Defence Intelligence of Ukraine informs that during 2023, the aggressor state russia spent RUB 58 billion, or about $500 million, on creating propaganda by so-called 'non-profit' organizations.

It is about structures not formally associated with the aggressor state, which position themselves as ‘autonomous’, but in fact, at the request of the kremlin, they produce so-called ‘patriotic content’ for distribution on the Internet: blogs, news, films, TV series, video games and so on.

These organizations were obliged to spend the billion-dollar budgets allocated by moscow on internal propaganda with the aim of: forming public opinion loyal to the putin regime; justifying russian aggression against Ukraine; influencing the consciousness of russian military personnel by glorifying their participation in the war.

An increase in spending on hidden propaganda for domestic audiences may indicate both a decrease in the level of trust in the official traditional media of the aggressor state, and an attempt by the putin dictatorship to take control of the Internet environment in russia.