media, and 67% in media based in Ukraine. The Russian media had more influence in parts of Donbas. Having spoken to anti-Kyiv protesters in Donetsk in March 2014, Lucian Kim of Reuters said, "In my 20 years as a journalist, I had never experienced such hostility – especially from a group that was supposedly facing persecution. ... Besides a few stock phrases about a "referendum" and "the illegitimate Kyiv junta," I also got no answers as to their motivations. It was like trying to have a conversation with a TV – Russian state TV." In March 2014, Newsweek Polska expressed suspicion that Russia was employing people to "bombard" its website with pro-Russian comments on Ukraine-related articles. Poland's governmental computer emergency response team later confirmed that pro-Russia commentary had "flooded" Polish internet portals at the start of the Ukrainian crisis. In May 2014, The Guardian noted a large number of pro-Kremlin comments on news articles relating to Ukraine, which the newspaper believed was an "orchestrated pro-Kremlin campaign". Süddeutsche Zeitung, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Der Spiegel, and Reuters reported that German-language media websites had been "flooded" with pro-Russia comments since March 2014. Novaya Gazeta, BuzzFeed, Yle, Moi Raion, Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Der Spiegel, The New York Times, and others reported on allegations that a Russian company, the Internet Research Agency, employed hundreds of workers to write comments in both Russian and western news sites. Dubbed a "troll factory/house/farm" by the media, it operates out of a building on Savushkin Street in Saint Petersburg, following a move from the outskirts of the city. The agency may also have a location in Moscow. Jürg Vollmer of Watson.ch reported that Putin had developed the company since 2011 to "systematically manipulate public opinion on the Internet." Ilya Klishin of Dozhd said his sources suggested that Russian expats in Germany, India, and Thailand were also involved. Russian blogger Anton Nosik said in August 2014 that "Comments were already serving as a well-financed Kremlin instrument of war against the opposition, even five years ago ... But what's absolutely clear is that now they're spending more money on Ukraine than they ever spent against Alexei Navalny, or Ekho Moskvy, "Kommersant," gazeta.ru, and all the rest." Paid commenters may earn 45,000 roubles a month or 65,000 if they know a foreign language. Their tasks included presenting Ukraine as a tool to weaken Russia, the Ukrainian government as fascist, Vladimir Putin