A recent Bloomberg report highlighted how Russia is using Western bloggers to spread its propaganda. With an audience of more than two million subscribers, they either moved to Russia permanently or traveled there after the start of the full-scale invasion. In their content, these bloggers mostly ignore the topic of the war in Ukraine. In turn, they focus on the supposedly insignificant impact of sanctions and the creation of a positive image of Russia.

There is no direct evidence that these bloggers are part of a coordinated pro-Kremlin campaign. However, the Russian propaganda machine often uses social media to spread disinformation, and bloggers have become an important part of this mechanism.

Specialists from the Beyond the News project analyzed this using the example of Russian blogger Elina Bakunova, known as Eli from Russia, who promotes Kremlin narratives due to her travels around Russia.

She has a YouTube channel with over 700 thousand subscribers, some of her videos have received millions of views. In them, Bakunova shows Lake Baikal, Mount Elbrus and other sights of Russia, creating the impression that her content is dedicated exclusively to travel.

She positions herself as an ordinary girl from Perm, although her education and access to professional equipment indicate otherwise. She began her career by talking about studying in Italy, where she studied English and PR. Her videos include professional drone footage and time lapses.

Her connection with propagandists is evidenced, in particular, by her interview with an American working for Russia Today about the advantages of living in Russia. In addition, in June 2022, it joined the Russian Geographical Society (RGS), whose honorary president is Shoihu and whose supervisory board is headed by Putin. The organization has become an instrument of hybrid warfare in the international arena and in the field of education. They use cartography to create false maps that label temporarily occupied territories of other countries as Russian.

In its videos, Eli from Russia shows different peoples as part of “great Russia”, focusing on landscapes and cuisine and only briefly mentioning culture and customs. She constantly emphasizes Russian as the main language for everyday use. The YouTuber avoids discussing the past and contemporary problems of these peoples, keeping silent about their true history of “annexing” to Russia, trying to create an attractive image of the state.

While traveling through countries that Russian propaganda calls post-Soviet, such as Georgia and Kazakhstan, she ignores anti-Russian sentiment and focuses on nostalgia for Soviet times. The YouTuber talks about life under the Soviet Union as “the best of times”.

In the comments to the video, she is reproached for keeping silent about Russian aggression against Ukraine. However, her supporters argue that the blog is dedicated to nature and cultures, so she should not talk about political topics. She continues to move freely around the country and travel abroad. After February 24, 2022, she published a video about her trip beyond the Northern Circle, without uttering a word about Russian aggression.

Also, she doubts the fairness of international sanctions against Russia, arguing that they only harm ordinary people, and not Putin and his circle. She focuses on the difficulties that the sanctions created for her personally, without mentioning the reasons for their introduction.

On her travel channel, Elina made several videos that even her fans considered inappropriate. Like the one where she talks about “Victory Day” and praises her grandfather who “fought” “Ukrainian nationalists” during Russia’s modern war against Ukraine.

Eli from Russia disseminates pro-Kremlin narratives to Western audiences who know little about history and life in Russia. They see a beautiful picture that creates the impression of a different Russia and reduces the critical perception of its aggressive actions. She keeps quiet about the war in Ukraine and avoids critical topics, furthering the goals of the propaganda machine, despite the lack of direct evidence of coordination with the Kremlin.