Investigation: Where does Russian disinformation incubate in US?
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Where does Russian disinformation incubate in US?

One KSORS board member — and regular guest of Russian Center New York — was Edward Lozansky, whose career is even more intriguing than Branson’s.

Lozansky is a former Soviet physicist who fled to the United States but then spent much of his life cozying up to both the Kremlin and the political right in the U.S.

He published pro-Kremlin articles on platforms including RT. But that’s only a fraction of his work. He founded the club Russia House and the annual World Russia Forum event, both of which brought together Russian VIPs and U.S. political movers and shakers. In earlier years, it attracted many American lawmakers but its star faded as Russia ramped up militarism in the 2010s.

Lozansky would come to know many important conservatives. He knew conservative icon Paul Weyrich, who founded a huge number of powerful organizations, including the Heritage Foundation and Free Congress Foundation. Through his many organizations and events such as Russia House and World Russia Forum, Lozansky would get to know even more.

Weyrich’s Free Congress Foundation sponsored Lozansky’s American University in Moscow and the World Russia Forum. Weyrich once wrote an angry letter slamming the FBI for not granting enough visas to participate in the World Russia Forum in the early 2000s. He mentioned that some of these people are Russian businessmen, lawmakers and other government servants.

Wikileaks in 2009 released a hacked email from Stratfor consultancy’s Eurasia analyst Lauren Goodrich saying Lozansky “has a crazy reputation to where ppl say they aren’t sure exactly who he works for. Americans say he is part of the Putin disinformation club and Russians say he is CIA conspiracy… lots of rumors on both sides. I haven’t met him yet, but hear among the inner circles that he is owned by Surkov. His info is too…. pro-Russian underneath.”

Lozansky was active in the lobbying space. He wrote a book in Russian entitled “Ethnic groups and lobbying in the United States,” which was published by International Relations, a publisher launched by the Soviet Foreign Ministry. He once sued then-U.S. President Barack Obama in an effort to get certain sanctions removed from Russia.

His name also appears on a list of contacts in a FARA filing by the Mark Saylor Company lobbying firm in 2010. The company was registering to work for the republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two breakaway states created by Russian military meddling in sovereign nations, much like what it’s done in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

The former physicist is acquainted with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. They both graduated from the prestigious National Research Nuclear University and Kislyak was a regular at Lozansky’s events.

Lozansky now heads the American University in Moscow, whose fellows included many disinformation writers, including the creator of The Duran, Alexander Mercouris. Through the university, Lozansky also hosted events in Moscow.

Lozansky also contributed to the Russian think tank Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF), which is directed by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service and is closely affiliated with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs according to the U.S. State Department. SCF was sanctioned by the U.S. for allegedly interfering in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

It regularly publishes misleading articles in English.

Lozansky has not replied to a request for comment about him or his university.