The National Security and Defence Council’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, together with the Defence Ministry of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, are publishing details of Russian agents of influence in European countries.
The “Kremlin Mouthpieces” section on the War&Sanctions portal has been updated with information about the leadership of the federal agency Rossotrudnichestvo and its overseas offices in EU countries.
Rossotrudnichestvo is Russia’s leading agency for expanding the country’s humanitarian influence worldwide. It has 87 branches in 71 countries; since 2021 they have informally been referred to as “Russian Houses”.
Among the new individuals listed in the section are:
- Igor Chaika, head of the federal agency Rossotrudnichestvo since April 2026. He is implicated in financing Russian political influence operations during Moldova’s 2021 parliamentary elections;
- Yevgeny Primakov, former head of Rossotrudnichestvo (2020–2026), first adviser to the autonomous non-profit organisation “Eurasia” and a presenter on the propaganda radio station Sputnik. He took a direct part in building Russia’s overseas influence network;
- Svitlana Nekrasova, an agency employee and former acting head of the Russian House in Berlin (until September 2026). She facilitated pro-Russian events, the spread of anti-Ukrainian narratives, and the maintenance of Russia’s cultural and information presence in Germany.
The CCD and the HUR are urging the international community to impose personal sanctions on representatives of Rossotrudnichestvo: freeze their financial assets, end media and commercial co-operation, and ensure their expulsion from EU countries.
- In September, Ukraine officially appealed to the governments of all countries where networks of Russian cultural centres known as the “Russian House” operate, calling on them to recognise the threat they pose to national security and take steps to restrict their activities and shut them down completely.