regions before the elections and received money from the Kremlin for analysis (for example, last year EISI held a round table where it was reported that Europe was starting to elect pro-Russian politicians).
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The first head of the program was the already mentioned Andrei Manoylo, a political scientist and, as he calls himself, a specialist in hybrid wars. Manoylo also became one of the few young members of the Scientific Council under the Security Council (T-invariant has already talked about its composition and the ideas that its members promote). When opening the program, he mentioned that he allegedly served in the authorities in the late 1990s, but there is no confirmation of this information. However, there is information that Manoylo graduated from the Physics Department of Moscow State University in 1998, became a candidate of physical sciences in 2000, and 10 years later defended his doctoral dissertation as a political scientist with the topic “The role of cultural and civilizational models and technologies of information and psychological influence in resolving international conflicts.”
Andrey Manoilo. Photo: https://ria.ru
Interestingly, Manoylo already had experience in creating such a program – in 2020, the program “Information and Hybrid Conflicts” was launched at Sevastopol University with the support of the same Faculty of Political Science of Moscow State University, it was designed for 10 budget places. In addition to Andrey Manoylo, the participants of the confirmed were the head of the company “personal intelligence service” “R-Techno” Roman Romachev, who appears on TV as a counterintelligence specialist abouttive of the West. Recently, he has been criticizing the government for not doing enough to combat foreign agents and other internal enemies, and has also published books on private intelligence and given comments on the Army-24 forum. Romachev also introduces himself as a reserve FSB officer. The 2020 program was positioned as “the first in Russia and the world”, and there is no separate specialty of “information warfare specialist”, so graduates will receive a diploma in conflictology. In order to teach students how to wage these very information wars, they will involve employees of the interdisciplinary schools of Moscow State University “Mathematical Methods of Analysis of Complex Systems” and “Preservation of World Historical and Cultural Heritage”. In addition, the program promises joint work with the faculties of computational mathematics and cybernetics, global processes and journalism.
Last year’s curriculum included subjects on “special propaganda” and “information support during “special military and police operations”. In addition, students were supposed to teach features of counteracting modern color revolutions and even neuro-linguistic programming. The program’s objective is to “ensure national information sovereignty and counter hybrid, cognitive, and mental warfare operations” (what cognitive and mental warfare is is not specified in the description).
There are also no budget places on the program – only 20 paid ones and only for Russian citizens. The cost is 451,000 rubles for two semesters for 2024 – the minimum threshold for the university’s master’s programs. At the same time, not everything is so smooth in the program itself: last year, one of the teachers, Anatoly Petrenko, complained about the extremely low salary and announced that he would stop working until the payments were increased. Petrenko has no political science education, nor any scientific publications, but he does have a past in the authorities: in the 2000s, he worked as the head of the FSB department in Adygea and Lipetsk Oblast, then served in the drug police in the Far East. In the master’s program, he taught classes on «development of special propaganda» and «technologies for exposing fakes in photos and videos» and «development of special propaganda».
Other teachers have similar backgrounds — for example, Igor Bocharnikov, a doctor of political sciences from Baumanka, the author of works on countering separatism. The professor also heads the Research Center for National Security Problems and is listed as one of Manoylo’s co-authors. Among the lecturers are Vladislav Telichko, a participant in the war in Ukraine (he was previously an “assistant to the ombudsman”DPR), adviser to the head of the “DPR” Igor Kimakovsky, as well as business coach Tatyana Sinitsyna, who also conductspsychological work with war veterans at Moscow State University on the basis of the “Defenders of the Fatherland” foundation.
Publicity started with the channel of “war correspondent” Boris Rozhin, who published Petrenko’s letter and systematically covered the conflict, publishing letters from students in which they accused the university administration of sabotage.
As reported “Important Stories”, the age of applicants is about 40 years old, and, despite the fact that with 20 places there were supposedly 25 students studying, in September 2023 not a single class was held – again, due to the low salaries of teachers and, possibly, due to the conflict between Andrei Manoylo and the dean of the political science faculty Andrei Shutov. On November 1, 2023, the first one wrote in his TG channel that six teachers had not yet started working. On November 17, information appeared in the media about the closure of the program. In his Telegram channel, Roman Romachev mentioned some negotiations with other universities and blamed the MSU leadership for what happened. The university did not comment on the situation.
However, the story did not end there. MSU not only did not close the scandalous program, but also held a presentation of the updated composition on June 25 with the participation of Zakhar Prilepin.
Prilepin was present at the event online and offered to send his war correspondents, political scientists and writers. In addition, he mentioned the need to create “an institute of “soft power”. This is not the only case when Prilepin interferes in educational processes: at the end of July, his center “Tradition” proposed distributing in schools and libraries a list of works that should “preserve the memory of the SVO”.
The list of questions on the subject “conflictology”, which must be passed as an entrance exam, is also impressive: among the questions may get caught The “Doctrine of Hybrid Warfare” by V. Gerasimov, the current Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, which he formulated back in 2013. The political science exam asks you to study literature on Russophobia and traditional values, and Russia is referred to in the questions as a “civilization state.” At the same time, there are no specifics on the MSU website yet – the participation of “specialists from Zakhar Prilepin’s team, State Duma deputies, representatives of other government and administrative bodies” is only planned, and who will manage the program is also not specified.
Even if Andrei Manoylo is not hired as a manager after the scandals, he will not be left without work: his Telegram channel has announcements about recruitment for similar programs, and the first recruitment began in February 2024. Immediately after the news about the closure of the program at MSU, on November 27, a Telegram channel of the “Alter Academy of Political Sciences” appeared. The provided certificate of state registration indicates that the organization created November 30, 2023. However, on the FTS website “Transparent Business” there is exactly the same organization with the same founder Ekaterina Dronova (head of «Academy of Diplomatic & Business Protocol» and former CEOLLC «Digital Solutions») was established on December 2, 2021. You can take the courses for 370,000 rubles.
You can also enroll in the “Academy of Political Sciences” for the “only program in Russia” under the direction of Andrey Manoylo. This time, the task is somewhat different – after training, students must “form the “Shield of the Motherland” in the field of information confrontation, the implementation of offensive information operations.” The teaching staff consists of familiar names: Boris Rozhin, Roman Romachev, Tatyana Sinitsyna and Anatoly Petrenko (they can be seen in the photographs from the first cohort). Romachev is listed as the Deputy Dean of the Academy. Also joining the courses was senior researcher at the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ILA RAS) Alexander Stepanov, who gives expert comments on air at “Soloviev.Live”. On July 17, Manoilo published a post on his channel, where he announced the first successful graduation of the course.
Andrey Manoilo gives a lecture at the “Academy of Political Sciences“. Photo: https://t.me/alter_academy
Manoilo’s track record does not end there. He is listed as Deputy Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts at RUDN University, and since 2022, Professor of the Department of International Relations and Russian Foreign Policy at MGIMO. On August 30 of this year, the page with his name on the MGIMO website became unavailable.
International Relativity
This academic year, two programs for specialists in “information warfare” appeared at once. The first is “Strategies of Information Influence in International Relations” for 24 fee-paying places. Andrey Sushentsov was appointed head of the program, who in one of his interviews declares the end of the “hegemony of the West.” Sushentsov also joined the Scientific Council under the Security Council, as did MGIMO Rector Anatoly Torkunov, and performed analytical tasks and “Rosatom” and the Russian Foreign Ministry, and last year he headed the department of international relations and Russian foreign policy at the university.
As in the case of Moscow State University, this is a master’s program. It is expected that graduatesThe students will become “specialists in information warfare and information influence”, and the compulsory subjects will include “Information Warfare” and “Practice of Combating Disinformation in the International Environment”. The training is supervised by a representative of the Russian Presidential Administration, former Russian Ambassador to Hungary Alexey Sidorov(he is only 31 years old). The program, apparently, is being implemented with the support of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation and is clearly aimed at employing graduates.
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The Department of Applied Analysis of International Problems (PAIP), where the training takes place, is headed by Igor Istomin, an expert in US and EU foreign policy, who is also listed in the laboratory “Strategy, Status and Ethics in International Society”. He calls NATO’s views on Russia are schizophrenic and predicts a likely war with the West. Istomin will teach methods of international political research.
MGIMO courses also have their own “celebrities” – and they are more influential than those at Moscow State University. Instead of potential Zakhar Prilepin, the master classes will be taught, as reported by the program, by the Director of the Department of Information and Press, as well as the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova. Her deputy Sergei Nalobin is listed as an invited expert. Unlike his boss, he rarely gives comments to the media, but actively reposts pro-Russian resources in X in English.
The compulsory subject “Fundamentals of the Practice of Information Interaction” will be taught by Mikhail Zvinchuk, known as the host of the pro-government TG channel “Rybar” with more than a million subscribers. Zvinchuk worked in the press service of the Russian Defense Ministry during the conflict in Syria in 2015-17, and at the beginning of the mobilization he was included in the corresponding working group. T-invariant asked Zvinchuk for a comment, at first the war correspondent replied: “the participation of the Rybar project [in the MGIMO master’s program] has not yet been confirmed,” and then stopped answering questions.
Mikhail Zvinchuk (Rybar) on the air of the “Soloviev Live” stream. Photo: YouTube (screenshot)
Other “experts in information warfare and information policy development” working in federal media were involved, for example, the host of the “Opposites” program on Russia Today, Oksana Boyko, who is also responsible for broadcasting in English. The topics of the program are: “Ukraine, USA, Great Britain… Who is behind the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall”, “The American model is not working?”, “Modern US wars: society is a loser”, etc. The classes will also be conducted by TASS observer Andrei Shitov, the author of numerous publications on the topic of the United States. For example, an article that states that “the collective West is waging a ‘hybrid war’ against the Russian Federation in Ukraine and is calling for a ‘strategic defeat’ against it.” Another teacher of the course, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration Natalya Tanshina, who previously worked on the history of Fmodern France. Her interests included the images of the French and Russians in the 19th century, which grew into works dedicated to the “ideological struggle” of the West. She also hosts the “Russophobia” program on the “Culture” radio station and talks about this phenomenon in the “Digital History” project. Tanshina also released a 14-episode series on two federal radio stations (“Radio Rossii” and “Culture”) at once. “Russophobia. History of the invention of fear” with the following announcement.
“Why should Russophobia be studied like smallpox, cholera or plague? How, in 1000 years of trying to slow down Russia, the West invented Russophobia – an ideology and technology of fear, why Russophobia is a type of racism, when did they start calling Russians mudbloods, why was it the British who came up with the idea of depicting Russians as brown bears, how does the Western fear factory work, why is the technology of Russophobia a purely Western pathogenic virus.”
Students are offered practical classes at the communications company “Minchenko Consulting”. Its director, Yevgeny Minchenko, heads the Center for Research of Political Elites and the Institute of International Studies directly at MGIMO. In his personal blog he indicates that he was an instructor in psychological training at the Center for Training Security Service Employees.
There is a name in this row that, at first glance, stands out from the row of propagandists and political scientists with a past in the agencies. This is Ilya Fabrichnikov, the owner of the communications agency SPRQL (Sparkle). However, it is not very clear from its website what the company does: on the main page you can read quotes from Star Wars, The Godfather, and Casablanca. The company has existed since 2004 and works with government contracts. Last year, its revenue was 11 million rubles — almost 70% less than the year before last. In addi tion, the company regularly receives fines. The largest contracts were concludedwith the “Agency for the Management and Use of Historical and Cultural Monuments” and the Moscow State Services Committee. But if you look for articles authored by Fabrichnikov, everything falls into place. He not only consults, but is also a member of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and on the government resource “Russia in Global Affairs” lists why the West is facing a “multiple crisis”, how its “economic blitzkrieg” failed, and when to expect a catastrophe.
Propaganda in “Priority 2030”
About the program “Cognitive Research and Neurotechnologies in International Relations” is less known. It is a joint brainchild of MGIMO and Moscow State University, and is headed by political scientist Elena Zinovieva, deputy director of the Center for International Information Security and Scientific and Technological Policy. Master’s students are invited to “use neuroresearch in international relations” and analyze behavior using “neurovisualization, facial expression analysis, voice data, non-verbal behavioral reactions,” and all this is within the framework of the government program “Priority 2030.” A separate “MGIMO Neuromarketing Laboratory” was even allocated for such analyses, where they conduct work on studying the behavior of users of products or applications. Thus, using AI and modern technologies, graduates will have to analyze the population and “opponents.”
ElenaZinovieva. Photo: https://mgimo.ru
Experts will help them. For example, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of the Biological Faculty of Moscow State University Alexander Kaplan, who regularly gives comments“Channel One”. Or Stanford University Doctor Artur Khachikyan, a lecturer at the Russian-Armenian University and a critic of Armenia’s rapprochement with the EU. The site also lists the head of the Laboratory of Psychophysiology named after V.B. Shvyrkov Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences Professor Yuri Alexandrov, who gave a lecture on the neural differences between the East and the West as part of the “Priority 2030” as part of the “Priority 2030”. MGIMO, as a university with strong ties to the government, was able to attract prominent pro-government journalists, political scientists, and even specialists in the field of brain research and psychology to its side. Will this lead to success?
Dinara Gagarina, research fellow at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, former dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Perm, director and developer of a number of undergraduate and graduate educational programs:
— It is not easy to evaluate the effectiveness of educational programs in general. Several years must pass to determine when graduates enter the labor market. For now, we can assume, but this is guesswork based on our optimism or pessimism. I will be glad to be wrong, but I am pessimistic and think that the success of these programs in the short and medium term is guaranteed. I do not see any reason for the political situation in Russia to change in the near future, and at the same time, we see the effectiveness of propaganda, on which this situation is largely based. So it is logical that such propaganda specialists will be in demand. That is, the programs will be successful from the point of view of their graduates. Moreover, there is a feeling that students will actively seek employment right during their studies.
You can look at their success at the current moment. For example, their success for universities, which is made up of allocated budget places or attracted commercial students, the overall competition and the “quality” of students (USE scores in the case of a bachelor’s degree). I don’t have statistics, but I will assume that the competition for these programs is no worse than for traditional humanities programs, especially master’s programs, which are traditionally under-recruited in Russia. An important success for a university today is to be seen as a leader in patriotism, so everything is good here too.
Although the number of such programs is growing, there are still not many of them, they are opened in top universities and with the involvement of prominent public and political figures, which immediately makes them elite, and therefore attractive to applicants for both bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Just imagine: you can go to classes and take selfies with writers and politicians. Not studying, but a continuous accumulation of social and professional capital.
All this is another blow to humanities education. The programs are siphoning off budgets, teachers and applicants, and their very existence demonstrates to critical applicants, students and teachers: “You don’t belong here, leave while you’re still alive, or else it will be bad. Or at least sit quietly with your philosophy and history.”
Turnkey Propagandists
Another university close to the state has also decided to recruit its own team to wage information wars. This is RANEPA, where the already mentioned researcher of “Russophobia” Natalia Tanshina currently teaches. The Institute of Social Sciences (ISS) of RANEPA went further than the others: in 2024, it opened both undergraduate and graduate programs. Students are offered to obtain “objective knowledge about the political process” and learn how to “create and promote their own information product.” The educational projectwas launched in January of this year, and in September it turned into a full-fledged educational program.
Natalia Tanshina. Photo: https://belta.by
I found violations of “Dissernet” and who holds the position of vice-president and chairman of the board of the Russian Association of Political Science.
Invited experts, as a rule, represent these organizations or hold positions in the government. Among the latter, one can find political scientist and member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation Alexander Asafov. His comments can be found in the media: he follows the elections to the Moscow City Duma or tries to explain Narendra Modi’s visit to Ukraine. Or the current head of the Human Rights Council, Valery Fadeev – this year he appeared in the news in connection with a proposal to ban niqabs and return grades for behavior to schools so that they can be used as a basis for admitting students to exams.
The lecture will also be given by IRI CEO Alexey Goreslavsky. The company has been sponsoring propaganda content since 2015, so its participation in the project is not surprising. PFKI CEO Roman Karmanov was also among the invited experts. Among the foundation’s recent projects are the radio station “Gordost” with the slogan “Listen to your own” and popularizationof “Russian classics using modern methods.” VTsIOM CEO Valery Fyodorov is also listed as a lecturer in the program. EISI is represented by Gleb Kuznetsov, one of the political scientists who the Kremlin paid for the necessary conclusions, according to the investigation“Project” and, most likely, living in two countries.
Mikhail Burda, who served in the Federal Migration Service in 2009-2017, joined the main teaching staff. His name usually appears in the media in connection with the tightening of migration legislation in Russia, especially recently. In addition to working at RANEPA, Burda is a member of the expert council of the Moscow branch of the World Russian People’s Council and tells the “hidden truth” about migrants and their “lobby” to pro-government media. In addition, Burda heads the ANO “Academic Alliance”, on whose page you can watch the debates about Ilyin and join the conference “Spiritual and Moral Values of Russian Youth: History and Modernity”.
Another invited expert, Vladimir Tabak, heads the ANO Dialogue, known for its PR for the Ministry of Defense,promoting fakes about the war in Ukraine and work with the regions in the elections.
Students will undergo practical training at state-owned enterprises (Rosfinmonitoring) or in the media (RT, Vedomosti), and one of the final competencies of graduates should be the ability to “identify and localize threats to national information sovereignty.” Five budget places are expected, the cost of the program is 420,000 rubles per year.
The same people teach in the Master’s program “Information and Psychological Technologies and Countering Interventions in the Political Process,” and the program is headed by political strategist Andrei Polosin – one of those who was tasked with turning Russian students into the future support of the regime. It is also known about Polosin that he is friends with Sergei Kiriyenko and that he has a certificate in NLP.
The project’s academic director Victoria Karpova supports the need for confrontation in the “cognitive war” and the protection of “information and socio-cultural sovereignty.” According to political scientist Alexander Nemtsev, the master’s degree program should also promote spiritual and moral values. Students will have mentors from the Presidential Administration and the management of large companies. It is assumed that seven students will be able to get into the program on budget places (more than in the bachelor’s degree), and the rest of the future fighters for sovereignty will have to pay 360,000 rubles per year. There is no exact program on the university website – most likely, it will repeat the bachelor’s program, and at the exit there will be an “information product” designed to respond to “attempts to conduct information and psychological warfare”.
Short courses on the same topic can be found at the Russian State Social University (RSSU) – they have opened enrollment for 36-hour courses called “Hybrid War”, where it is claimed that “the process of hybridization of wars began thousands of years ago”. The courses are taught by the university’s management: Vice-Rector Dzhomart Aliyev and Rector’s Advisor Artem Vlasko.
All these programs, of course, are closely connected with the state, which urgently needs young loyal specialists to further spin up the flywheel of propaganda. The program directors are either close to the highest circles of power, or broadcast ideas that are convenient for them. The same is with the teachers: most of them have loudly declared their intentions to support the government’s course to the end (especially since some of them are already under sanctions). Based on last year’s experience, it can be assumed that these programs are more likely to attract established and established “ultrapatriots” than to generate new ones, and may also lead to showdowns within these programs themselves. Nevertheless, the trend is clear: the Putin regime is increasingly controlling universities, especially those associated with the humanities, putting history, journalism, psychology and political science at its service.
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Text: Anna Grebennikova
Анна Гребенникова 12.09.2024