In 2023, Russia allocated around RUR 58 billion, or $500 million, to finance domestic propaganda, aimed, in particular, at justifying its aggression against Ukraine and influencing military personnel, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine (GUR) has said.

"GUR informs that during 2023, the aggressor state Russia spent RUR 58 billion, or about $500 million, on creating propaganda by so-called 'non-profit' organizations," it said on the Telegram channel on Thursday.

According to the message, it is about "structures not formally associated with the aggressor state, which position themselves as 'autonomous', but in fact, at the request of the Kremlin, they produce so-called 'patriotic content' for distribution on the Internet: blogs, news, films, TV series, video games and the like."

"These organizations were obliged to spend the billion-dollar budgets allocated by Moscow on internal propaganda with the aim of: forming public opinion loyal to the Putin regime; justifying Russian aggression against Ukraine; influencing the consciousness of Russian military personnel by glorifying their participation in the war," GUR said.

"An increase in spending on hidden propaganda for domestic audiences may indicate both a decrease in the level of trust in the official traditional media of the aggressor state, and an attempt by the Putin dictatorship to take control of the Internet environment in Russia," it said.