Novaya Gazeta Europe has published an investigation into how some lifestyle bloggers from occupied Mariupol, including Marianna Vyshemirskaya, became integrated into the Russian propaganda agenda. The outlet recalls that Vyshemirskaya became known worldwide after the strike on the Mariupol maternity hospital on March 9, 2022, when international media circulated her photograph.
Later, the editors write, Vyshemirskaya remained in territory controlled by Russia, moved to Donetsk, and began actively running a Telegram channel. In those posts, she wrote about shelling while blaming Ukraine and NATO countries, commented on international politics, promoted channels run by Russian propagandists, and then began reporting on aid deliveries and drones for Russian soldiers.
The article says her posts regularly mention former senator and ex-deputy head of the Central Bank Alexander Torshin and Oleg Khusnullin, who at different times presented himself as a senator’s aide, an adviser, an urbanist, and a GR director at a construction company. According to the outlet, Vyshemirskaya received a salary from House Group and from two other entities whose interests, it says, were represented by Khusnullin.
The investigation also states that other Mariupol bloggers are filming videos about a “new life” in the city, praising new housing, playgrounds, and infrastructure, and often repeating similar claims about how Mariupol has improved under Russian rule. Disinformation experts interviewed by the outlet said such posts resemble a coordinated campaign.
At the same time, people interviewed by Novaya Gazeta Europe who left the city dispute the picture shown in those videos. Designer Sergei Rodionov told the paper that clips about central Mariupol do not match reality, noting that even before the full-scale war the historic center, public spaces, and transport system were already developed and undergoing modernization.
The editors note that Vyshemirskaya, Khusnullin, and Torshin did not respond to requests for comment.