Putin's $19,200 rent-a-mobs: Emails show Russia uses paid thugs and email hackers to sow dissent and chaos abroad - Business Insider

A tranche of emails sent by Kremlin-linked figures were leaked to the Times newspaper on Monday. They outline a dirty-tricks campaign in Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2014 on the orders of President Vladimir Putin.

The emails allegedly outline how much Russia was prepared to pay for various services in a huge disinformation campaign in Ukraine. One set of correspondence from October 2014 appears to have been sent by an unnamed Russian politician to Inal Ardzinba, a Kremlin figure close to Putin.

It contained proposals to fund a cybercampaign that outlined various cost proposals, including:

• $100 to $300 to hack email accounts.

• $130,500: A plan to "troll" opponents of Russia, "demotivate enemies" on social media, and collect personal data of opponents in Kharviv.

Other prices discussed in the leaked emails include:

• A $120,460 proposal to discuss in June 2015 to arrange for 30 ex-communist figures elected to local government.

• A $19,200 proposal to buy a month of rallies in Ukraine's second-largest city Kharviv, including 100 participants, 3 organisers, and 2 lawyers. Organisers would orchestrate anti-Ukraine, pro-Russia rallies featuring crowds of martial-arts-trained protestors, and lawyers would buy off the police. It is unclear whether the plan happened.