On the programme Solovyov-Live, Russian television presenter and propagandist Vladimir Solovyov claimed that the disruption of the vote for the symbol of the new ₽500 ($6) banknote was orchestrated by the Ukrainian Centre for Information and Psychological Operations (CIPSO).
This was reported by pro-war blogger (also known as z-blogger) and founder of the Russian-recognised extremist movement Men’s State, Vladislav Pozdnyakov.
‘The discord over the banknote in the country is the work of the Ukrainian CIPSO’, Solovyov was quoted as saying by Pozdnyakov.
While there are Ukrainian units focused on psychological and information war, the specific unit reportedly named ‘CIPSO’ primarily shows up in Russian media and has been amplified by pro-war bloggers.
The accuracy of the quote cannot be independently verified, as the broadcast has not yet been released.
According to Pozdnyakov, Solovyov also called for Grozny-City to be declared the winner without further polling.
At the same time, the administration of Chechnya is allegedly forcing children to record video appeals demanding the vote be reinstated via the social media platforms VKontakte, Odnoklassniki and email. Pozdnyakov claims that around one million bots were reportedly used through these platforms.
‘They bought hundreds of thousands of VK/OK/email accounts in markets for account purchases, then hired programmers to feed them into software and manipulate them by the hundreds of thousands’, according to Pozdnyakov’s Telegram channel.
In the videos, several dozen teenagers holding Chechen flags with a portrait of Akhmat Kadyrov, the father of current Chechen HeadRamzan Kadyrov, shout: ‘We want to vote through all platforms’, ‘Return our right to vote’, and ‘Akhmat is power’. They identify themselves as youth from the Sernovodsky district.
‘Those rat moves still making me totally fucked up […] Now the whole country knows how you get your victories’, Pozdnyakov commented.
The vote for the symbol of the new ₽500 banknote was launched by the Bank of Russia in early October 2025. Participants were invited to select an image for the reverse side of the banknote. Among the candidates were Mount Elbrus and the skyscraper complex Grozny-City.
The initiative was initially intended as a civic poll, but soon after it began, mutual accusations of mass vote manipulation emerged. Kadyrov reportedly encouraged votes for Grozny-City through four possible methods.
On 12 October, the Bank of Russia announced the cancellation of the voting results, stating that ‘technical attempts were made to increase the number of votes for certain objects’, making it impossible to establish objective results.
After the vote was annulled, Chechen authorities, including Information Minister Ahmed Dudaev, described the outcome as a ‘victory’. At the same time, the Central Bank promises to hold a new vote among the same symbols.
Elizaveta Chukharova
