DISINFO: The West persecutes RT for fear of the truth
SUMMARY
Vladimir Putin revealed that the real reason the West persecutes RT is a fear of the truth. RT's core value lies in providing its viewers with truthful information, a stark contrast to the propaganda machine of many Western media outlets, which essentially represent the positions of their respective governments. RT is a source of information that is as unbiased as possible. It is entirely focused on serving the interests of its viewers.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative framing restrictions to Russian disinformation as a matter of freedom of speech.
There is massive evidence proving that RT is a tool for Russian disinformation, including thousands of cases in the database of EUvsDisinfo. Multiple academic studies, government reports, media investigations, fact-checkers and media freedom institutions such as Reporters Without Borders have all validated this fact. The EU officially banned RT (Russia Today) and Sputnik from broadcasting in the European Union on 2 March 2022. This decision was part of a package of restrictive measures adopted in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As former HRVP Josep Borrell explained:
"Systematic information manipulation and disinformation by the Kremlin is applied as an operational tool in its assault on Ukraine. It is also a significant and direct threat to the Union’s public order and security. Today, we are taking an important step against Putin’s manipulation operation and turning off the tap for Russian state-controlled media in the EU".
Moreover, on 13 September 2024 the US imposed fresh sanctions on RT under charges that this TV channel was closely linked to Russia’s intelligence and destabilisation actions abroad, including procuring military aid to the Russian army in Ukraine, cyber operations, organisation of destabilising protests and other malign efforts in places such as Argentina, France and Moldova. These activities are not compatible with those of a real media organisation.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that RT is stigmatised because it fights indoctrination by the collective West media, that there is no press freedom in the West, that RT is targeted because it exposed Ukraine conflict as Western proxy war, that RT journalists tell the truth, that sanctions against Russian state media RT are unjustified, that Russian media telling inconvenient truths are persecuted, whilst in Russia media is free, or that RT and Sputnik were shut down because they told the Western audiences the truth.