The Putin propaganda chief who the US says is now after American minds

Since arriving at the Kremlin, Sergei Kiriyenko’s job has been to make sure the Russian people see only what Vladimir Putin wants them to see. Now U.S. prosecutors say he is trying to do the same for Americans.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Justice Department named Kiriyenko as the curator of some 30 internet domains that were being used by the Russian government to spread false information. The domains appeared to be U.S. news sites but were, in fact, filled with Russian propaganda intended to erode international support for Ukraine and manipulate American voters ahead of the November presidential election, U.S. officials said. Russia denied any wrongdoing.

Kiriyenko, a veteran technocrat and one of President Putin’s most trusted lieutenants, has seen his portfolio expand in recent years, tasked with everything from organizing disputed elections to leading the Kremlin’s propaganda efforts on the war in Ukraine and overseeing Russia’s occupied territories there.

“He is the perfect technocrat in the worst sense," said Alexander Gabuev, director of Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin, who added that the U.S. allegations serve as a further indication his star is on the rise.

“If there are marching orders to kill freedom of expression, he will do that in the most efficient way possible," he said.

A few months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kiriyenko sought to rally public-relations officials from government bodies and ministries for a fight on the home front, telling them that “the main war that is taking place right now is the war over people’s minds," according to an audio recording reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “All of us in this room are the special forces fighting this war," he added.

Once regarded as a