By EU vs Disinfo Russian political decision makers continue to prioritise running disinformation campaigns at home and abroad. One of the implementers of this policy, the chief editor of RT, Margarita Simonyan (above), has compared the network she leads to “a ministry of defence”. Obviously, such high ambitions need a sizable budget. However, when the price tag of the propaganda is made public, the Russians themselves – citizens whose taxes will…
By Polygraph RT (Russia Today)Russian state-owned media outlet“John Taylor Holmes, a retired major general who served as a director of special forces, was on a panel of experts which heard testimony from one of the whistleblowers, identified as ‘Alex.’ ”Source: RT Jan. 27, 2020 Misleading Holmes is among directors of a group with ties to the Assad family. On Jan. 27, the Russian state-owned news agency RT (Russia Today) published…
By Polygraph Margarita SimonyanChief Editor, Rossiya Segodnya“Sputnik Belarus in January had 10 million unique visitors, with the country’s population of 9.5 million. That is more than Radio Svoboda, the Polish BelSat and other foreign media in the country have, combined. I am proud!” Source: Twitter, Feb. 5, 2020 Partly False Simonyan exaggerated the actual number of unique visitors by a factor of two. On Feb. 5, Margarita Simonyan, chief editor…
The pro-Russian site Strana.ua which according to a recent independent fact checking study is in the top five least truthful media outlets announced on January 27 that the deadly Chinese coronavirus strain has been identified in Ukraine. Strana’s fake story was immediately picked up by Russian RT. Ukrainian media also raised a panic but after a while most sites rushed to edit their earlier posts, removing phrases such as “deadly…
By EU vs Disinfo Iran’s admission to shooting down Ukrainian International Airlines’ flight 752 has created big problems for the pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets. This is clearly visible in this week’s cases of disinformation. The pro-Kremlin media started its well-oiled disinformation machinery along well-known narratives: profit-hungry Ukrainians used an old, derelict aircraft, ready for scrapping; only the US had the capacity to shoot down the aircraft – and is methodically shooting…
By EU vs Disinfo Pro-Kremlin media have recently started to express sympathy for Fascism. This is not entirely new: The Web Site News Front, based in illegally annexed Crimea, has been praising Hitler and Nazism; pro-Kremlin Russia Insider is not only attempting to whitewash Nazism, but is also openly anti-Semitic. But recently, this passion for Fascism seems to have reached new levels. Here are some quotes from January 2020: “Mussolini…
By Polygraph Margarita SimonyanChief Editor of RT (Russia Today) and Rossiya Segodnya“This is how it is today in Iran. The picture of our agency Ruptly. On Fox News, NBC and Bloomberg there is no such picture. More precisely, there is no picture from the protests. As well as [no] mention of the protests themselves.” Source: Twitter, Jan. 3, 2020 False Contrary to Simonyan’s claim, Fox News, NBC and Bloomberg –…
By Polygraph Walid MuallemSyrian Foreign Minister“The Americans are using ISIS as a scarecrow. At the same time they are feeding ISIS, encourage them, protect ISIS leaders and help them move from one area to another.” Source: RT, Dec. 25, 2019 False The U.S. fights Islamic State. On Dec. 25, the Russian state-owned media outlet RT (Russia Today) published an interview with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muhallem, in which he accused…
By EU vs Disinfo The Russian federal budget draft for 2020 is in and it shows that state-owned media will receive 1.3 billion euros next year; a big jump from the current almost 1 billion. The single biggest beneficiary is the TV News channel RT (Russia Today), which will receive almost 23 billion roubles or 325 million euros, according to the draft. Needless to say, RT’s funding has been growing…
By EU vs Disinfo Up to 6.2 million Syrians have fled their homes inside Syria since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, and 5.6 million have been forced to take refuge in neighbouring countries. Of the 6.2 million refugees, only about 3 per cent – 170,000 people – have returned to Syria since 2016, according to UN records. The returns of Syrian refugees and displaced people have been making headlines in Russian…
