Javier Gallardo likes to start his mornings by watching a classical music program on television. It is his routine, giving him a refreshing moment before heading to work as a truck driver. But one morning last month, when he turned on his TV, instead of music, he saw news related to war. The screen displayed a logo of a channel he had never heard of before. He asked himself, What is going on? After 20 minutes, he turned the TV off. At the bottom corner of his TV screen, there was a green logo with the letters RT. Upon further search, he discovered it was a Russian channel. In Chile, a private TV channel, Telecanal, has been accused of giving its signal to the state-backed Russian broadcaster RT, formerly known as Russia Today. The country’s broadcasting regulator has launched an investigation into possible violations of broadcasting law and is now awaiting the channel management’s response. Viewers of this channel, however, remain confused. Javier Gallardo said, “I was shocked. The channel management made no announcement before doing this. I had no idea why they did it.” Over the past three years, Russia’s state-backed news channel RT and news agency Radio Sputnik have expanded their international coverage. They are now establishing presence in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Experts say this expansion came after Western countries and the United States banned RT broadcasts.
Following Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, RT faced restrictions from the US, the UK, Canada, the European Union, and major tech companies for spreading disinformation about the war. In 2024, US authorities imposed sanctions on RT executives – including its Editor-in-Chief, Margarita Simonyan – accusing them of undermining public trust. These sanctions coincided with allegations that Russia was attempting to interfere in US presidential elections, with RT being accused of involvement, though the network denied these claims. Despite Western restrictions, experts argue that RT has managed to expand its influence globally. In 2023, RT opened a bureau in Algeria and launched a TV service in Serbia. It also introduced free training programs for journalists in Africa, South Asia, India, and China. The broadcaster has even announced plans to open an office in India. Meanwhile, Sputnik launched a newsroom in Ethiopia earlier this year. This expansion comes at a time when Western media is facing budget cuts and some countries are shifting their foreign policy priorities. Many Western outlets have reduced or shut down services in different regions. Two years ago, a major international broadcaster ended its Arabic radio service and shifted to digital, but later restored emergency radio services for Gaza and Sudan. Seizing this gap, Russia launched a 24-hour RT radio service in Lebanon. Similarly, in 2023, Voice of America – a US government-funded broadcaster – laid off much of its staff. Dr. Kathryn Stoner, a political scientist at Stanford University, said: “Russia is like water. Wherever there is a crack in the cement, it seeps in.” But analysts are also questioning: What will be the outcome of Russia’s efforts? And what do they mean for the changing world order?
Professor Stephen Hutchings, an expert in Russian Studies at the University of Manchester, explains that countries outside the West provide fertile ground—intellectually, culturally, and ideologically—due to their existing anti-American and anti-Western sentiments. He points out that Russian propaganda campaigns are crafted with precision, tailored to match the ideological mindset and cultural sensitivities of audiences in specific regions. For example, while in Western nations RT (Russia Today) is widely regarded as a propaganda broadcaster spreading disinformation, in many other countries it is perceived as a legitimate media outlet with a coherent editorial policy. According to Hutchings, many viewers fall into the trap of state-sponsored disinformation simply because they fail to recognize the manipulation behind it. Similarly, Dr. Rhys Crilley, a lecturer in International Relations at the University of Glasgow, stresses that RT’s global coverage has the potential to influence audiences worldwide. In particular, he notes that its narratives resonate strongly with those who are already frustrated by global inequalities and systemic injustices, and who often hold the West responsible for fueling these problems.
The RT website is designed to look like a standard professional news outlet, and it even reports some stories accurately. However, Dr. Precious Chatterjee-Doody, a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Studies at the Open University, argues that this is a very carefully executed form of manipulation. Dr. Chatterjee-Doody, along with Professor Stephen Hutchings, Dr. Rhys Crilley, and other researchers, co-authored a book analyzing RT’s media strategies. Their study examined RT news bulletins between May 2017 and May 2019 and concluded that the narratives were constructed to reinforce Russia’s state-driven agenda. For example, while RT gave extensive coverage to protests across European countries, it avoided reporting similar demonstrations within Russia, instead highlighting stories about military exercises. The research also revealed multiple cases of false claims. After Russia’s 2014 military intervention in Crimea, RT portrayed the annexation as a “peaceful reunification.” Similarly, during the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, RT consistently dismissed accusations of war crimes. Analysts further noted that RT published misleading reports shifting blame onto Ukraine for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in July 2014, even though investigations by the United Nations and international experts confirmed that Russia was responsible. Between 2018 and 2022, researchers also conducted interviews with 109 people in the UK who had watched RT before its broadcasting license was revoked. According to Dr. Chatterjee-Doody, many of these viewers admitted that they felt RT’s coverage was biased and agenda-driven, despite its professional appearance.
According to Professor Hutchings, the most significant recent expansion of Russian state media has taken place in Africa. In February, Russian officials traveled to Ethiopia to launch a new bureau. which already broadcasts in parts of Africa in both English and French. Recently, the network also added Amharic, one of Ethiopia’s official languages. The Editor-in-Chief of RT stated that the outlet has redirected its resources from London, Paris, Berlin, and the United States to focus on Africa. The goal is to reorganize its French-language channel to specifically target French-speaking African nations. Last year, Russian state media claimed that RT had established seven bureaus across Africa, though this figure has not been independently verified. Analysts point out that many Africans already hold favorable views of Russia, partly due to anti-colonial and anti-imperialist sentiments, as well as the Soviet Union’s historical support for independence movements during the Cold War. Dr. Rhys Crilley notes that with this renewed focus, Russia hopes to undermine Western influence, secure greater political support for its actions, and expand economic partnerships across African nations.
When RT launched its first online training course aimed at educating African reporters and bloggers, international observers also joined to study how the program operated. RT’s Director General, Alexey Nikolov, told the students: “We are the best in fact-checking and have never been caught spreading false information.” One of the sessions focused on how to prevent misinformation. The instructor controversially claimed that the 2018 chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria, carried out by the Assad regime with Russian support, was merely “a common example of fake news.” This completely ignored the findings of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which after a two-year investigation confirmed that the attacks were conducted by the Syrian Air Force. Similarly, the instructor dismissed the 2022 Bucha massacre in Ukraine, in which Russian forces executed large numbers of Ukrainian civilians, as “the most well-known fake story.” This was despite evidence presented by United Nations commissions and independent investigations that directly held the Russian military responsible. Many participants in the course appeared disturbed. However, some felt that RT was positioning itself as a global broadcaster comparable to CNN or Al Jazeera. In late 2024, an Ethiopian journalist who had attended the training echoed RT’s narrative by calling the Bucha massacre “a staged event.” His social media profile even displayed a photo of Vladimir Putin, reflecting the influence of Russian propaganda. Meanwhile, a journalist from Sierra Leone admitted that misinformation and disinformation were real dangers, but added that “every media outlet has its own way of presenting the news.”
According to Professor Hutchings, in the Middle East, Russian state media outlets like RT Arabic and Sputnik Arabic are tailoring their coverage of the Israel-Gaza war to attract audiences that are sympathetic to the Palestinians. Elsewhere, including Latin America, RT is also working to expand its reach. According to its website, RT is available free-to-air in 10 countries across the region, including Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela. It is also accessible on cable television in 10 additional countries. Cuban and Mexican historian Dr. Armando Chaguaceda explains that Spanish-language free-to-air television is a key factor in RT’s success. Although RT has been banned on YouTube worldwide since 2022, it continues to operate in some countries. In Argentina, 52-year-old carpenter Aníbal Begoria says that RT provides a comprehensive review of news across all Latin American countries. He records RT’s reports from television and uploads them to YouTube. In his words: “Everyone has the right to decide what they believe is true.”
Measuring the global impact of Russian state-backed media is not easy. RT claims it is available in more than 100 countries with an audience of over 900 million viewers, while in 2024, its content reportedly received a total of 23 billion views. However, Dr. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, a professor of communication at the University of Copenhagen, argues that availability does not necessarily mean that people are actually watching. He also points out that the figure of 900 million viewers is questionable and can be easily manipulated. Another central narrative promoted by Russian broadcasters is the idea that NATO expansion justified Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. While Western governments reject this justification as baseless, Russian state-controlled outlets continue to repeat it to strengthen their messaging. Experts note that in Mexico and several Latin American countries, this Russian narrative has gained traction, largely due to Russian media influence in Latin America. Many governments in the region have avoided labeling Russia’s actions in Ukraine as outright aggression. During the first United Nations General Assembly vote after the invasion, a majority of countries condemned the war. Yet 52 nations, including Bolivia, Mali, Nicaragua, South Africa, and Uganda, either voted against the resolution, abstained, or chose not to participate.
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