Official position/function regarding the conflict

Along with Russia Today (RT), the Sputnik news agency is often cited as one of Putin’s main propaganda tools in the West.

Sputnik is a project of the international news agency Rossiya Segodnya (formerly RIA Novosti and Voice of Russia), aimed at a foreign audience. The editor-in-chief of Sputnik is Margarita Simonyan, she is also the editor-in-chief of the RT (Russia Today) TV channel and MIA Rossiya Segodnya. The Director-General of Rossiya Segodnya is the propagandist of the Russia-1 channel Dmitry Kiselyov. Sputnik offices are located in Washington, Cairo, Beijing, London, Montevideo, Bishkek, and other cities. Broadcasting is conducted in 30 languages. Sputnik includes a radio station of the same name, websites, and press centers. As a government agency, Sputnik is funded from the state budget.

The style and content of Sputnik’s news broadcasting in relation to Donbas and Ukraine as a whole look like purposeful actions to promote and justify Russia’s actions, criticize Ukraine and the West. The work of Sputnik’s editorial offices in the Baltic countries is particularly aggressive towards Ukraine.

Sputnik broadcasts are blocked in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine. The news agency is often indicated in the reports of Western intelligence services and think tanks as a weapon of Russian propaganda and has been accused of disinformation by Western media and media figures, in particular by French President Emanuel Macron.

In November 2016, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on combating propaganda from Russia and Islamist terrorist groups, which are aimed at “distorting the truth, provoking fear, doubt, and division in the European Union.” The resolution especially noted the “deeds” of RT and Sputnik. All of this is being used to “challenge democratic values,” ensure support for the Kremlin’s policies within Russia and create the illusion of failed states in eastern Europe.

Interests/goals in the conflict region

With regard to the conflict region, Sputnik defends exclusively the political interests of the Kremlin abroad.

Actions regarding the conflict

The news coverage of the events in Donbas by the agency, like other propaganda media, is featured by the absence of its own position, justification, and cover for Russia’s actions, one-sidedness, aggressiveness, manipulation of facts, falsifications. In general, the work on Sputnik can be called not reporting, but deliberate disinformation. The agency actively promoted the idea that Ukraine should say goodbye to Crimea, the version about the Ukrainian trace in the MH17 disaster, myths about the failure of Ukrainian reforms and the economic collapse in Ukraine, about “discrimination of the Russian language” in Ukraine, etc.