Original subtitles

(dramatic music) (static hissing)

(speaking in French)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] The French president has just been elected.

He's hosting the Russian president for the first time.

And the event is tainted with suspicion.

(camera shutters snapping)

(speaking in foreign language)

(dramatic music)

- [Paul Moreira] It's a world war of a new kind

with no guns and no bombs.

On one side, the West is seeing Russia as a rising threat.

(crowd cheering)

On the other, Russia has lost half of its territory

since the collapse of the Soviet Union and feels attacked.

(speaking in foreign language)

- You are fighting for your country.

You are responsible for your country.

So from this point of view, all the ideas or means

or possibilities are welcome.

- [Paul Moreira] The Russians are fighting with new weapons.

(speaking in German)

- [Paul Moreira] They fuel influence peddlers

in European political parties.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] During the elections,

trolls were very active online.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] And they even hired Yosemite Sam.

(gunshots resounding)

- You can't put together rubles with a political ad

and go like, hm, those two data points

spell out something bad.

- Senator, it's a signal we should have been alert to.

- Yeah. (groans)

- [Paul Moreira] It's hard to bring out proofs

as this army knows how to cover up its tracks.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Well, it's not going to be easy.

(dramatic music)

(wings flapping)

In March, 2017 Russian President Vladimir Putin

hosts an official meeting with Marine Le Pen,

the National Front candidate at the Kremlin.

In six weeks, Marine Le Pen would come up

against Emmanuel Macron.

This handshake is historical.

It confers on Le Pen a presidential status.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] There it is for the cameras.

Vladimir Putin doesn't meddle with French politics.

The man who's worked the most towards an alliance

between the National Front and Russia

is Aymeric Chauprade.

He was the most influential foreign advisor

to Marine Le Pen.

He was nicknamed the National Front foreign minister.

Then he left the National Front, but he's still a member

of the European Parliament.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] The National Front and the Kremlin

have in common their hostility towards the European Union.

(crowd chanting in foreign language)

(fanfare music) (crowd cheering)

(speaking in foreign language)

(crowd cheering)

- [Paul Moreira] And the National Front voters

are often avid admirers of Vladimir Putin.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Among the National Front voters

quite a few are under the influence of the Russian Media,

Russia Today and Sputnik.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] RT and Sputnik reach few viewers

within the general public, but the French president

sees them as worrying nevertheless.

(speaking in foreign language)

(paper folding) (bells ringing)

(zipper zipping) (motor roaring)

- [Paul Moreira] Who's behind Russia Today and Sputnik?

Their headquarters are in Moscow

and they've agreed to let us in.

Russia Today is a TV channel, Sputnik is a website.

They're both accessible on the internet.

Their budget is comparable to that of Western channels.

More than 300 journalists in every language.

They opened a channel in Paris in December, 2017.

Their promise, to tell the untold and to question more.

(TV news theme music) Today in their breaking news,

a new development in the information war.

It's unfolding in Washington during

the Russian foreign affair minister's visit to the USA.

(western music)

- In your meeting with President Trump

did he raise US concerns about

Russian interference in the US elections?

- [Journalist] As you know,

we've seen the US intelligence agencies

accuse Russia of interfering in the elections.

- [Journalist] Did Mr. Trump raise the question

of Russian interference in the US elections?

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Translator] I just said that President Trump

has stated publicly that these are all false stories.

Please do give us at least one fact and then we can react.

(dramatic music)

- [Paul Moreira] The global director of RT and Sputnik

is Margarita Simonyan, a young, very powerful journalist.

In the network, her nickname is M.

She was trained in the US and is experienced

in all styles of modern media, including satire.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Vladimir Putin created RT in 2005.

(audience applauding) 10 years later he triumphs.

(speaking in foreign language)

(audience applauding)

(speaking in foreign language)

(audience applauding)

- [Paul Moreira] You celebrate the critical spirit,

the freedom of expression.

Could you be as critical against the Russian government

or against the Russian president?

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] When the President Putin

created this channel, what was the idea,

the mission that was given to you?

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] We have a hard time understanding

each other because I thought that Russia Today, RT,

had an identity like telling the untold.

That's what you sell, and it's written everywhere

so actually it's just marketing.

It doesn't mean a thing, right?

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Question more is RT's motto,

but it is dangerous to question too much

for a journalist in Russia.

Alexey Kungurov, for example, an independent blogger

was sentenced to two years in prison

for having questioned the targets

of the Russian bombings in Syria.

Mr. Alexey Kungurov detained in Russia

is something that you could cover in RT and Sputnik?

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] This is what RT published

on the imprisoned Russian blogger.

A very short dispatch only in Russian.

No international versions.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] I don't think there's any blogger

in jail in the UK. (speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] There are bloggers in jail in the UK?

(speaking in foreign language) Like, you have one name?

You have one name? (speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Of bloggers who are actually detained

in British jails? - Yeah, British jails.

- [Paul Moreira] After we left, Margarita sent us an email

with around 10 names of young Brits.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] We've checked the list.

They're not really bloggers.

They're people punished for having organized riots,

incited racial hatred, arrest, threatened with rape,

celebrated murders on Facebook or Twitter.

And no press coverage whatsoever, well,

apart from the BBC, The Guardian, The Mail on Sunday,

The Telegraph, The Independent,

basically the whole national press

and most of the local newspapers, too.

(dramatic music)

Welcome to the alternative truth.

Alexey Kovalev formally worked for Russian state media.

He was fired by Margarita Simonyan.

Ever since, he's been working for an independent newspaper.

- Russia doesn't really have an ideology to offer.

It doesn't have a concise, a cohering ideology

like the Soviet Union did.

So what is it offering is instead

due to these marginalized group

in the extreme left and right is that guys,

you are vilified by the establishment,

by the mainstream media.

It's a psychological effect.

It's called the hostile media effect.

- [Paul Moreira] There's an information war.

Are you the main weapon for Russia in this war?

(speaking in foreign language)

(dramatic music)

(festive music) (crowd cheering)

- [Paul Moreira] In France, Emmanuel Macron's

campaign meetings sometimes look like a mass karaoke.

(crowd singing)

But there's one man who isn't singing.

In a few weeks he'll be minister.

But for now, Mounir Mahjoubi's job is to keep his head down

and focus on his smartphone. (speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Mounir is keeping a very close eye

on the Russian media.

During Macron's campaign an outrageous article

has been published on Sputnik's English website.

The future French president could be an American agent.

An agent for the banks.

And the article hints with perfidy,

Macron is supported by a wealthy gay lobby group.

That says it all.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] We wanted to trace the rumor

back to its root.

Macron an American agent, or how a fake news is created.

One of the reasons why

we got this feeling about you being more aggressive

towards Mr. Macron than towards Ms. Le Pen

is like articles like this one.

(speaking in foreign language)

- A lot of controversy in France.

(speaking in foreign language)

(dramatic music)

- They are perfectly aware of the attention,

all the attention they are getting

so they just cannot afford to do any fake news.

If you look at the way they are operating,

they will always use domestic French sources.

So they'll quote a French politician

or a French journalist who is saying

that Macron is a shill for the Rothschilds, etc, etc.

They'll never make a point of their own.

- [Paul Moreira] In this case the article

was based exclusively on the accusation

of a pro-Russian French Right member of Parliament

Nicolas Dhuicq. (speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] We spotted Benjamin on the internet.

He's part of a community which often shares Russian news

on social media.

Benjamin doesn't believe what he sees on TV anymore.

(speaking in foreign language)

- That added another problem that RT

and its sister websites like Sputnik are exploiting.

The growing mistrust in the media in general.

So the left believed that Russia is

fighting against the global financial domination

by banks and everything.

Although this is something that they

are probably blissfully unaware,

but Russia, of all the developed countries

Russia has the biggest financial inequality.

Like 10% of Russian citizens

own 87% of all the national wealth.

That is the deepest gap

among all the industrialized countries in the West.

- [Paul Moreira] To French President Macron,

the Russian media has quickly become synonymous

with fake news. (speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Actually, the reality is more nuanced.

There have been fewer actual lies than first believed.

(speaking in foreign language)

- If you take in all logic what is published

and what is broadcast, you do have the feeling

that there's a political choice.

(speaking in foreign language)

(dramatic music)

- [Paul Moreira] On April the 28th full war is declared.

Russia Today and Sputnik are denied access

to Emmanuel Macron's meetings.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] RT and Sputnik fight back

by showing their banned journalists

on their worldwide channels in all languages.

- And the U.K. (speaking in foreign language)

- For RT International.

(speaking in foreign language)

- So I'm sorry, but you are not on our lists.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Journalist] You looked up the channel on the internet

didn't you and you denied me based on that, why?

- No.

- [Paul Moreira] Macron's campaign

has boosted Russian propaganda.

RT and Sputnik are only the public faces

of Russia's soft power machine.

The 2016 and 2017 elections would reveal

that there are new players in the game.

They were active in the US during Trump's campaign

and also in France and Germany.

They're taken very seriously. (speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] New words for a new world.

These new warriors invade the virtual space

where we now spend half of our time.

Troll, an agent of influence on social networks.

Fake news, formally known as lies.

Hacker, cyber pirate who hijacks data.

Meme, slick slogan that goes viral on social media.

In 2016 a young Russian half woman half troll

flooded the internet with a three picture meme.

(dramatic music)

As Putin's holding a press conference

she appears in front of the cameras with a triptych.

Putin, Marine, Trump.

This image will be reproduced over and over.

Maria became the face of a political agenda.

A very pretty face.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] In June 2017 Putin half admitted

the existence of new Russian agents of influence.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] According to Putin,

Russian hackers are lone wolves, they're mavericks.

The Kremlin has nothing to do with them.

In order to understand who was behind

this new Russian propaganda let's take a closer look

at a man who keeps himself in the shadows

and never gives interviews to the foreign press.

Konstantin Rykov.

Don't be fooled by his teenage appearance.

He's a key figure.

Roman Dobrokhotov, a Russian investigative journalist

has dug about to try and expose him.

(dramatic music)

- It's not like you know those who sit

in a cabinet having some official duty,

but of course he was the main sovereign,

I don't know how to call this kind of job

because he was not of course officially in charge.

- [Paul Moreira] Investigating Rykov is no easy matter.

His friends keep quiet and his enemies are scared.

(speaking in foreign language) Here is one of Rykov's

rare public appearances on a rather boozy talk show

on the internet. (speaking in foreign language)

Facing him, an opposition blogger.

(speaking in foreign language) (audience applauding)

(dramatic music)

- [Paul Moreira] We met a Russian internet pioneer

who lives in Belgium and who knew Rykov well.

- He comes from the culture of children of

a post-Soviet rich people. - OK.

- Golden youth. - Golden youth.

And now it is he's totally pro-Putin

from what we understand. - He was always pro-Putin.

I mean, before Putin he was essentially nobody.

He was like a young guy using prohibited words

on the internet.

- [Paul Moreira] It was at the end of the 1990s in front

of the cameras that Rykov offered his services to Putin.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Regarding morals and ethics,

Rykov took a few liberties.

He became an unruly MP of Putin's party

as well as a millionaire.

In June, 2016 the American site dailydot.com

looked into how he made this fortune

and revealed it came from a paid dating site, Dosug.

With Dosug you can find partners

for all sorts of sport and cultural activities.

(easy listening music)

For as little as 150 euros you can go swimming with Natasha.

Go horse riding with Tatiana,

or play doctors and nurses with Zasha.

- I think all this pornography story

was a long time ago, so all that he is doing lately

is connected with politics mostly.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Rykov proved to be a master in the art

of making memes to draw the attention of the media.

Maria, who became famous for her Trump,

Putin, Le Pen triptych works with him.

Maria specializes in propaganda.

She once created an amateur video for YouTube

surrounded by bombings on the Ukrainian front.

(speaking in foreign language)

(explosions resound)

(laughing)

- [Paul Moreira] Maria is in a studio, the video is fake.

It ends up being leaked, but has no impact on her career.

Maria's job is to stay in the limelight

while Rykov remains backstage.

- [Man] That's the guy.

- [Paul Moreira] In 2016 Rykov's work went international.

He put together a team to support Donald Trump

on the internet.

The night of the American elections

Rykov and those who helped him met up in a bar is Moscow.

They were being filmed for social media.

The tension is unbearable.

Maria is also with them.

Suddenly, the news breaks.

Against all odds, Trump wins.

- [Man] It's fucking Trump, it's fucking Trump!

(laughing)

(shouting)

♪ We are the champions of the world ♪

- [Paul Moreira] Overwhelmed, six days later

Rykov would post a strange confession on his Facebook page.

He implies that he was part of a spin operation for Trump.

For four years and two days we needed to get into

everyone's brains and control mass perception of reality.

Is Rykov just boasting, or is he telling the truth?

Whether bluffing or not, he gives a huge party in Moscow

to celebrate Trump's victory.

The theme of the evening, Russian hackers made Trump win.

(upbeat music)

- When Trump was elected, there was like fireworks.

And if Le Pen was elected, there would like,

all the Russian government would like

die in convulsions of pleasure.

- [Paul Moreira] Maria is delighted.

The new world order is underway.

It looks like mere provocation,

but a year later we would discover

that the Russian trolls had been truly active.

(upbeat music)

Saint Petersburg is the most beautiful city in Russia.

It's Vladimir Putin's hometown.

It's also where a rather peculiar industry operates.

A secret troll factory.

It's name, the Internet Research Agency.

The employees have one single task.

To manufacture propaganda and fake news for social media.

I am with a translator.

Hello, hello, hello, excuse me, can we speak with you

a little bit? (speaking in foreign language)

Do you work at Internet Research Agency?

(speaking in foreign language)

(laughing)

- [Paul Moreira] We eventually found a young man

who worked in this troll factory for four months in 2014

at the start of the war in Ukraine.

He worked in Russian for the Russians.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] To comply with the official line,

the trolls have to check a site created by Rykov.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Hello.

(speaking in foreign language)

(train wheels clattering)

- [Paul Moreira] In the suburbs of Saint Petersburg

we meet Ludmila Savchuk, a journalist

who infiltrated the troll factory in 2015.

She managed to film with a hidden camera.

(dramatic music)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] In 2016 the troll factory

started focusing on the United States

in the battle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump

they fought fiercely for Trump

without ever revealing they were Russian.

Andrey Zakharov is a journalist.

With the help of a mole, he succeeded in proving

that there were more than 400 Facebook pages in English

that were actually created in Saint Petersburg.

- When we started our investigation

we found one Facebook community

which is called Secured Borders.

- [Paul Moreira] Secured Borders, the Facebook page

was followed by 144,000 American citizens.

It replicated the xenophobic themes of Trump's campaign.

The racist memes followed soon after,

shared far and wide throughout scared America

and based on fake news.

For example, 30% of undocumented immigrant children

are part of a gang.

The meme suggests to share if you're shocked.

Or, Muslims have invented a new strategy of warfare.

They're making children to replace white Americans.

- They cover Trump's immigration policy which

is very popular and was one of the reasons why Trump won.

- [Paul Moreira] Andrey's revelations

stir up a storm in Washington.

The directors of Facebook, Twitter, and Google

are summoned to the Senate.

They've earned money from the Russian propaganda ads.

The investigation showed that the troll factory

in Saint Petersburg paid the social media sites

to publicize their messages as political ads.

- People are buying ads on your platform with rubles.

They're political ads.

You put billions of data points together all the time.

That's what I hear that these platforms do.

They're the most sophisticated things invented by man ever.

Google has all knowledge that man has ever developed.

You can't put together rubles with a political ad and go

like, hm, those two data points spell out something bad?

- Senator, it's a signal we should have been alert to

and in hindsight it's one we missed.

- OK, OK, yeah, uh...

- [Paul Moreira] Facebook shouldn't have trusted

Yosemite Sam, yes, Sam, the one who shoots Bugs Bunny.

A meme went viral explaining that Sam

would from then on be banned from TV

because he carried a weapon.

This lie was targeting firearm owners

to encourage them to vote for Trump.

The fake news was shared by 215,000 people

and seen millions of times.

It originated from Saint Petersburg.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] What was the real impact

of the Russian trolls on Trump being elected?

It's hard to tell, but they certainly fueled

the far-right American campaign in favor of Trump.

(singing in foreign language)

Like in Texas, where they succeeded in organizing

a racist protest and counter-protest from Russia.

Few people showed up, but it was enough

to stun the American senators.

- Russia trolls were encouraging both sides

to battle in the streets and create division

between real Americans.

This disruptive event in Houston cost Russia about $200.

- [Paul Moreira] And that's the beauty of it.

$200, barely as much as a Lada in a very bad condition.

(motor rumbling)

Who paged the wages in the troll factory?

- Yevgeny Prigozhin's instructions.

- Who? - Yevgeny Prigozhin.

- [Paul Moreira] Who is he?

- He's responsible for catering

of official meetings in Kremlin.

- [Paul Moreira] So basically he's like big cook

for the Kremlin. - Yes, he's big cook

for the Kremlin, he started his business

in Saint Petersburg and his restaurants

were very popular in 90s.

- [Paul Moreira] Officially the Kremlin chef

denies any involvement in the troll factory

and refuses to respond to any interview requests.

(fanfare music)

Between Putin and the troll factory

the walls remain sealed.

Even Andrey, who disclosed the scoop advises to be cautious.

- You should understand this power structure.

(dramatic music)

The czar.

And there are a small circle.

This small circle has delegated the right to power

in the name of the czar. (audience applauding)

There are people who are responsible like Surkov.

He delegates to them power

that will not go down from this circle very often.

- [Paul Moreira] Oh, OK.

- [Andrey] For your press, it's easy to put Putin everywhere

because it's like you can sell it.

- [Paul Moreira] So you think you go too fast

on those limits. - Yes, too fast.

- [Paul Moreira] That gives a lot of power to Putin

in Europe because people think that he's over powerful.

- You make his power more and more

because you say, OK, he's responsible for this,

he's responsible for this, he's responsible.

It's like something from fairy tale.

The main hero in a fairy tale

and children become very, very...

- Afraid. - Yes. (laughs)

- [Paul Moreira] And the west also happens to blame Putin

for things he didn't actually do.

(typing)

The most spectacular mistake was published

by the American newspaper The Washington Post.

In December 2016 they announced

that Russian hackers were about to break into a power plant

in the U.S. in Vermont and they were rather convincing.

All the electricity in America could be at the mercy

of the Russians.

It was actually fake news.

A few days later The Washington Post

had to rebut its own scoop.

According to sources close to the investigation

it appeared that there hadn't been any attacks

by Russian hackers on a power plant in Vermont.

(upbeat music)

Maria played a part in Trump's campaign from afar,

but she's fully committed

to helping Marine Le Pen's campaign in France.

(crowd cheering) On the 27th of March

she's heading to Paris.

There's still six weeks to go

before the French presidential election.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Rykov's team are sure of it.

After Trump it'll be Marine.

We've decided to keep track of Maria

and see where she takes us.

She posts everything on the internet

and avoids any interviews. (speaking in foreign language)

She's with French MPs and here's the room number, 6217.

(motor roaring)

(tires squealing)

At the National Assembly, we come across a meeting

of the Franco-Russian Dialogue.

Maria's gone, we've missed her,

but the meeting turns out to be very interesting.

Let's stay for a bit. (speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] They're rather discreet,

but it's a pro-Russia lobby gathering politicians

and the biggest French companies,

the ones that invest in Russia.

The boss of Total is the chairman of honor

and tens of European companies are represented.

At the speakers' table there's a journalist

from the far-right weekly magazine Valeurs actuelles.

In the red tie a representative of the far left.

And then the black tie, a right-wing candidate.

They have nothing in common apart from supporting Russia.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] The meeting's organizers

are Thierry Mariani an Nicolas Dhuicq,

the MP who told Sputnik that Macron

could be an American agent.

(cartoon running sound effect resounds)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Apparently I'm not the only one

chasing Maria. (app whistling)

She ends up sending me a private message, lucky me.

(zipper zipping)

The train's barely set off

when I receive a message from Maria.

I find out that she's been invited to see Marine Le Pen

in front of the Russian cameras

she's given her the famous triptych.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] And during the conversation

Maria drops a significant hint.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Marine Le Pen and Maria

share a belief and a method.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Like Trump, Le Pen discredits the media

at her rallies. (audience applauding)

(speaking in foreign language)

(crowd jeering and whistling)

- [Paul Moreira] It's the second round of voting.

And in this final phase, the pace picks up.

Maria has returned to Moscow

She talks about her trip on TV.

Her boss Rykov organizes a secret meeting

of the Marine Committee.

On Facebook he writes, no journalists, no mobile phones.

(message notification whistles)

The anti-Macron fake news speed up.

The main one is published on an American forum.

Macron supposedly has a secret account in a tax haven.

Fake news, which is then spread on the net

by National Front supporters and by Marine Le Pen herself

on television. (speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] The French campaign is starting

to strangely resemble the Trump campaign.

It would only take for Macron's collaborators'

email accounts to be hacked

for the parallel to be completely drawn.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] At the general headquarters

of the Macron campaign, the same morning.

A fake email was received in the name of the man in charge

of the digital campaign, Mounir Mahjoubi.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] But they weren't quite

as ready as expected.

The next day, not paying attention,

a coworker clicks on a fake email.

The hackers finally access the inboxes

of six of Macron's collaborators.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] The emails are posted on the internet

with the aim of changing the course of the election

with the controversial revelations,

but the French press refuses to publish these data.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] It's impossible to pin the hacking

on the Russians, but on social media Maria teases.

She publishes a link to the hacked emails

in the Macron campaign, the Macron leaks.

This evening in Moscow, Maria and Rykov

are organizing a party for the French elections.

They are hoping to help Marine Le Pen to victory.

We're amongst the invited guests.

Maria is there posing for the cameras

and Konstantin Rykov finally emerges from the shadows.

(speaking in foreign language) At last,

we get to interview Maria.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Always the same slogan.

No proof that the Kremlin is to blame.

But just a few meters away from us

could be the proof that's evaded us from the start.

In 2014 Rykov was tracked by a group of enemy hackers.

- Two criminal hackers.

- [Paul Moreira] Their name was Shaltai-Boltai

and they succeeded in hacking the phones

and computers of Kremlin officials.

They got hold of thousands of mails, texts, and photos.

(dramatic music)

- The just posted in the internet.

- [Paul Moreira] And you knew who they were?

- No, of course not, actually no one could at first

understand what is all about.

For us it was a very difficult job

sitting for a month and trying to understand

what is the sense of these messages

and who are actually behind these messages?

- [Paul Moreira] In the mass of data, Roman discovered

the telephone contents of one of Putin's men.

He works for the Kremlin and is in charge

of the internet propaganda.

His name is Timur Prokopenko.

There are several exchanges with Rykov.

The two men planned to use Marine Le Pen

for the benefit of the Kremlin.

(message notifications beeping)

On the 17th of March, 2014 Marine Le Pen announces

her support for the annexation of Crimea by Russia.

Marine Le Pen denies any knowledge of Rykov's existence,

but for him and for the Kremlin

it's been a successful mission.

The Russian point of view is championed

by one of the main political parties of France.

(message notifications beeping)

As it seems, a Kremlin official

turned Le Pen into an agent of influence through Rykov.

Rykov is in the bar, it's our only chance to ask him.

(speaking in foreign language)

We can talk interview about today, no?

Why not, you are the mastermind of this.

You are the architect of this thing.

- [Rykov] No, no, no.

- [Paul Moreira] No, why not?

(speaking in foreign language)

Rykov spends most of his time in this alcove

the entrance to which looks to be guarded

while Maria entertains her audience on the stage.

Let's try and slip in.

Just one question, on the internet

I saw that you had an exchange with Mr. Prokopenko

from the Kremlin to help Marine Le Pen.

- Not me. - Not you.

- It was a fake. - It was a fake.

- [Rykov] Some guys who put, how could they end up stolen?

- [Paul Moreira] Shaltai Boltai, right?

Could the texting between the Kremlin official

and Maria's boss be fake?

- That cannot be so because we checked

that several times, that is 100% real SMS,

but of course I would be surprised

if Rykov would confirm that,

because that's all very sensitive.

- [Paul Moreira] You did not help Marine Le Pen,

but you're helping her now.

- [Rykov] We're just a fan.

- [Paul Moreira] You're what?

- [Rykov] Like a fan.

- [Woman] Yeah, it's just like a fan club.

- [Paul Moreira] Fan club.

- [Woman] It doesn't refer to official government.

I think the best thing, if you ask Maria.

- [Paul Moreira] Oh yeah, so he stays in the shadow

and she speaks?

- [Woman] Yeah, I definitely think so

because he doesn't like to be filmed.

- [Paul Moreira] OK, so yeah, he's like the shadow cabinet.

- Yeah. - In the shadow government.

(laughing) - He's pretty camera shy.

- [Paul Moreira] Just a fan club.

That's the official line from Rykov,

but a few weeks later on a Russian website

a journalist manages to get a few words out of him

on his key role in Le Pen and Trump's campaigns.

(news theme music)

(speaking in foreign language)

(dramatic music)

- [Paul Moreira] The story could have ended there

with a failed mission and Maria's dejected pout.

(crowd cheering)

But that evening in the restaurant

I notice a familiar face, Pierre Malinowski, a French.

A former soldier, he is assistant to Jean-Marie Le Pen.

He's often in Russia and is a die-hard admirer of Putin.

Luckily he's a smoker, let's have a few words outside.

He gives away a secret without really thinking about it.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] So Vladimir Putin suppoedly

secretly met with the leader

of the most powerful far-right party in Europe twice.

It's a huge investment,

and nothing comes for free in this world.

What did Putin want from the National Front?

What was his plan?

We wanted to ask Marine Le Pen in person,

but our requests remained unanswered.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Aymeric Chauprade knew about it.

Even if the former Mr. Russia of the National Front

wasn't at the meetings in person.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] And Marine Le Pen earned a lot from Russia.

More than 12 million euros.

That's the sum of two loans to the National Front

in 2014 and 2016, loans which should have remained secret

but were disclosed by the newspaper Mediapart.

Officially they were business transactions

with no strings attached, no win-win deals with the Kremlin

but were they really?

The man who negotiated the Russian money is a member

of the European Parliament, Jean-Luc Schaffhauser.

He claims to have worked as an intermediary

for Total, Dassault, and Thales in Russia.

He was sent there for the first time

by Pope Jean-Paul the Second in 1989.

He's got a lot of inside knowledge.

The only problem is he's not the biggest fan of journalists.

I'll have to earn his trust.

The only thing I know is that he's Catholic

and a bit hot-headed.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] I'd got the help of God on this.

We've touched upon a biblical metaphor

and the tone of the conversation changes.

(speaking in foreign language)

(dramatic music)

- [Paul Moreira] State secrets between the National Front

and Vladimir Putin, it's going well.

I still have to find out the exact role

of Putin and the releasing of the millions of Euros.

Officially, none.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] But this Mr. Babakov

isn't just the regular banker.

He works for Vladimir Putin's administration.

He was put in charge of Russians abroad.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] And yet, it is.

Aymeric Chauprade, who now speaks freely

revealed the Kremlin's real intentions

when it came to the National Front.

And it had nothing to do with a business transaction.

(speaking in foreign language)

(dramatic music)

(speaking in foreign language)

(boots stomping ground)

- [Paul Moreira] Russians against Americans,

bloc against bloc, the return of the Cold War.

In this new chess game of power

the National Front is only a minor pawn.

It's in Ukraine that this new Cold War

has really become visible.

In 2014 a government close to Moscow is overthrown.

The Ukrainian rebels want to escape the grasp of Russia.

The United States openly supports the change of regime.

- Free world is with you, America is with you,

I am with you.

- [Paul Moreira] For the Russians,

it's a hostile coup d'etat on their doorstep.

They give military support to the insurrection

of the Russian population in the east of Ukraine

(gunshots resound) and they annex Crimea.

Two wars are running in parallel.

The military war and the war of information.

Russia Today falsely accuses the Ukrainians

of crucifying Russian babies, whilst on the other side

some Western journalists keep quiet

about the atrocities of the most violent Ukrainian militia.

One example is this piece on this Ukrainian girl.

The author, a French journalist

failed to mention that she was a Nazi

and that her battalion was accused by Amnesty International

of executing pro-Russian civilians.

At the time of the Ukrainian conflict

the Russians considered themselves victims

of Russia phobia.

For them, the media war is now on.

At the heart of the state media there's a group of experts

in ideological war led by Olga Sinowjewa.

They organize conferences and publish articles.

One of their major texts was published by Sputnik

and translated into several languages.

It's a media war treaty.

Unfortunately, Russia is forced

to resort to the information war weapons.

The information war leads to take regrettable actions.

Olga Sinowjewa lives at Moscow State University.

- [Paul Moreira] You remember this?

- Yes, more or less, yes, more or less.

You have to stay on your position.

You are fighting for your country.

You are responsible for your country.

So from this point of view, all of the ideas

or means or possibilities are welcome.

- Even like using fake news or--

- No, not at all.

- Because that's how you could interpret your text.

- You know, I'm afraid that the translation wasn't correct.

Not very correct, I will, how to say,

I didn't read it from the beginning to the end,

so I beg your pardon, but I wouldn't be able

to use such words. - OK.

Let's not justify ourselves on the fabrication

because the West uses the same methods.

- No, no. - No.

- That's absolutely-- - We are not well translated.

- You know, I'm afraid that's not well translated,

but it's a fake, it's a fake.

- Well, it comes from Sputnik.

- Yes, I know, but I have to discuss,

I have to research this translation, thank you very much.

(dramatic music)

- [Paul Moreira] Today Russia's soft power

has spread across Europe.

In Germany, notably there's a Russian community

of more than four million people.

(airplane engine roaring)

In January 2016 Russian propaganda

took advantage of one particularly controversial case.

In Marzahn, Berlin's Russian district

a 13-year-old girl Liza claims to have been raped

by three Arab refugees.

The police don't arrest any suspects

in the hours that follow.

The German Sputnik site denounces the rape

and the refugees apparent impunity.

Protests by Russian-Germans are sparked.

The leader of the most conservative

Russian-German association is Heinrich Groth.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] He turns the rape case

into an anti-refugee campaign.

(speaking in foreign language)

(crowd cheering and whistling)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Around one million migrants

have come to Germany since 2015.

A fact widely exploited by the extreme right

and Russian propaganda.

In the Russian district of Berlin

another activist assumed a dissenting voice.

Alexander Reiser is Russian and he manages a very active

multicultural association.

He's known in the community.

He joined in with the protests.

Until the day he snapped.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] A topic covered

by the main Russian TV channel is adding fuel to the fire.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Two weeks later, the story takes a turn.

Vladimir Putin's closest collaborator,

the Russian minister for foreign affairs

gives an official statement on the matter.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] For Alexander Reiser who dared

to voice his doubts, life becomes a living hell.

He's been the target of a troll attack.

(speaking in foreign language)

(laughing)

(dramatic music)

- [Paul Moreira] The German police conclude

the results of their investigation.

The young girl lied, there was no rape.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Liza's case hype dies down,

but in the minds of many Russians in Germany

the fear of migrants lives on,

especially because Liza's fiance was of Turkish origin.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] During the late elections Heinrich Groth,

the president of the Russian-German Association

gave his support to the extreme right party,

Alternative for Germany.

The AfD owes a huge part of its voting success

to the Russian community in Germany.

It's the only party to have translated

its manifesto into Russian.

In September 2017 the AfD entered German Parliament.

It's the first time the far right

had made it in since the war.

Alexander Gauland is the leader of the AfD.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] In Germany the fear of migrants and Muslims

is displayed on the street each and every Monday since 2014.

The PEGIDA movement unites tens of thousands of Germans

who are against the opening of the borders.

(chanting in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Amongst the protesters

we spot Russian flags.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] And sometimes even half-German

half-Russian flags.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Then there's also Lutz Bachmann,

the founder of PEGIDA.

Since the press published pictures of him

dressed up as Hitler, he's not been too keen on journalists.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Bachmann ends up giving his opinion

in his speech.

(speaking in foreign language)

(crowd applauding and cheering)

- [Paul Moreira] Counter-protesters are also there.

They support Germany's refugee policy.

(bells ringing)

(speaking in foreign language)

(bells ringing) (chanting in foreign language)

- They like the authoritarian style of Putin.

They are attracted to sort of nationalistic movements

and so on and so they feel a liking to them.

They also like Trump, they also like Marine Le Pen,

so it's not specifically to Putin,

but Russia is the only regime that's sort of authoritarian

so this is why the flags are here.

- Le Pen, OK, Le Pen OK, Le Pen OK! (laughing)

- [Paul Moreira] Most PEGIDA members vote for the AfD.

Do you get some financial aid from Russia?

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Yeah.

(speaking in foreign language)

(dramatic music)

- [Paul Moreira] In 2015 however, a powerful Russian

ultra-orthodox religious foundation

very active in Western Europe

arranged for Alexander Gauland to travel to Russia.

A trip which was kept very discreet.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Konstantin Malofeev is a key figure

in Russia's influence in Europe.

He created a religious foundation and he's very wealthy.

He used his money to try and build a European network

of far-right parties from the FPA in power

in Austria today to the French National Front

and the AfD in Germany. (dramatic music)

Aymeric Chauprade was part of this project.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Malofeev has created an ultra-conservative

television channel in order to promote his ideas in Russia.

Officially it's not airing for the Kremlin.

(speaking in foreign language)

- It's very Byzantine.

The painting. - Just like a church.

Konstantin Malofeev has agreed to meet us.

He rarely gives interviews.

- Do we want independents to think about

their own interests, not to think about globalist ideas

about one new world order,

liberal, LGBT supporters, globalism.

Get out of NATO, get out from European Union.

And France, of Louis Quatorze also.

(crowd clapping)

- [Paul Moreira] In France, Malofeev secretly

helped out Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2014.

(crowd cheering)

- [Crowd] Jean-Marie, Jean-Marie,

Jean-Marie, Jean-Marie, Jean-Marie.

- I sympathize Jean-Marie Le Pen and I believe

that he's a man from the big letter M.

So because he's a personality and in French politics now

it's big lack of personality.

- How did you help him get this money?

- I have friends and you know, these friends

were more motivated to help politicians in Europe.

- So basically you connected him with a--

- Yes. - OK.

My feeling is that you fit much more close

to the anti-gay marriage movement

than you are to the National Front.

Now for sure, but I'm not calling this anti-gay.

I'm calling this anti-sodomite. (laughs)

- Well, it's not restricted to gays, this practice.

- Sodomite is the old word from the Bible and we can use it.

Of course I am closer to this because

family is the last fortress. (dramatic music)

- [Paul Moreira] In 2013 in France protesters

against gay marriage openly turned to Russia.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] We've discovered that Malofeev

has given financial aid to some of them.

Amongst them, an association led by Fabrice Sorlin,

an ultra-Catholic.

(chanting in foreign language)

- Do you accomplish part of Putin's agenda?

I'm putting it to you very frankly.

- Maybe, but not because he asked me.

- Hm, OK. - Just because you know,

that's my view, I'm very independent.

- [Paul Moreira] When I started this investigation

I wondered if the information war

was foreshadowing the real war, the deadly one.

I'd find the answer to this question

on the pavements of Moscow.

In Russia, May sees the season of military parades.

They celebrate their victory over the Nazis in 1945.

They parade with state of the art weapons.

This display of power lasts the whole morning,

but the crowd at the back is rather sparse.

(motors rumbling)

In the afternoon there's another parade

involving 700,000 people.

(shouting in foreign language)

No weapons, no artillery, just pictures.

The families come to honor the memory of their parents

killed during World War Two.

In Russia, even the farthest right is anti-Nazi.

- I'm representative of the people who suffered

from Nazism more than all other people in the world.

(singing in foreign language)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Paul Moreira] Konstantin Malofeev is working

towards reestablishing an ultra-nationalist axis in Europe,

one that includes many Neo-Nazis.

Can I show you a picture? - Please.

- OK, this was filmed in May the first

at the meeting of Jean-Marie Le Pen.

(chanting in foreign language)

Listen to this guy.

(speaking in foreign language)

(chanting in foreign language)

- Listen, but I can't find anything

against Jean-Marie at this meeting.

You just made a movie with one guy in the crowd.

- OK. - I have no any doubt

that what you are showing me looks like he's a Nazi.

- But you know that the founders of the National Front,

some of them are from the Waffen-SS

like Mr. Leon Gaultier, are you aware of that?

- I think that people can't be blamed for their past

when they're 50 years or 60 years after.

(speaking in foreign language)