Kremlin Uses Government-Organized NGOs to Promote War

Executive Summary:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin met with activists from the All-Russian Popular Front (ONF) in July, demonstrating the Kremlin’s reliance on government-organized non-governmental organizations (GONGOs) to mobilize support for his war against Ukraine.
• The ONF highlights achievements in infrastructure and social projects while directly supporting Moscow’s war against Ukraine, including supplying drones and organizing cyber patrols for the military, emphasizing the role of Russian civil society in the war effort.
• The Kremlin’s domestic war-support strategy integrates GONGOs, youth movements, and cyber-activism into a “whole-of-society” mobilization, designed to bolster social cohesion, resist Western narratives, and merge modern technology with traditional patriotic values.

As Russia’s war against Ukraine continues, Moscow uses government-organized non-governmental organizations (GONGOs) as tools to promote propaganda and support the Kremlin’s aggression. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with activists of the All-Russian Popular Front for the fifth time in the “Russia” exhibition center with an exhibition titled “All for Victory!” on July 6 (President of Russia, July 6). The All-Russian Popular Front (Obshcherossiyskiy narodnyy front (ONF),  Общероссийский народный фронт (ОНФ)) describes itself as “actively supporting the fighters in the Special Military Operation (SVO) and the peaceful inhabitants of the border regions and regions of Donbass and Novorossiya” (Lenta.ru, July 6). Putin allegedly had the idea for ONF in 2011, which existed as a “social coalition” until it was formed into an official institution led by Putin in 2013 (Gazeta.ru, June 11, 2023). According to Dmitry Polkanov, a member of the central headquarters of the ONF, the project began with the unification of large public organizations and then expanded to broader interaction with civil society (Gazeta.ru, June 11, 2023; ONF, accessed September 17). The ONF celebrated 10 years of existence in 2023, claiming it had rebuilt 47,000 kilometers (nearly 30,000 miles) of roads, built 3,600 emergency houses, improved 13,000 yards, cleaned 20,000 landfills, and repaired 8,300 children’s sports grounds. The “All for Victory!” social campaign claims to be the largest public initiative supporting soldiers and the civilians of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, referred to as the “new regions” by the Kremlin (Gazeta.ru, June 11, 2023; All for Victory!, accessed September 17). ONF’s displays of overt war support and active promotion attempt to invigorate society toward the regime’s goals in ways distinct from passive propaganda that consolidates support but probably does not persuade anyone who does not already support the Kremlin.

The ONF is not the only GONGO in Russia supporting the war, with other militaristic and nationalistic groups such as Cossack organizations also contributing to the war effort (see EDM, May 29, April 17). Other regional GONGOs exist, such as the North Ossetian Digornia, an organization which aims at “the formation of a community of young specialists in the social and educational field who carry out value and worldview education in five areas: media and communication, political expertise, political analysis, social and creative technology, and political and social enlightenment” (Digornia.ru, accessed July 12). There are also numerous government-organized youth movements in Russia, such as the Movement of the Firsts and Yunarmiia (see EDM, November 9, 2016, March 25, 2024). The array of these organizations demonstrates Russia’s “whole-of-society” push to engage its citizens in the war and resist Western narratives, ensuring social backing for Putin’s expansionist aims.

At the July 6 “All For Victory!” event, Putin praised the role of the “cyber-patrols,” keyboard warriors who promote Kremlin narratives online. He said, “There are already 60 thousand hardened experienced fighters in the people’s cyber-patrols. These are programmers, [Information Technology (IT)] specialists, who are now also at the forefront – fighting for the country, for the truth, defending our values and interests.” Continuing, Putin said that these specialists constitute an important part of national defense in the informational sphere (President of Russia, July 6). The cyber-patrols are a volunteer movement that monitors the internet for what the Kremlin deems “falsehoods” and supposed “Western influence operations,” working alongside the Russian authorities (Life.ru, July 6). A key component of the Kremlin’s “all-of-society” approach to war support is presenting pro-Kremlin views and values as grassroots in opposition to those that are purportedly foreign or imposed from outside of Russia. This approach has been a key tenet of the Putin regime since at least the 2011–2012 Moscow protests and probably going back to at least the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine.

Other ostensibly independent social groups have been forming their own cyber-patrols, but it is unclear whether they are part of the 60,000 number that Putin mentioned at the ONF meeting. The Russian Cossacks, for instance, used children’s organizations to create cyber-patrols in 2023, which reportedly demonstrated their “effectiveness” in battling “fake news” (Russian Cossackdom, April 28, 2023). Similarly, Igor Kochubeev, Deputy Ataman for Cossack Youth, discussed at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum in June 2024 how “modern Cossack youth combines traditional values and innovative thinking … Cossack youth are actively introducing technological and pedagogical innovations into their lives, creating startups related to the use of drones, 3D scanning and printing, and virtual reality devices” (VsKO, June 8, 2023). The Russian military has embraced modern technologies on the battlefield in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine; numerous analysts have remarked on how technology is making it possible for those inside Russia to also become closely involved in the war against Ukraine.

The “All for Victory!” exhibition created opportunities for the Kremlin to praise the ONF’s contribution to Russia’s general war effort against Ukraine. Putin drew attention to the role of drones in destroying enemy equipment and claimed that the ONF alone has delivered 110,000 drones with varied modifications to the front line. Such figures are hard to verify, and admittedly, there may be a broad definition of what a drone is and how it contributes to the war effort. Still, if the figure is even close to true, it highlights the important role GONGOs play in the war. Putin claimed that the drones transferred by the ONF destroyed $2 billion worth of Ukrainian and Western equipment. Some of the drones had several modifications, including using fiberoptics and resistance to radio interference (Vzyglad, July 6). The exhibition was also a chance for the authorities to propagandize about their own contribution, and Putin discussed how decommissioned cars of the authorities, law enforcement, and state-owned companies were being transferred to the front at the request of the Russian military command (Vzglyad, July 6). Admittedly a very dubious “sacrifice,” it makes the point that at the ONF-organized event, everything was being given—or at least reported as being given—“for victory!”