Official position/function regarding the conflict

A.Gromov is the First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration (PA). He is a key PA official in charge of the information policy of the Russian state media. The Presidential Administration had played the role of a single ideological center even earlier, but it became especially evident in connection with the beginning of the Euromaidan and in subsequent events in Crimea and Donbas. Alexey Gromov enjoys the full confidence of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He personally oversees the production of state propaganda and censorship, media activities, coverage of the President’s work, and the so-called presidential journalistic pool, and also decides on financing and supporting the media.

Until autumn 2016, responsibilities for controlling the media were distributed between two first deputy heads of the Presidential Administration: Gromov was responsible for television and newspapers, and Vyacheslav Volodin was responsible for the Internet. However, with the departure of Volodin to the State Duma and the appointment of Sergei Kiriyenko as Head of the Presidential Administration, Gromov gained control over all the media. In addition, he oversees the activities of the press services of law enforcement agencies. He holds meetings for representatives of press services in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor-General’s Office, the Investigative Committee, and other departments.

Interests/goals in the conflict region

Gromov’s interests include propaganda support for the armed conflict in Donbas and all events related to it. For example, a large-scale operation was organized to shield Russia after the MH17 disaster. Considering the similarity of news stories and the main comments of all propaganda channels regarding this event, instructions for coverage also came down from the PA.

Actions regarding the conflict

Gromov interacts directly with the editors-in-chief of key state media outlets. The main directives on information coverage of the most important topics come from his office. Many editors-in-chief have repeatedly reported their participation in regular meetings at the Presidential Administration with the participation of Gromov. In 2016, the hacked correspondence of media tycoon Aram Gabrelyanov showed that ready-made ordered materials were sent from Gromov’s department to Izvestia and Life newspapers. Since Euromaidan, the leadership of the Presidential Administration has been actively interacting with a group of political strategists and experts who provide propaganda work and have flooded all federal television channels. Among these media persons, there are also citizens of Ukraine who play the role of “whipping boys” on various political talk shows. As it turns out, they receive payment for that.

After the start of the aggression in Ukraine, a sharp activation of Russian international broadcasting channels was also recorded: funding for RT from the state budget after 2014 was increased, new editions were created (French, German, Spanish RT). In November 2014, the Sputnik propaganda agency was created.

On 17 June 2015, Gromov spoke at the opening ceremony of a memorial plaque in memory of the VGTRK journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin who died in Donbas, where he said: “This is a war in which, unlike others, the “Press” sign did not help or save, but on the contrary …”, thus hinting that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are allegedly targeting journalists.