Four years ago, in the spring of 2022, on the way of the negotiating process an information bomb went off. Mass media, as if upon command, replicated pictures and videos from the Ukrainian village Bucha and its surroundings, hanging on Russian soldiers the labels of ‘hangmen’ and ‘abusers’. Materials ‘about the atrocities of the Russia army’ filled the feeds of the news lines, ethers of TV programs and first pages of Western newspapers.
Here are some very specific headlines of publications in Britain, United States, France that pushed in 2022 a wave under the common tag of ‘Bucha massacre’ with accusations of committing ‘mass executions’ and ‘genocide’ in the township Bucha.
April 2, 2022, BBC: ‘War in Ukraine: Street in Bucha found strewn with dead bodies’.
April 3, 2022, ‘The Guardian’: ‘They were all shot. Russia accused of war crimes as Bucha reveals horror of invasion’.
April 4, 2022, ‘Le Monde’: ‘Bucha – a tipping point in the war in Ukraine. Hundreds of bodies have been found of Ukrainian civilians in the suburbs of Kiev that caused indignation. International justice should be implemented in realistic time period. (‘Boutcha, tournant de la guerre en Ukraine).
April 4, 2022. The ‘New York Times’: ‘Satellite images show bodies lay in Bucha for weeks, despite Russian claims’.
April 6, 2022, ‘Le Figaro’: ‘Killed bodies are spread on the roads of Irpen and Bucha. Before leaving Kiev suburbs, Russian soldiers were killing and burning peaceful inhabitants who were trying to escape’ (Des corps massacres jonches les routes d’Irpine et de Boucha en Ukraine)
April 10, 2022, Associated Press: ‘War Crimes Watch: A devastating walk through Bucha horror’.
International news agencies – Agence France-Presse (AFP), Associated Press (AP), Reuters – within a few days provided everybody with professional photos and videos pertaining to the ‘horrors of Bucha’. Pictures of bodies, including close ups, were deliberately not blurred – a effect was needed of a real ‘information bomb’. A great number of visual materials, pictures and videos, provided ‘the effect of mass victims’, as the user should not have an impression that he sees the same thing in different media outlets.
‘A terrible picture’ was used as justification to break the peace talks in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine. ‘Bucha’ became a meme, became a loud pretext for new packets of anti-Russian sanctions and was used as a ‘moral’ explanation of delivering arms and money for the Kiev Regime.
Yet, all this ‘carousel’ around the township Bucha, strictly speaking, was the result of a peculiar previous concert. Had there never been the story of ‘the slaughter in Bucha, it would have been invented and spun in another town or township suitable for the ‘butchers of bloodstained PR’.
As the project Prigovor.ru found out, all preliminary preparation work for the total accusation of Russia of ‘atrocities and war crimes’ was being prepared before 24 February 2022, i.e. before the launch of the Special military operation.
All ardent accusers of the ‘Bucha massacre’ happened to be in Bucha in the first days of April not by accident, but with strict valedictions and specific editorial assignmentы. The most striking example of that is the agency ‘Associated Press’.
$750,000 FOR ASSOCIATED PRESS FOR INVESTIGATION OF ‘RUSSIA’S WAR CRIMES’
The website Prigovor.ru has found out that, in February 2022, the ‘Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)’** which in that pre-Trump period was spreading means of the US Congress for ‘independent’ media, quickly organized financing of the new project with the aim to collect evidence of Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine – ‘War Crimes Watch Ukraine’.
The initiators of this project became the agency ‘Associated Press’ and the investigative program Frontline. As a result, through the bogus educational organization WGBH based in Boston they received 750 000 US dollars. The archive report from the portal (it is turned off now) of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB) provides evidence of that.
From the report of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting: ‘This production grant supports investigative coverage by Frontline on the crisis in Ukraine with three documentaries of four broadcast hours, including Putin’s war crimes, produced in partnership with the Associated Press Global Investigative Team to provide the broadcast framework for the digital Ukraine War Crimes Tracker on Frontline’s website’
Actually, at the beginning, reporters of the AP came racing along in Ukraine and created the report ‘Destructive walk through the horrors of Bucha’, and, in their pockets, they started already to feel 700 000 dollars promised in February and paid to the agency Associated Press. They didn’t have to think about who, in fact, had killed people. As they had been already paid for what they would write – ‘Russians are guilty’.
Within the framework of the project ‘War Crimes Watch Ukraine’ financed by the U.S. State Department, the journalists from the AP ran through Bucha, ‘they were searching for patterns’ and ‘trying to prove’ that ‘Russian violence in Ukraine was a strategic one’ and that ‘it was genocide’.
And, by the way, there were other sponsors. At the same time, in 2022, the MacArthur Foundation allocated to Frontline, through the same educational foundation WGBH, two million dollars. This was certified by the notes of allocated grants at the portal of the Foundation itself. Through WGBH, being the rights holder of production, the MacArthur Foundation provided for Frontline on the whole $2 000 000 (for the period of 4 years). It’s clear that the grants and their size the sponsors formed not on the run, but well ahead the start of the Special military operation.
In the closing credits from the film about ‘atrocities in Bucha’ the journalists from the AP didn’t forget to say thank you to the MacArthur Foundation
KHODORKOVSKY* ALSO HOPPED TO IT AND TOOK PART
As a result, for the year 2022, within the framework of the project ‘War Crimes Watch Ukraine’ ‘the global investigative team’ and the project Frontline created and disseminated several reports and one ‘full-length’ (90 minutes) devoted to the ‘slaughter in Bucha’ and ‘Russia’s war crimes’.
It’s interesting to note that the journalists didn’t hide the sources for ‘the film-investigation’ – these were materials of the Security Service of Ukraine and Military intelligence. At the disposal of the AP, as they admitted themselves, were ‘three terabytes of data’ including telephone taps ‘received from the government’ as well as personal data on Russian military. Fugitive foreign agents from the London ‘Dossier’ Center’** (sponsored by Mikhail Khodorkovsky**, the ‘steward’ of the Russian fugitive crowd) helped to ‘verify’ Russian soldiers for the AP.
The journalists from the AP that patched together the film ‘Putin’s Attack on Ukraine: Documenting War Crimes’ had also other not less motivates helpers. In the credits roll, among other makers of the film, the logo of the company SITU raised our interests. Who are they?
As it turned out, everything was rather simple. The SITU Research is an American organization that is specialized in filming from drones, in virtual space models of buildings and towns and in creating visual sequences. For the ‘investigation’ of the AP these fixers manufactured ‘virtual Bucha’. At the same time, there is no reason to bring into question the life position of these ‘artistic directors’ from SITU: grants for their activities they receive from the Soros’s ‘Open Society’**, OAK Foundation**, MacArthur Foundation**…
Therefore, the price tag of the publications and videos of AP’s journalists about the ‘slaughter in Bucha’ is: $700 000 from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting and $2 million from the MacArthur Foundation… As to nonmaterial perks received from the Associated Press as an encouragement, we can mention the possibility to produce a series of exclusive videos covering trips of the head of the Kiev regime Vladimir Zelensky through the territory of Ukraine.
PUNITIVE COLLUSION OF GLOBAL MEDIA
And now we want to remind our readers of other hoaxers of the ‘slaughter in Bucha’: the agency France-Press (AFP), Le Monde, BBC World Service, Reuters, The New York Times…
Through these influential media outlets, not only public opinion was formed, but also a whole set of ‘artificial proofs’ with which they diligently ‘pushed’ only the Ukrainian version about Bucha. Any doubts, objections or even usual questions not corresponding with the the needed interpretation of events, were instantly called ‘Russian disinformation’. A real punitive collusion of Western media within the frameworks of ‘common interest’ and working off grants. For instance, practically all main mass media in France one can easily call ‘budget receivers of the Elysée Palace.
FRANCE
The phrase ‘France’s free press’ in Bucha worked off an order’ is not a completely accurate statement. In Bucha the ‘free press of France – Le Monde, Liberation, Le Figaro and others – more likely worked off the budget money that regularly comes from Macron’s government – on ‘common interests’ an ‘for support of pluralism’, as well as other expenses. The payments go through France’s Ministry of Culture. As of the spring of 2022, such ‘common interest’ for the French mass media and Macron’s regime was the narrative about ‘Russia’s strategic defeat’ as well as ardent servicing of Kiev’s regime.
Extract of the chart ’50 French mass media outlets that received the most part of individual payments in 2022. Based on the data of France’s Ministry of Culture
The Agency France-Press (AFP) was ‘conspicuous’ in Bucha as a world ‘independent agency’ among the first of its kind. AFP’s photos with copses in Bucha and comments from ‘Ukrainian sources’ were seen, probably, by everyone. But few saw the budget infusions from the state in the work of the ‘independent AFP’.
Let’s open the budget of France of 2022 – 2023. We see the whole volume of state financing of AFP to the amount of 135 million euros. We close the budget document. It’s possible, of course, to hear once more adages like ‘this money doesn’t influence information policy of the media outlet’. Perhaps, it is so inside of France. But on the anti-Russian direction in France’s mass media the situation is so ‘diverse’ that it hardly differs from the frenzy of nurslingsfrom the U.S. Agency for Global Media**.
The respectful ‘independent’ publications – Le Monde, Liberation, Le Figaro etc. – are receiving rather regularly budget money on ‘common interests’, ‘on transport and delivery expenses’, on ‘support of pluralism’ and so on and so forth. We repeat that payments are going through France’s Ministry of Culture.
And, as a make-weight, extremely characteristic are contracts and subscriptions to the French AFP in the American state sector. For instance, a contract with the well-known in the whole world because of its toxicity the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) - an agreement amounting to 6,6 million dollars.
Or, as it turned out, a serious subscriber of AFP was the U.S. Ministry of Defense (at present Ministry of War). Here is a subscription to the tune of $148,368.00 under the contract of 9 September 2022. The sum looks like a ‘bonus for Bucha’.
GREAT BRITAIN
Everybody knows, of course, about state mass media in Great Britain. But it is interesting to note that, just before ‘Bucha’, on 24 March, 2022, the British BBC was ‘strengthen’ by purpose money. The British government announced that ‘the BBC World Service’ will receive additional 4,1 million pounds. ‘The financing ‘will cover urgent and unexpected expenses’ in connection with the incursion into Ukraine and will help the corporation to struggle against disinformation. Moreover, ‘the BBC already receives direct state financing to the amount of 100 million pounds from the Foreign Office”, was pointed out at the same time in the report of the newspaper The Guardian.
USA
It’s similar in the United States – ‘independent investigators of Bucha’ were sitting not only on private grants but also on direct state support and they, in fact, were fulfilling a state order. For each budget cent ‘independent investigators’ have to report, although they don’t necessarily make a show of such financial injections. In 2025, when the pyramid of the USAID was shattered and senseless and very dubious expenses of the U.S. budget started to drop off, American conservative publications paid attention to the fact that ‘independent mass media’ which in the United States they relate to ‘crazy left’, were sitting firm on state financing.
And now, for understanding, some of those who actively jumped through Bucha and its outskirts.
Reuters. According to the data of the system of state grants and contracts, the agency Reuters received 10,6 million dollars from federal agencies, beginning from 2020.
But the most interesting developments started when the contract was exposed of “Thomas Reuters Special Services, LLC (TRSS) with Pentagon (DARPA) amounting to about 9 million dollars. The contract started in November 2018 under president Trump and ended in November 2022. In 2025, Trump, who returned to power, demanded ‘to return immediately this money’ having decided that this was a scheme. This money was not directly related to Ukraine, even though it shows us both ordering customers and the level of ‘independence’ of the agency Reuters itself.
Interesting clients were found also of ‘Reuters News & Media Inc.’: The Agency for Global Media, U.S. State Department and Pentagon (DOD).
The newspaper ‘The New York Times’ prepared and disseminated materials about ‘the slaughter in Bucha’ in an enforced mode –satellite images from the intelligence community, leaks of materials provided by Ukrainian secret services, and all in interpretation ‘suitable’ for ordering customers, but with short reservations about bodies: ‘the reason of death is not known’. This short phrase the disseminators, obviously, were ‘loosing’ during presentation and forming a narrative (In the second part of our investigation we will tell about how mass media obtained satellite images).
A series of materials were correlated with the Ukrainian side. As a helper (accomplice) during the process of preparing articles for the New York Times functioned an NGO under cover – C4ADS 9, The Center for Advanced Defense Studies Inc. EIN: 73-1681366) –skilled experts with regards to civilian ‘combing up of data bases’ in order to form accusations against the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
(See the investigation ‘Sink Tanks of CIA’. Who provided information for ‘investigations of independent journalists’ from the anti-Russian publications ‘Meduza’, ‘Important Stories’, ‘Project’ and others. ‘Civilian’ intelligence personnel of the Center for Advanced Defense Studies – C4ADS’.)
Among indirect and direct sponsors of the New York times in 2022 were the U.S. Ministry of Defense, the Justice Department and, of course, the State Department.
As we see, the whole work of ’independent mass media’ that replicated bloody stories about ‘atrocities in Bucha’ were supplied with money and information by USA, Britain, France, Western intelligence community and Ukrainian secret services. And time was needed in order to figure it all out substantively. When evens with time are becoming history, financial traces open a possibility to know a bit more. End of the first part.
’13 DAYS BEFORE THE START OF THE SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATION’
In the second part of our investigation we will prove that the preparation for total accusations of Russia of ‘atrocities and war crimes’ was launched before the begin of the Special military operation.
Author: Buba Filin
See the Russian version at: «Буча по предварительному сговору. Мистификаторы «Резни в Буче». $750 000 из бюджета США для спецпроекта Associated Press. Часть 1
* Foreign agents, extremists, terrorists, war criminals; ** Extremist terrorist undesirable forbidden organizations:
* Khodorkovsky Mikhail Borisovich, born 26.06.1963, Identification Number of a Taxpayer (INN) 770200035117, Individual Insurance Account Number (SNILS) 168-196-008 95 – on 20.05.2022 was acknowledged by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation as physical person fulfilling function of a foreign agent. Included in the Registry of foreign agents with No 389. In 2015, Russia included Khodorkovsky in an international wanted list in connection with the case of his involvement in the murder of the mayor of the town Nefteyugansk Vladimir Petukhov and attempted murder of the entrepreneur Yevgeny Rybin; Apart from that, a criminal case is opened against Mikhail Khodorkovsky in accordance with Article 205.2 Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Coder of the Russian Federation (public callings for carrying out terrorist activities). He was included, on November 19, 2025, by the agency Rosfinmonitoring in the Russian Index of terrorists and extremists;
** Center ‘Dossier’ – by the decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation of 27.09.2024 was included in the Index of foreign agents;
** Yale University, USA – by the Decision of the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation of 08.07.2025 this university is acknowledged as undesirable organization on the territory of the Russian Federation