# Center for Geopolitical Expertise The Center for Geopolitical Expertise (CGE) is a Moscow think tank founded by [[Alexander Dugin]], the ideologue of [[Eurasianism]], and headed by Valery Korovin. On paper it is a nonprofit producing geopolitical analysis. In practice, according to U.S., EU and UK sanctions findings, it is an office through which Russian military intelligence funds [[Storm-1516]]: it has run or supported [[Mark Dougan]]'s network of fake news sites and made the deepfakes they carry. It is where Dugin's ideological circle and the [[GRU]]'s covert-action budget meet. ## What the governments found - **United States, December 31, 2024.** Treasury sanctioned CGE for interfering in the [[2024 Presidential Election]] and as an entity acting for the GRU. It found that CGE ran a network of more than 100 fake news sites and used generative AI to make deepfakes, including a manipulated video of a vice-presidential candidate. It also found that the GRU paid for CGE's AI server and its rent. Korovin was sanctioned personally the same day. - **European Union, July 15, 2025.** The EU listed CGE in its hybrid-threats sanctions, describing it as "a Moscow-based think tank founded by Aleksandr Dugin, and headed by Valery Korovin," reportedly producing AI deepfakes and "supporting a network of hundreds of fake news websites," and "alleged to have worked closely with Russia's military intelligence agency (GRU), receiving financial support." - **United Kingdom, December 9, 2025.** The UK sanctioned CGE together with Dugin, saying it funded and directed Russian information-manipulation networks and "supported the Storm-1516 network." ## The GRU inside the think tank The Washington Post reported in October 2024 on documents obtained by a European intelligence service. They show a GRU officer, Yury Khoroshenky, serving as CGE's deputy director under the cover name "Khoroshevsky." Two European security officials said Khoroshenky is in [[Unit 29155]]. From April 2022 he paid Dougan's Moscow bank account. The Post also reported a 2019 letter from Korovin to the Defense Ministry proposing an internet war against the United States: "The possibilities posed by internet wars really are limitless." France's [[VIGINUM]], in its May 6, 2025 report, named Khoroshenky as the central coordinator of Storm-1516. Recorded Future's 2025 research describes the network as run "with support from" CGE and the GRU. Korovin dismissed the documents as "accidentally combined moments of information." Dugin called any suggestion of GRU affiliation "completely unjustified." No sanction naming Khoroshenky personally has been found. ## Registration U.S. and EU sanctions records list the organization as the International Non-Profit Foundation Center for Geopolitical Expertise, at Ulitsa Dinamovskaya 1a in Moscow, with websites on Dugin's Eurasian-movement domain. The two records give different founding dates: OFAC lists December 13, 2000, and the EU December 17, 2002. Both are carried here. Korovin was born May 31, 1977, in Vladivostok. ## Why it matters for the KB CGE closes the loop between two parts of the vault that are usually kept separate: Russian ideology and Russian operations. Dugin's Eurasianism appears in the vault as an intellectual influence on parts of the Western far right. CGE shows the same circle working as a front for military intelligence, producing fabricated scandal videos about American candidates in 2024. ## See Also - [[Storm-1516]] - [[Alexander Dugin]] - [[Mark Dougan]] - [[Unit 29155]] - [[GRU]] - [[Eurasianism]] - [[Russian Influence]]