Detained Latvian "blogger" is a Kremlin-backed military media outlet
Kirill Fedorov, also known as Alconafter, detained by the State Security Service, does not appear in the Latvian blogger index, even though the number of his followers and views are many times higher than those of the most popular Latvian influencers. However, he has been in the catalogue of Ukraine's enemies created by the МИРОТВОРЕЦЬ movement since 2018, as he daily spreads information that is hostile to Ukraine and damaging from a military point of view. Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation is now standing up for this Latvian citizen.
A whistleblower already told Neatkarīgā about Kirill Fedorov a couple of weeks ago. He lives here in Riga, in Purvciems. He drives a Ferrari, which even second-hand costs well over €100,000. And produces military news and arms reviews in the interests of the Russian Federation in industrial quantities. The report to the State Security Service was fruitful. Fedorov was arrested on the evening of March 17, shortly before his planned escape to Russia.
Russia demands his release
The influence of "blogger" Fedorov is not comparable to that of other local Latvian bloggers. His last story, published on the day of his arrest, has 1.1 million views on one Youtube channel alone. "Mariupol is almost taken! AZOV's defenses are coming apart at the seams!" A clear cheer for the aggressor. And Fedorov has been actively posting on many social networks. The audience is huge, with more than half a million followers on his Youtube channel. So to compare him to Latvian bloggers - whether it be Elīna Didrihsone, the owner of large breasts, lips and shop, or boxer Mairis Briedis, who can't work out which side of the war he supports - is impossible. And neither of them would be publicly defended by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation either. On March 22, when the Russian internet had already noticed the absence of Fedorov's stories and had been raging for a couple of days about his detention, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement in support of its Latvian "blogger". In short, they are outraged by yet another gross violation of human rights in Latvia. Riga is demonstrating that international obligations and freedom of expression mean nothing to it. And in conclusion: "We demand the immediate release of the independent expert Kirill Fedorov and an end to the legal impunity. The journalist community must also have its say."
In a tank and in a Ferrari
It should be clarified here that Fedorov is not a journalist. He produced content that journalists cannot reach - military tactics, weapons, technology, production, travelled to places where Russia is waging war. One person cannot operate on this scale, it requires a serious team and institutional support. Many media have reported that in 2019, he had a conflict with the Russian Ministry of Defense, which caused him to lose his old blog, where he started with reviews of video games. However, after this conflict, with the blessing of the Russian Ministry of Defense, he started to work on a completely different scale. Basically, the Latvian "blogger" created a civilian-military alternative to the Kremlin army's Zvezda channel and became a particularly useful propaganda tool in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Therefore, Fedorov's detention cannot be analyzed in terms of human rights or freedom of expression, or in terms of restrictions on journalists' rights. In fact, he was an active participant in the information war, working as an agent of influence for the Kremlin, which is why he drove Russian army tanks in his videos and a Ferrari in his private life.
One recruited him, the other put him behind bars
The State Security Service has issued a statement on the arrest of the person fitting the description: "According to the State Security Service analysis of the content created and published by the person, the person has regularly commented on the military operations of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine in his videos, reflecting the events in the interests of Russia and praising the military tactics and crimes committed by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine. The State Security Service has also detected in the content produced by the person statements directed against Latvians and the citizens of the Latvian state." The criminal proceedings were initiated under Article 74.1 of the Criminal Law for justification and glorification of crimes against peace and war crimes, as well as under Article 78(2) for incitement to national and ethnic hatred or hatred through the use of automated data processing systems.
In a lengthy and complimentary interview with TVNET in 2020, Fedorov boasted that both Russian and Latvian special services had tried to recruit him. Today, it must be concluded that the Russian service was more successful, while ours has put Fedorov behind bars. Now the "blogger" is no longer driving around in a Ferrari, as a pre-trial investigation is underway. But the tanks and his stories are still freely available on the web, and this is, of course, a question of the ability of democratic countries to protect the information space from Russian war propaganda, which is protected by the business interests of large corporations.
Next in line
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the State Security Service has opened a total of seven criminal proceedings in connection with the glorification and justification of crimes committed by the Russian armed forces, incitement to hatred against the Ukrainian population, and crimes committed by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine. Kirill Fedorov is a very important subject of criminal proceedings because, while serving the Kremlin here in Latvia, he was able to influence large masses of the Russian public. However, it should be recalled that the queue to see the State Security Service is growing ever longer. As Neatkarīgā has already reported, "Enemies of Ukraine in Latvia are being collected in a catalogue." This is a sufficiently broad source of information on the haters of an independent Ukraine and an independent Latvia that are located in Latvia. The Latvian site of the catalogue of Ukraine's enemies, created by МИРОТВОРЕЦЬ, includes, in addition to Fedorov, more than one and a half hundred natural persons and also some legal entities.
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