A recent leak reveals that the Russian agency Social Design Agency (SDA) is developing a network of websites designed to mimic Wikipedia, along with fake analytical centers and media outlets, to influence public perception of political issues. The documents, reviewed by Bloomberg News, outline plans spanning from May 2023 to April 2026.
The leaked materials indicate that SDA, which is under sanctions from the U.S., U.K., and the European Union for its role in disseminating Kremlin-backed disinformation, aims to establish a comprehensive system of reference sites. This initiative is part of a broader strategy to manipulate search traffic and impact AI chatbots with false narratives about political figures and current events.
One proposal detailed the creation of a Wikipedia-like site targeting Armenia, optimized for search engines with pro-Russian narratives embedded in popular articles. Aimed at achieving 5,000 daily visitors within three months, this site was reportedly timed for launch just two months before Armenia’s elections. Despite these efforts, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan won the elections, overcoming attempts by Russia to spread disinformation.
Another project focused on Germany, where a January 15 document mentioned the creation of 200,000 web pages. This initiative aimed to edit 100 articles monthly for search engine optimization and to train six AI platforms each month with the revised content. The German domestic intelligence service, BfV, confirmed awareness of the leak but declined to comment further.
“Their approach is to try to game search engines by flooding the space with content that cross-references their narratives. This is their indirect way of infiltrating popular chatbots and search engines,” stated Kateryna Sedova, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
While most documents lack SDA branding, European officials and researchers consider them credible based on their content and style, which resembles previously released SDA documents. Bloomberg also verified the existence of 42 websites linked to the agency through historical DNS data, all hosted on a single Russian IP address.
Founded in 2002 by Ilya Gambashidze, SDA has worked with Russian officials on what it describes as “information warfare.” The leaked documents illustrate how Russian authorities manage so-called “active measures”—disinformation campaigns aimed at destabilizing the West and shaping public opinion. This operation represents a shift from the previously known “troll factory” led by the late Yevgeny Prigozhin, which focused on social media quotas rather than sophisticated targeting.
In 2023, an online encyclopedia named Ruwiki, which directly copies Wikipedia, was launched. Unlike SDA’s covert projects, Ruwiki openly identifies as a Russian platform, manipulating articles on topics significant to the Kremlin. For instance, it describes the Bucha massacre in 2022 as a “provocation” and has removed content regarding Prigozhin’s recruitment of prisoners for the war in Ukraine.
Jacob Rogers, deputy general counsel at the Wikimedia Foundation, expressed skepticism about the success of such clones without a substantial editorial team. Sedova noted that English-speaking chatbots might be more resilient against Russian data manipulation, but smaller languages could be at risk due to a lack of security expertise to filter out misleading sources.
The documents also reveal plans to establish fake analytical centers to disseminate pro-Russian content. One site, masquerading as the “World Center for Strategic Studies,” rewrites articles from reputable journals to highlight Kremlin messages. A key publication distorted a report from the French Institute of International Relations, falsely concluding that Europe is facing a political and economic crisis.
Additionally, the leaked materials outline how SDA tracks the success of its disinformation campaigns. For example, a fabricated story about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky allegedly purchasing two apartments in Dubai garnered 86 million views. Another case involved a false narrative about Pashinyan buying a villa in France, which reportedly received 10.6 million views, compelling him to publicly deny the claims.
The files also indicate a project to create a database tracking 10,000 influential accounts to facilitate the posting of 2,000 social media messages aimed at “injecting narratives.” This initiative included monitoring 100 French opposition politicians and tracking posts in the U.K. and Germany around hashtags like #MigrantCrisis and #BrokenSystem.
A leaked report reveals that the Russian agency SDA is planning to create a network of fake websites and analytical centers to spread disinformation, targeting political narratives in various countries. These efforts include mimicking Wikipedia and manipulating search engine traffic to influence public perception and AI chatbots.