Social anthropologist Alexandra Arkhipova*, who became a victim of the informant, conducted an investigation and established that behind the pseudonym «Anna Korobkova», known for mass informing, likely stands a journalist from Yekaterinburg, Ivan Abaturov. The Russian service of BBC* published the results of her research.
«Anna Korobkova» became known after numerous reports against teachers, human rights activists, and journalists, accusing them of «discrediting» the Russian army and calling for their dismissal or prosecution. Arkhipova collected more than 70 such letters addressed to various institutions and agencies.
In the fall of 2022, a letter signed by «Anna Vasilievna Korobkova» was sent to the leadership of RANEPA, in which the applicant requested Arkhipova's dismissal from the university for «immoral misconduct», which, in her opinion, consisted of spreading «false information discrediting the Special Military Operation in Ukraine» in an interview with «Dozhd»**. «Korobkova» also suggested that the university leadership forward the materials on Arkhipova to the prosecutor's office.
It turned out that similar reports with a similar style and text structure were written about several dozen people. By the end of 2024, Arkhipova collected 74 texts signed by «Korobkova», who wrote reports on teachers, academics, university professors, human rights activists, doctors, and lawyers.
The media began writing about the serial informant, and she willingly communicated, but only in writing, stating that she lives in a city with a population of more than 1.5 million people, has a humanitarian education, has teaching experience, is not married, and has no children.
BBC «Korobkova» reported that she does not show her face due to threats. In 2023, a correspondent asked her to give an interview via audio call or show photos of her documents, but «Korobkova» refused.
At the same time, she reported that from February to September 2023, she wrote 1357 reports, including to the prosecutor's office, military prosecutor's office, FSB, FSIN, Ministry of Justice, and other agencies.
In early December 2024, Arkhipova discovered a page about «Anna Vasilievna Korobkova» on Russian-language «Wikipedia», noting that the style of the article about her was very similar to the letters of «Korobkova» herself. The page published many scans of responses from Russian agencies to «Korobkova's» reports.
Judging by the edit history of the article on «Wikipedia», it was almost entirely written overnight on October 5 by a user named «Arkady2023».
This user also uploaded photos from various events in Yekaterinburg, mainly from the «Yeltsin Center», taken with a Panasonic DMC-FT4 camera. This camera model was used by few «Wikimedia Commons» users, and only one of them was from Russia. This was a user with the nickname «Ivan Abaturov». In addition, the texts of «Korobkova» and Abaturov have the same lexical and grammatical features and errors, as well as thematic blocks and text structure.
Ivan Abaturov — a journalist from Yekaterinburg, previously known for his propensity for informing. In 2019, he wrote on social networks: «A journalist under Stalin was a walking prosecutor. I want to be like that too!» In the summer of 2022, he became involved in a scandal related to a complaint against the publishing house «Nestor-History». According to his statement, one of the published books contained «false information about the activities of the USSR during World War II». After that, law enforcement officers arrived at the publishing house's office. After this, «Korobkova's» active activities began.
* Recognized in Russia as «foreign agents».
** Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent» and «undesirable» organization.
Photo: BBC