Journalist Admits to Receiving Cash to Promote Fake Russian Think Tank
Real experts and media outlets pushed content from a fake Israeli think tank with ties to a suspected Russian spy and state-run propaganda campaigns.
In August, technology giants OpenAI and Meta revealed details about a covert online disinformation campaign featuring a fake Israeli think tank called the International Burke Institute (IBI). Both reports noted that the propaganda campaign appeared to originate from Russia, but neither provided details about who was behind it. VSquare’s partner Investigace tied the project to Social Design Agency, a Russian troll farm working directly for the Russian presidential administration.
Now, an investigation by VSquare, Delfi Estonia, and the Israeli outlet Shomrim has found that the think tank’s founders in Israel have close ties to a man who is a suspected Russian spy in a criminal case in Estonia and has also acted as a front for the Russian administration.
One of the experts spreading the fake think tank’s materials across Israeli media outlets admitted receiving cash—but then tried to walk back that claim.
The founder of the think tank has also been lobbying members of the Israeli parliament.
$80,000 Budget
In May 2025, an anonymous hacker published leaked documents from the Social Design Agency (SDA), a Russian troll farm working directly for the Russian presidential administration. The leaked files consisted of chats involving a Russian presidential administration staffer named Sofia Zakharova, who oversees propaganda projects associated with SDA. Zakharova in turn gets orders from SergeI Kiriyenko, deputy chief of staff of the Russian presidential office and a prominent figure in past Russian propaganda efforts.
The leaked chat screenshots show a pseudonymous “Immanuel Kant” sending Zakharova a .pdf headlined “Project for an NGO / Institute / Think Tank in Israel.” In addition, the sender lists budget numbers for the project: “approximately $80,000” for the first six months of operations, plus “additional means for content creation, work with public opinion leaders, and living expenses of around 3 million rubles a month ($36,000).” Metadata shows that the file was created in December 2024.
A subsequent timestamp in the screenshot indicates that this exchange happened sometime shortly before January 19, 2025. In February 2025, the IBI website appeared online.
Before being outed by OpenAI, numerous fake AI-driven TikTok, Youtube, and Twitter (X) accounts started pushing the IBI website and its’ “studies.” These accounts also featured interviews with “western opinion leaders.” The same interviews were in fact featured in the Doppelgänger propaganda campaign’s fake news websites. Given that the Doppelgänger is a project overseen by the Social Design Agency and Zakharova’s team, it suggests another link between the Russian administration and IBI.
Ties to an Alleged Spy
In July, a NGO called “The Burke International Institute” was registered in Israel.
The founder is an Israeli national named Igor Kaminnyk who was born in Odessa, Ukraine. According to the founding documents — and his social media accounts — Kaminnyk is currently based in Haifa, Israel.
Zakharova’s leaked budget discussions of an Israeli think tank also mention “office rent in Haifa,” with a budgeted expense of 300,000 rubles per month (around $3500).
According to a court case in Israel that featured Kamynnik as a plaintiff, a few short years ago the think tank director was working as a handyman installing windows and solar panels. One lawsuit from 2021 described him as a “simple worker” who “sought any job to support his family and dignity.”
Kamynnik has previously published articles with a Russian organization called the International Institute of Newly Established States (IINES), which from 2008 to 2020 frequently called him an “expert” under texts published on its website. Kamynnik has co-authored articles with the organization’s director, Alexey Martynov, who is a frequent political commentator in Russian media. Kaminnyk and Martynov can also be seen posing together in photos found on social media.
A case file of a man convicted in Estonia in 2022 for establishing contacts with suspected spies in Russia names Alexey Martnov as a man suspected of hostile intelligence activities towards the NATO member. Estonian authorities claimed IINES is actually controlled by the Directorate for Interregional and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, an infamous subdivision of the Russian presidential administration that has been staffed with Russian intelligence officers. According to the indictment, Martynov “acted in the interests of and on instructions from the Directorate for Interregional and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries and the security agencies of the Russian Federation.” The court verdict reveals that after the conviction, Estonia continued investigating Martynov over his alleged involvement in intelligence activities directed against the country.
In 2025, the Kremlin’s “cultural” directorate underwent cosmetic reforms, changing its name to the Directorate for Strategic Partnership and Cooperation and moving under the authority of Kiriyenko (who also happens to be closely connected to the SDA’s disinformation and hybrid operations).
In August 2025 Kiriyenko personally handed Martynov the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland for “his active participation in the preparation and implementation of socially significant events”.On his Telegram channel, Martynov frequently congratulates Kiriyenko on his birthdays.
Alexey Martynov confirmed to VSquare that he has worked together with Kaminnyk in IINES as he has known him personally since 2008. He claimed he has never had any affiliation with any government bodies in the Russian Federation, except hosting a radio show at a state media channel. He claimed he became familiar with IBI’s work only after Western media drew attention to it and does not think it’s a fake think tank.
IBI founder Kaminnyk personally published articles representing the dubious think tank, sometimes under a pseudonym Igal Avanim. These texts were co-authored by the organization’s other co-founder, Gabriel Mart, an Israeli citizen based in Jerusalem. An investigation by Cyfluence Research Center, a Berlin-based NGO studying digital hostile influence campaigns, establishes that Mart’s previous name was in fact Innokenty Alekseyevich Martynov. The patronymic — along with other evidence in Russian database aggregators — suggest a close family tie to Alexey Martynov.
IBI’s founders Innokentiy Martynov and Igor Kamminyk (back) and Alexey Martynov (right) posing together on a Facebook photo from 2022.
Fake and Non-Fake Experts
The IBI website is still online, featuring hundreds of alleged experts whose identities appear to be either fake or stolen from real scientists. For example, two of the academics mentioned on the site have been dead for years. However, journalists found that not all of the experts associated with IBI are imaginary.
The “think tank” has been pushing a fake ranking called the “Burke Sovereignty Index” that casts Russia in a favorable light. For example, the “index” lists Russia as the fourth most sovereign country in the world, behind only the United States, China, and Switzerland (Singapore and Sweden come in fifth and sixth).
In April of this year, The Jerusalem Post published an op-ed by journalist Rachel Avraham titled “Sovereignty Under Siege.” The article analyzed the ongoing war against Iran using the “Burke Sovereignty Index.” Avraham also featured the fake index in many of her texts that appeared online. When questioned by a journalist over the phone, she admitted to having been paid in cash for her work with the institute. Later on, she offered denials and tried to retract her previous statement.
Kaminnyk also acts as the chairman of the board of another Israeli think tank: Dor Moriah, based in Haifa. Its stated goal is to help integrate Russian-speaking immigrants into Israeli society. In 2023 it started to run mass surveys about Israeli attitudes toward the war in Ukraine.
Although the NGO had existed for years, it only started receiving significant income from foreign sources in 2023: around 200 000 shekels per year ($65 000), according to official reports in Israel.
Multiple self-described experts tied to Dor Moriah published texts promoting IBI.
Don Moriah’s Telegram page is frequently cited — 39 times — by none other than Alexey Martynov.
Dor Moriah also lobbies Israeli politicians, posting reports of various initiatives and meetings with Knesset members on its website.
Kamynnik, Innokentiy Martynov, IBI, and Dor Moriah did not answer requests for comment in connection with this story.
This investigation was originally published in Estonian on Delfi Estonia.
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