Vitaly Bespalov is a Russian Journalist and Social media strategist known for having had a hand in what has been referred to in the media as Russia's "Troll factory", a cyber army that has been under close investigation by the United States Senate Intelligence Committee. ^[9]

Born and raised in a town called Tobolsk in Tyumen Oblast, he has lived there for most of his life. ^{[10] [9]}The city, close to Siberia, is rooted in the Soviet era and is about 1,600 miles from Moscow. ^[9]

Having grown up near the city of Tyumen Oblast, he also attended the University of Tyumen where he studied to become a Journalist. ^[10]

After graduating from school, his goal was to work as a reporter or writer in a metropolitan city.

He started working for Nevia.ru in early 2014, which is a politics-focused news site in St Petersburg.

The company was later shut down and stopped the funding due to Russia's occupation in Ukraine.

^[9]

He visited and communicated with dozens of publications to try and find a job.

After a bout a month, he was contacted by a company who wanted to interview him - an address was given but the name of the company was not disclosed.

^[9]

After having made contact with the unnamed company about a having a job, he attended the address that was given to him.

When he arrived at the location, a four-story building of concrete slabs and glass, he went inside.

Once inside, he noticed that the company operated differently than other jobs he had been a part of due to their security details.

Every person needed a key card to get in.

^[9]

After filling out applications and giving out the addresses of all of the family members that he is in contact with, Vitaly asked the company if he was going to write propaganda, and was told no. Instead, at the time, his job entailed rewriting news articles about Ukraine to make them more neutral.

^[9]

After security services reviewed his application, he was given the chance to work and he was paid $900/month, (about 45,000 rubles).

^[9]

The open-clad room where he worked was like an IT classroom similar to the ones he had seen while in school.

The computer stations were angled so everyone could what others were writing at all times.

^[9]

His boss, a women named Anna, who was also the same person who interviewed him, told him that he was in a project called, "Ukraine 2", which was to write articles for a website called worldukraine.com.ua.

The website's location was hidden by proxy servers, and the URL is meant to fool readers into thinking that the information was coming from a formidable Ukraine source.

^[9]

He was to write 20 articles of about 800 words a day.

The goal was to improve SEO on Yandex, Russia's version of Google.

He worked in the Media holdings department which was filled with people writing for dozens of fake Ukraine websites.

^[9]

On the second floor of the building where he worked was the social media department filled with people who came up with cartoons and memes to support Russian policy.

^[9]

The third floor was reserved for bloggers writing fake blogs.

The writers would pretend they were Ukrainians writing about the terrible living conditions as a way to improve the Russian campaign against Ukraine in order to paint a positive light.

^[9]

The bloggers would also write in English also pretending to be Americans.

They would criticize US president Barak Obama over his policies on Russia. The writers would spin the information as present the views as being representative of the English-Speaking world. Many of the blogs became the source for fake news. ^[9]

On the fourth floor of the building were the trolls who made antagonizing comments on several platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. ^[9]

Tensions rose among the people from the different floors of the building.

Journalists like Vitaly who had struggled due to a limiting work force looked down on other staff members as many of them had an elementary school education and were considered the equivalent of an American "red neck".

The feeling among the staff members was they were uneducated trolls.

^[9]

During his time working in the compound, he describes it as a "Merry go round of lies".

^[9]

After several months of working for 55 Savushkina Street, he decided to quit due to an unshakeable feeling of being "dirty".

He decided to write an anonymous post pretending to be a woman about the organization.

He contacted other reputable news organizations too.

^[9]

After being discovered that he was the anonymous writer by his boss, Anna, he began to get threatening communications in his life.

He has received violent phone calls of men threatening to hurt him.

^[9]

Vitaly says: 'It's a kind of legalized corruption.

And worst of all, I think the government believes it's a patriotic duty to set up initiatives like this.'^[9]

Vitaly now lives in the city of St. Petersburg where he works for the website, saint-petersberg.ru. ^[10]