• OCCRP article.

At the beginning of March 2022, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the European Union imposed sanctions against the Russian state television channel RT (formerly Russia Today) for “playing a significant role in instigating and supporting military aggression against Ukraine, as well as in destabilizing its neighboring countries.” At the same time, American streaming services disconnected RT from their networks, and RT America announced its closure. Google blocked the YouTube channels of RT and Sputnik (RT’s news agency) worldwide. In September 2024, the U.S. imposed sanctions against the channel, and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, blocked the holding’s accounts.

Attempts to bypass the blocks by creating copies of the channels did not work: YouTube blocked them for violating hosting rules within just a few hours.

Likely after this, the television channel chose a different strategy — releasing content via blogs which are formally unconnected to the editorial staff. IStories discovered several channels linked to RT — they publish old videos of the television channel under the guise of their own, advocate in support of the war in Ukraine, criticize the policies of Western governments, and actively promote the relocation of foreigners to Russia — for “traditional values.”

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