A major investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project has uncovered a sophisticated pro-Russian disinformation operation spanning Germany, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Russia, revealing the systematic infrastructure behind what appears as spontaneous "alternative media."
At the network's center sits Anonymous News, a German-language website attracting approximately 100,000 monthly visitors while claiming to offer "uncensored news." The reality, according to OCCRP's investigation, is a carefully constructed operation connecting far-right European activists, FSB officers, and financial intermediaries across multiple jurisdictions.
The key figures tell a story of deliberate structure masquerading as organic dissent. Mario Rönsch, a German far-right activist convicted of firearms trafficking in 2018, operates the network from Moscow, where he has been publicly based since late 2023. His YouTube channel ANTVAuslandsNetwork has accumulated over one million views promoting Russian perspectives on the war in Ukraine.
But Rönsch represents only the visible layer. The investigation identified Alexey Bashilov, a 38-year-old FSB officer linked to Military Unit 43753, operating the Telegram account Corob_12 to amplify Anonymous News content. Phone contacts saved him as "Lyosha FSB," removing any ambiguity about institutional backing. His content regularly reached the Telegram channel of Vladimir Solovyov, one of the Kremlin's most prominent propagandists.
In Russia, as in much of the former Soviet space, understanding requires reading between the lines - and the financial structure reveals careful attention to plausible deniability. Donations were channeled through a Czech company nominally owned by , an impoverished Bulgarian villager who admitted being paid without knowledge of the company's actual purpose. The real administrator, according to documents, was , who acknowledged that - Rönsch - was behind the operation.




