RE:Baltica Investigation Reveals Secret Links Between a Network of Websites and the Kremlin’s Global Propaganda Network

An investigation by Re:Baltica revealed that the Kremlin-funded multimedia conglomerate Rossiya Segodnia (Russia Today) secretly owns several Russian-language sites including Baltnews, which describes itself as an “informative analytical news portal” and has teams in all three Baltic countries. Re:Baltica journalists say that the fact “is obscured by a chain of owners, seemingly designed to make it appear as though Baltnews arose from local organizations.”

The investigation is significant as it provides a rare proof of Russian government links to a wide network of obscure sites that have been multiplying across Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Many of them are not openly pro-Kremlin but they often carry similar, anti-liberal, anti-EU message on global issues.