Though the existence and even whereabouts of the alleged "cyber army" are no secret, recent media reports appear to have revealed some details of how one of the tools of Russian propaganda operates on an everyday basis.Typical troll accounts, Moy Rayon noted, were operated by people posing as "housewives" and "disappointed US citizens".
Bloggers produce hundreds of comments on top news websites and manage multiple accounts on Twitter, LiveJournal and other social media platforms.
"[During one 12-hour shift] I had to write 126 comments under the posts written by people inside the building. And about 25 comments on pages of real people - in order to attract somebody's attention. And I had to write 10 blog posts," a former employee, Anton, told Radio Liberty.
One recent technical task, former employee Lena told Radio Liberty, was devoted to the murder of prominent Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov.
"It was mandatory to convey the message to the people that Nemtsov's murder was a provocation ahead of the [opposition] march and that he was killed by his own associates," she said.
"As a result, hundreds and thousands of comments, where this idea is served up under different dressings, emerge under every news article of leading media," she added.
Prominent journalist and Russia expert Peter Pomerantsev, however, believes Russia's efforts are aimed at confusing the audience, rather than convincing it. "What Russia is trying to go for is kind of a reverse censorship, They cannot censor the information, but can trash it with conspiracy theories and rumours", he argues.
We've had a few here. Not any of our "regular" posters, but look for a burst of new anon posters trying to alter the signal on Russian items and you'll see it from time to time.