Influencers raising funds for Russian army via Dutch company: report

Pro-Russian influencers are raising funds for the Russian armed forces online and transferring that money to Russia using the payment platform of a company based in the Netherlands, Nieuwsuur reported based on its own research. The company involved is Boosty, owned by a Russian man with ties to Vladimir Putin. Boosty parent company MyGames denied the allegations in an email sent to NL Times, saying the Nieuwsuur investigation contains "false, misleading and unproved statements."

Russian soldiers post videos online showing the equipment they need, according to the news outlet. Pro-Russia influencers then spread this information on social media like Telegram, calling for donations.

One such influencer is Kirill Fedorov. His channel has over 500,00 followers. He claims that he has already equipped hundreds of Russian soldiers with things like drones, radios, and GPS watches.

He also says that a Russian army unit killed six Ukrainian special forces thanks to equipment purchased with the funds he raised. Fedorov specifically targets donors outside Russia and tells them to donate cryptocurrency or use the Boosty platform, which allows money transfers into Russian bank accounts, Nieuwsuur said.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which is responsible for guaranteeing the integrity of the Dutch financial system, is concerned about the results of the Nieuwsuur investigation. “The recipients of the funds show in videos: Look, this is what we used your money for. This is so open that it worries me,” FIU head Hennie Verbeek-Kusters told the current affairs program. If Boosty really transfers money into Russian accounts, including those of the Russian army, despite the EU sanctions, “then this is a case of sanction evasion, and that is a crime,” she said.

Derk Sauer, publisher of the digital newspaper The Moscow Times, told Nieuwsuur that Boosty is one of the few ways his newspaper can receive donations from Russian citizens who want to support it. Still, he does not use it. “Boosty is from a company that has clear contacts with the Kremlin. We believe that the chance that data from people who donate money will end up with the Russian security services is too great.”

Nieuwsuur also found that the company behind Boosty, CEBC, had a remarkable address - the hall of a nursing home in Zwolle, though the company recently moved to an office in Amstelveen. CEBC is a subsidiary of a large game developer, MyGames, located in Amsterdam-Zuidoost.

The company told NL Times it faces similar risks as any other website with user-generated content, such as "attempts" by users to abuse the Boosty's rules. "To address these attempts, Boosty has a multi-staged moderation system where user complaints play a key role. If violations are detected and proven, the platform takes necessary actions and blocks offending users within 24 hours," CEBC wrote.

" Fundraising for any near-militaristic purposes is forbidden on the platform. The offending accounts mentioned in the article were banned before the article was published, based on received and validated complaints."

Until Russia invaded Ukraine, the company was part of the internet giant VKontakte (VK), also known as the Russian Facebook, affiliated with the Kremlin. The owner of MyGames is the Russian investor Aleksandr Tsjatsjava, who bought the company from VK for 600 million euros shortly after the invasion.

Sauer pointed that out as suspicious. “When it came up for sale, others offered twice as much. They sold it for only 600 million euros to Tsjatsjava, who was a good friend of VK CEO Vladimir Kirienko. And he is the son of Putin’s chief of staff.”

Kirienko is on the EU sanctions list, but Tsjatsjava is not. So his business can continue, including payments via Boosty from people outside Russia to Russian soldiers.

MyGames denied the allegations in an email sent after the Nieuwsuur report was published. "The company intends to protect its business reputation by all available means, including legal proceedings. The company is already in contact with legal advisers and is preparing for the requested legal actions," the company wrote in a statement.