Russia’s Rybar project impersonated international TV channel for operation in EU — investigation

The Czech news outlet Seznam Zprávy has uncovered an operation run by the Russian propaganda centre Rybar in Europe. Its founder, Mikhail Zvinchuk, is under EU sanctions, Seznam Zprávy reports.

According to the journalists, a Russian film crew travelled from Berlin to Prague to record interviews for a documentary about Russia’s war against Ukraine and Europe. The project was discovered to be produced by Boris Dvorkin, whose work is funded by Russia’s Fatherland History Foundation, headed by Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

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Cameraman Igor Dolmatov and Vitaly Chashchukhin, who has ties with the Russian propaganda outlets Izvestia, Channel Five, and REN TV, arrived in Prague to film. During a conversation caught on hidden camera, Chashchukhin confirmed that he was on assignment for Rybar, and fled along with his colleague once the operation was exposed.

According to the investigation, Rybar‘s special operation was not limited to the Czech Republic: film crews worked, or were planning to film, in Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, France, and other EU countries.

The project involved a network of Russian media workers living in Europe and moving freely around the Schengen Area, such as correspondent Margarita Kostiv.

The film crews presented themselves to potential participants as representatives of a Berlin-based international TV channel, aiming to draw in European experts to create the illusion of a “balanced perspective.” Some participants’ invitations were personally signed by Zvinchuk.

The Czech Financial Analysis Office found that providing services to a company owned by a sanctioned individual may be regarded as indirectly providing them with economic resources, which can result in criminal liability or substantial fines.

Sanctions expert Jiří Skuhrovec noted that, given the scale of the operation, the case may potentially constitute an offense under criminal law.

What is Rybar

In November 2022, the Russian investigative outlet The Bell established that the founder of Rybar, one of Russia’s most influential Telegram channels, had previously been employed by the Russian Defence Ministry’s press service.

At the time, the outlet reported that Rybar‘s subscriber count had skyrocketed in September and October 2022, surpassing one million against as Russia launced partial mobilisation and Ukraine began counteroffensives in the east and south. The popularity growth of Telegram, and of channels like Rybar in particular, was attributed to Russians’ distrust of official Kremlin statements and their search for more accurate information.

In February 2026, OpenAI uncovered a Russian network of accounts that had been using its AI models for coordinated disinformation. According to the company’s report, multiple ChatGPT accounts linked to the Russian Rybar project were blocked. At least part of the network was operating from Russia. These users generated posts in several languages, including Russian, English, and Spanish, and published them on Rybar’s social media pages.