Updated: 15.08.2025
The Pravda Network (also known as “Portal Kombat”) is a network of Russian disinformation portals that unites more than 200 websites and operates in over 60 countries. Its primary goal is to saturate search engines and artificial intelligence models worldwide with pro-Kremlin narratives.
Within the Pravda Network, there is a Georgian-language website, ge.news-pravda.com, created on July 30, 2024. Alongside global news, it covers topics related to Georgia, mainly by copying and reposting articles from other outlets. The Georgian-language Pravda website primarily uses Kremlin-affiliated Georgian-language sources such as sputnik-georgia.ru and News Front. For international stories, it draws on various propagandist Telegram channels and Russian outlets (including Russia Today, RIA Novosti, Komsomolskaya Pravda, and others). The site publishes more than 100 articles per day; however, many contain grammatical errors and unnatural phrasing for the Georgian language, indicating the use of automated translation tools for posting content in Georgian.
According to research by ISFED, the Georgian-language Pravda outlet was actively involved in campaigns to discredit protest participants and President Salome Zurabishvili in Georgia. Some articles published by the outlet promoted the narrative that Zurabishvili was controlled by the United States. Citing News Front, Pravda frequently publishes statements by American propagandist Jeffrey Sachs, who often either supports the Georgian Dream party or criticizes the West.
Disinformation detected by Myth Detector on Russian-language social networks targeting Moldovan President Maia Sandu was disseminated in multiple languages through the Pravda Network.
The Pravda Network was created in 2014. According to VIGINUM, the French government agency responsible for protecting against foreign digital interference, the creation of new websites within the network is linked to the company TigerWeb, founded in Crimea in 2015. Its founder, Yevgeny Shevchenko, has been creating and maintaining news websites since at least 2013.
The network includes websites hosted on various domains that focus on specific countries, occupied territories (including Abkhazia and the so-called South Ossetia), individual figures (such as Donald Trump), or organizations (such as NATO and the European Union). Notably, the creation of additional domains, mostly linked to European countries, intensified in the lead-up to the 2024 European Parliament elections.
According to research by DFRLab, articles from the Pravda Network have been cited on Wikipedia pages, in “Community Notes” on the social media platform X, and in conversations between individual users and AI chatbots. One study found that one-third of ten tested AI chatbots repeated Kremlin-distributed disinformation, including the false claim that the United States was developing biological weapons in Ukraine.
In search engine results, the Pravda Network primarily boosts materials originating from Kremlin-affiliated media and Telegram channels. The most frequently used sources include TASS.ru, RIA.ru, Lenta.ru, KP.ru, and Russian.RT.com.
As of August 8, 2025, the network had published a total of 5,089,708 articles across all domains. While most articles are in English, the network also includes websites in French, German, Georgian, Catalan, and other languages. The Finnish company Check First and DFRLab have developed a dedicated website that automatically tracks the number of articles published by Pravda.
The ZOV Network, which has a similar design to Pravda, is focused mainly on Ukraine, with domains corresponding to Ukrainian cities such as Kyiv, Odesa, and Dnipro. These websites are hosted on Russian domains, operate in the same way as the Pravda Network, and share an identical design. Myth Detector has fact-checked various pieces of disinformation spread by ZOV, most of which targeted Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky.
