UPDATE: Slovakia’s Largest News Agency Withdraws from Partnership with Russia’s Sputnik After Less Than 24-Hours
UPDATE: Slovakia’s largest news agency TASR withdrew from its partnership with the Kremlin-funded Sputnik news agency after public criticism mounted against TASR for signing a cooperation agreement with Sputnik. Within 24-hours of Sputnik’s announcement of the new cooperation between the two agencies, TASR has cancelled the agreement.
The Kremlin-funded Sputnik news agency and radio broadcaster signed its first cooperation agreement with Slovakia’s largest news agency TASR. The agencies will exchange English language content as well as develop what Sputnik called “joint projects aiming to strengthen the relations between Russia and Slovakia.”
The network was scrutinized in a January 6 report from U.S. intelligence agencies to the Senate about Russian meddling in the presidential election, with the authors of the report calling Sputnik part of Russia’s “state-run propaganda machine” that specifically targets global audiences. Sputnik broadcasts in over 30 languages, runs a 24-hour news wire and has regional offices in Washington, Cairo, Beijing and Montevideo.