Putin's Troll Factory

Marat Burkhard's claims

 * Безумие кремлевских троллей - Dmitry Volchek, Radio Svoboda, March 21, 2015
 * One Professional Russian Troll Tells All - Dmitry Volchek and Daisy Sindelar, RFE/RL, March 25, 2015
 * Salutin' Putin: inside a Russian troll house - Shaun Walker, The Guardian, 2 April 2015
 * «Встречаются те, кто верит в то, что пишет. Это очень страшные люди» - Novaya Gazeta, June 5, 2015
 * Vladimir Putin's secret 'troll factory' and Lyudmila Savchuk who exposed its dirty tricks - Daily Mail, 25 June 2015
 * Revealed: Putin's army of pro-Kremlin bloggers - Paul Gallagher, The Independent, 24 September 2015

Evidence
This blog post on the flcrbqrjn (RFE/RL says flcrbgrjn) blog has been copy-pasted to some local fora.

RFE/RF lists nine: Biysk, Bryansk, Veliky Novgorod (wrong link!), Vladivostok, Volgograd (wrong link), Voronezh, Chupakabra, Chita, Cherepovets Google finds a two more: Voronezh, Kirov

Marat Mindiyarov / Burkhard

 * Bilder: Feuer und Smog in Russland - Tages Anzeiger, 05.08.2010
 * ''Marat Mindiyarov is 35 years old and has lived 2006-2010 in Switzerland in the canton of Bern. He now works in Moscow in a hostel and as a tourist guide. His dream is to write a book about Switzerland.
 * Couchsurfing: Marat Mindiyarov Podolsk, Moscow Province, Russia
 * Maybe Accepting Guests, Last login about 2 years ago
 * Facebook: Marat Mindiyarov
 * Lives in St. Petersburg, Russia, From Moscow, Russia
 * VK: Марат Миндияров
 * Odnoklassniki: Марат Миндияров
 * Марат... - Блог Койраха, November 27th, 2012
 * ''blogger who on September 1 this year, began teaching in Orenburg childhood home ... well, having worked there for several days, accused the director Valentin Tazekenovu violations of children's rights and other irregularities ... and was fired ... and then Marat asked the Ministry of Education a statement on the restoration of the workplace, wrote about what was happening in his blog, and gave several interviews to local television stations
 * Не понимаю по-немецки (I do not understand German)
 * Links to www.gayforit.com/video/... and www.gaytube.com/media/ (not safe for work)
 * 1-1/2-Zimmer-Wohnung in der Matte - Ein Feldforschungstagebuch - Alexander Wild Origo-Verlag, Bern 2010

Search Engine Optimization
Sputnik exposes Putin's Troll Army
 * It's Worse Than You Thought: The 'Kremlin Troll Army' Exposed - Sputnik, 28.03.2015
 * ''Radio Liberty did discover something, but it's quite the opposite from an ominous troll army which works around the clock to convert the entire world to a Putin-based religion. They found a search engine optimization (SEO) company, likely subcontracting for a political consultancy firm.
 * ''Considering the extremely low impact of such posting, the goal appears to be not to convert public opinion, but rather search engine optimization (SEO): search engines such as Google crawl the web for keywords and links, which are then used to give weight to certain web pages when search terms are entered.

Fake news sites
Russian opposition blogger Ruslan Leviev explains how fake internet sites created by Russian Troll factories work: Summary here:
 * Debunking the fake article on 2000 Russian soldiers killed in Donbas everyone fell for
 * Russian Blogger Critical of War in Ukraine Says Article on "2,000 Soldiers Killed" is Fake - Interpreter Mag, 28 August 2015
 * ''He points out that this site is a typical "web site in a box" made from a template using the Russian equivalent of Squarespace. We could note that its name is similar to many such instant sites mean to drive traffic to click ads and make revenue for their owners -- a bright green dollar bill sign shows up on its URL in the browser. This particular site was described as making $6 a day from Google AdSense even before their sensational publication about the death benefits.

Theoretical Foundations
If every single word of that is true, still this is probably a cartoon (or somewhat inferior) version of how Western media operates anyway. Brief sketch of the argument: "...Much of the news people read or watch on television is manufactured by PR firms and specialists, rather than discovered by journalists..."
 * The Engineering of Consent, by P.R. father Edward L. Bernays. Further expanded in Necessary Illusions, Thought Control in Democratic Societies, by Noam Chomsky South End Press, 1989. "The engineering of consent is the very essence of the democratic process, the freedom to persuade and suggest. The freedoms of speech, press, petition, and assembly, the freedoms which make the engineering of consent possible, are among the most cherished guarantees of the Constitution of the United States. With pressing crises and decisions to be faced, a leader frequently cannot wait for the people to arrive at even general understanding. In certain cases, democratic leaders must play their part in leading the public through the engineering of consent to socially constructive goals and values..."
 * Moulding and Manipulating the News, by Sharon Beder
 * More on the issue and some historical background in Moulding Minds: Foreign Policy And The Manipulation Of Public Opinion, Josh Watts, 2014

Analysis

 * Manufacturing Consensus: Why the Western Media Fears 'Russian Trolls' - Sputnik, 04.04.2015
 * The Kremlin’s comment trolls are real — as is the media’s amnesia about them - Mark Ames, Pando, April 2, 2015
 * Western Hypocrisy, Social Media Manipulation - Jennifer Cohagen, Thick Toast, 2 April 2015 (Russia Insider)
 * Kremlin Troll Army Myth Deconstructed - Mark Chapman, Russia Insider, 13 April 2015

NATO's war on social media

 * New British Army unit 'Brigade 77' to use Facebook and Twitter in psychological warfare - INDEPENDENT.CO.UK
 * ''The British military is setting up a specialist force modelled on the Chindits, the commandos who gained renown through their daring missions behind enemy...


 * America Goes Large: Obama Wants Huge Budget for His Anti-Russian Troll Army - Sputnik, 14.04.2015
 * EU declares information war on Russia Task force will start trying to win hearts and minds in eastern partnership countries next month, James Panichi, Politico.eu, August 27, 2015
 * BBC to face down Vladimir Putin with plan for new World Service Russian TV channel, The Independent, September 5, 2015
 * A troll story in 4 screenshots - OffGuardian, September 29, 2015