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The foreign influencers helping Russia sell its occupation
Fifteen young visitors from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe were taken on an all-expenses-paid tour of Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast during a state-backed youth festival in September 2026. Their social media posts showed a welcoming destination, including visits to a rebuilt theatre and a shooting range, while leaving out the region’s destruction and repression. Experts say the staged trip could help Russia improve its image, legitimise its occupation and spread pro-Russian messages through visitors’ accounts.
The International Festival of Youth is organised primarily by Russia’s Federal Agency for Youth Affairs and promotes the Kremlin’s vision of a “multipolar world”. Organisers said around 10,000 people attended its main event in Yekaterinburg, half from abroad; Russia’s 2026 budget allocated 4.7 billion roubles, about US$57 million, to the festival directorate. Russia seized parts of Donetsk Oblast in 2014 and occupied more of the region after its 2022 full-scale invasion.
In short
- Fifteen foreign visitors toured Russian-occupied Donetsk Oblast.
- Their posts presented the war-ravaged region as welcoming.
- Experts say the trip could amplify Russian messaging.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
A state-backed visit can be defended as cultural exchange that lets young people see a place directly and share their own impressions. Supporters might argue that showing reconstruction and everyday life challenges accounts that portray the entire region only through destruction, and that visitors remain free to describe what they see.
The case against
Critics argue that a government-funded tour of territory seized and occupied by force is carefully managed public relations, especially when visitors are shown welcoming sites while destruction and repression go unmentioned. Their posts can lend a veneer of independent approval to Russia’s claims and help normalise its occupation without giving audiences a full picture of conditions there.