On the evening of August 20, Russian TV pundit and conspiracy theorist Darya Dugina was killed on the outskirts of Moscow when a powerful explosion ripped her Toyota Land Cruiser apart. Dugina was an outspoken supporter of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the daughter of fascist philosopher and writer Alexander Dugin, nicknamed “Putin’s brain” thanks to his alleged ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Russian authorities, a remote-controlled “explosive device”, believed to be installed in her car, went off around 9 p.m. local time.
News of Dugina’s murder spread like wildfire through social media, most notably on the instant messaging service Telegram, where it was shared in agreement by an extensive network of Russian and Ukrainian channels. But in the hours that followed, it became clear that one channel, operated by the media outlet Utro Fevralya, or February Morning, is more than just a place to share the news. It wants to play a key role in the story.
Created by exiled former Russian MP and dissident Ilya Ponomarev, February Morning was the first to report on a group claiming responsibility for Dugina’s death. Ponomarev himself took to YouTube, where February Morning airs its shows, and claimed the perpetrators were a little-known Russian resistance group called the National Republican Army. According to Ponomarev, an all-out war against “Putinism” had just begun.
While the National Republican Army’s involvement remains unconfirmed, Ponomarev’s announcement crystallized February’s role as the center of gravity of a growing guerrilla movement to spark revolution in Russia. The movement’s ecosystem includes activists and saboteurs of all kinds, from anarchists to fascists, connected through a network of Telegram channels and a single goal: to overthrow Vladimir Putin.
Making history
On a sun-drenched balcony overlooking a busy street in central Kiev, 48-year-old Evgeni Lesnoy smokes one last cigarette before taking to the air again. The seasoned journalist is one of the faces of February Morning, which he joined shortly after its creation following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the early hours of February 24. “Because of my friends and relatives who stayed in Russia, I had the events there before February 24,” Lesnoy said in Russian. After his outspoken condemnation of the war in Donbas and the annexation of Crimea cost him his friends and ultimately his job, the journalist left Russia for Ukraine in 2015 and has lived with his husband in Kiev ever since.
“When I was told this project existed, I thought I should be here,” he says, pointing to the TV studio in the next room. “Because I understand the context of what is happening in Russia: I was born there and I understand how people think there.”
Ponomarev, the founder of February Morning, is the only member of the Russian State Duma to vote against the annexation of Crimea in 2014. After the vote, he became persona non grata in Putin’s Russia, so he and his family fled to the capital of Ukraine and started a new life. “I’ve wanted to create a medium aimed at a Russian audience for a long time, and broadcast it from Kiev,” he tells WIRED about Signal. “I spent maybe a year raising money for what I thought would be a Russian-speaking Al-Jazeera.” The venture was not successful. But when Russian tanks entered Ukraine, the former MP and father of two joined the Territorial Defense in Kiev, and the project took on a new urgency. “After the first few days, a lot of my friends started telling me that maybe now is the time to rethink the idea of a media targeting Russians.”
In the living room of the 18th-century apartment in which February Morning has taken up residence, is the television studio with a semicircular stage illuminated with a bluish light. Two screens are broadcasting in the background. Presenting the show of the day, Lesnoy sits in front of a small table draped with a white-blue tricolor flag – the symbol of the Russian opposition to the invasion – and that of Ukraine.
The professionally produced daily programs, broadcast on YouTube, attempt to disprove the official Russian story of the war and report on the atrocities committed by the ‘occupiers’ against the Ukrainian people. “Putin’s supporters and apologists have large media organizations and prime-time news shows,” said Lesnoy. “We want to give a voice to those who oppose the war.”
