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Colonel-turned-journalist: A closer look at Vitaly Denisov, the recently deported Sputnik Moldova bureau chief
On September 13, Moldovan migration officers issued a deportation order to Vitaly Denisov, the head of the Sputnik Moldova news agency. “The order said that I threaten the national security of Moldova and I am banned from entering the country for 10 years,” Denisov said upon arrival in Moscow. Russian propagandist Dmitry Kiselev, CEO of the state-owned Rossiya Segodnya news agency, immediately reacted to the deportation, saying: “The destructive policy of the Moldovan authorities crosses all adequate boundaries of interstate relations.” Maria Zakharova, director of the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry's Press and Information Department, also commented: “This is another example of how the current Moldovan government doesn't seem to value democracy. They don't understand what it is, nor do they understand free speech and the rights of journalists.”
Meanwhile, as revealed by Radio Liberty's Moldovan service, Denisov has a shaky connection to journalism, and is likely a member of Russia’s 72nd Special Service Center (Military Unit No. 54777), which is involved in spreading “fake news” and handling disinformation campaigns targeting foreign audiences in the interests of the GRU (Russia’s military intelligence agency).
Born in 1967 in Transcarpathia (Zakarpattia Oblast in Ukraine), Vitaly Denisov pursued his education at the Lviv Higher Military Political School (LVVPU) after completing his secondary schooling. The LVVPU primarily trained individuals for roles as cultural and educational organizers (political officers) and military journalists.
“Especially memorable were the grueling classes on how to cover our invasion of Afghanistan,” former LVVPU cadet Sergei Petrenko told The Insider. “They taught us to write in such a way as not to speak of our human losses and losses of equipment, and they constantly insinuated that the Americans wanted to place their missiles in Afghanistan. At that time it was called ‘providing international aid to the friendly Afghan people.’ Of course, they also taught us the basics of conspiracy and military intelligence gathering.”
The LVVPU, where Denisov studied, was renamed the Hetman Petro Sahaidachny National Army Academy in 2009. In July 2023, the Russian army struck the academy with Kalibr missiles and destroyed one of its buildings.
In 1988, Denisov was issued certificate No. DB 035837, signed by Lieutenant General Oleg Zolotarev, the LVVPU’s deputy head.