Faces of russian propaganda in the TOT: maya pirogova
The CCD continues its series on the key executors of russian propaganda in the occupied territories of Ukraine. One prominent propagandist in the occupied Donetsk region is maya pirogova.
maya pirogova began collaborating with the occupiers at the start of the russian invasion in 2014. She secured a position in the so-called “ministry of information of the dpr” and refers to herself as a journalist, despite having no prior experience in the field. Before the invasion, pirogova worked as a lawyer but faced legal trouble – she was convicted of money laundering in 2005 and received a suspended sentence.
pirogova actively spreads anti-Ukrainian propaganda through numerous interviews and her social media platforms. She denies russian aggression against Ukraine, framing the war in eastern Ukraine as an “uprising of the people of Donbas” and refusing to acknowledge the presence of russian troops. In her version of events, pro-Ukrainian activists who organized protests in Donetsk in the spring of 2014 were merely “visiting militants,” while all Donetsk hotels were already filled with “tourists” from rostov.
She has also played a role in discrediting and dehumanizing Ukrainians by promoting the kremlin’s narrative of “Ukrainian Nazis” allegedly committing “genocide against the children of Donbas.” Pirogova justifies her hatred of Ukraine with fabricated scare stories about “cruel Banderites,” which she claims to have heard from her mother, who grew up in Lviv.
In 2021, the kremlin involved maya pirogova in its diplomatic war against Ukraine by including her in the Trilateral Contact Group for the peaceful settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine, which comprised representatives from Ukraine, the OSCE, and russia. Following this move, the Ukrainian delegation refused to continue negotiations, as pirogova had been convicted in absentia by a Ukrainian court in 2018 under charges of creating a terrorist group or organization. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
