Western journalists have labelled RT, Russia’s state-controlled international television network, as the Kremlin’s “lie machine,” “Putin’s weapon of mass deception,” or even as an active participant in “Russia’s propaganda Blitzkrieg”. However, there is less scholarship on the network, particularly addressing the reasons for its reported success at recruiting a global audience. After a brief topography of Russian foreign-language broadcasting, this article explores this gap in three stages, first explaining why disguise is important to RT’s role as Russia’s information weapon. During moments deemed critical, using the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in 2018 as a case study, RT flooded the information space with false or misleading narratives to disrupt Western broadcasting. Here, critical moments denote instances of heightened tension between Russia and the West. This is a subversive campaign that utilizes information within the framework of Giles and Kelushov. During non-critical periods, RT imitates Western news outlets in content and cosmetics to build an image of authenticity and attract a trusting audience. This, in turn, amplifies RT’s subversive campaign during critical moments. Interviews between RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan and Russian journalists support my analysis of RT as Russia’s information weapon and provide a historical perspective on the importance of disguise since the 2008 Georgian War. Second, the article explores RT’s engagement to demonstrate that this tactic is effective in attracting a faithful audience and, therefore, disrupting the narrative space. Finally, the article discusses the possibility of Western countries removing RT’s broadcasting licence, and analyzes disputes between the UK’s broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, and RT.
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