THE INTERNET RESEARCH AGENCY
In St. Petersburg, Russia, a staff of paid trolls built profiles, pages, personalities and communities to disrupt the United States 2016 election and beyond.
Mikhail Ivanovich Bystrov
Mikhail Ivanovich Bystrov
Bystrov signed on to the IRA around February 2014 and became the general director by April 2014. He also served as the head of Glavset and other entities as the general director. He regularly briefed Prigozhin on the activites of Project Lakhta including in-person meetings.
Defendant MIKHAIL IVANOVICH BYSTROV (Быстров Михаил Иванович) joined the ORGANIZATION by at least in or around February 2014.
- By approximately April 2014, BYSTROV was the general director, the ORGANIZATION’s highest-ranking position. BYSTROV subsequently served as the head of various other entities used by the ORGANIZATION to mask its activities, including, for example, Glavset LLC, where he was listed as that entity’s general director.
- In or around 2015 and 2016, BYSTROV frequently communicated with PRIGOZHIN about Project Lakhta’s overall operations, including through regularly scheduled in-person meetings.