Banned Russian Channel RT Secretly Pays Video Bloggers Who Promote Kremlin Narratives

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the state-controlled international news channel RT has all but disappeared from Western screens.

The European Union banned the outlet, formerly known as Russia Today, in a matter of days, describing it as “essential and instrumental” in promoting the war. In the United States, RT was dropped from streaming platforms, its YouTube channel was blocked, and its local service shut down. Eventually RT was sanctioned by the U.S. government, and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, blocked its accounts as well.

But the outlet’s efforts to promote pro-Russian material in the West have continued. A new investigation by iStories, OCCRP’s Russian partner in exile, has identified several supposedly independent influencers who have received funds from RT.

On their channels, these influencers push the Kremlin line on Ukraine, glorify the Russian military, and deny Russian war crimes. Another common theme is actively promoting the idea of Westerners moving to Russia for its “traditional values.” None have publicly disclosed any relationship with RT.

RT has been accused of similar tactics before. In September 2024, two of its employees were indicted in the U.S. for allegedly financing an American company that paid right-wing influencers millions of dollars to promote a pro-Russian agenda. The company closed, and the RT employees — presumably in Russia — are unlikely to ever face a U.S. court.

In response to a request for comment from Reuters at the time, RT ridiculed the indictment: “Three things are certain in life: death, taxes and RT's interference in the U.S. elections,” it told reporters.

The channel did not respond to requests for comment about iStories’ new reporting.

“The traditional goal of propaganda is to attract ‘useful idiots’ into your camp,” says Anna Fenko, an associate professor at the University of Amsterdam's Faculty of Social Sciences. “Attracting them is cheaper than, for example, bribing politicians. You don't need to spend millions. A few bloggers will cost a few pennies. Then they [RT] hope to influence politicians in this way.”

The Kremlin's narratives about traditional values and anti-migrant rhetoric are designed to take advantage of discontent in the West, Fenko says. “For those who don't like migrants, they will produce content about how there are many migrants in Europe, but everything is fine in Russia.”

“You can't convince a person who is doing well to support Putin. But a person who feels wronged by his own government, unrepresented by the media — such a person will listen to this propaganda.”

"I'm Doing a Great Job"

Real Reporter, a YouTube channel with nearly 300,000 subscribers, promises viewers “authentic, balanced, and unbiased content” in a polarized world.

Registered in late March 2022 — a month after the Russian invasion — it began as a sort of Russia-focused travel blog, showcasing the extreme winters in the country’s far northeastern regions.

In one of his first videos from April 2022, the channel’s affable host Konstantin Rozhkov, who speaks perfect English with a barely-discernible accent, uses frozen fruit and vegetables to hammer nails into a board. This, he explains, is how cold it is in Siberia.

Soon enough, however, Rozhkov began to produce more political content. Among other topics, his videos have highlighted Russia’s growing economy, pointed out the ineffectiveness of Western sanctions, and featured foreigners from across the world who have moved to Russia for a better life.

One of his latest videos — ‘Why Russian Women Are Taking Up Arms’ — profiles a group of women, “trained by Wagner fighters,” who have organized in support of the invasion of Ukraine.

The video has attracted well over 2,000 enthusiastic comments, many from foreign viewers. “Thank you for showing the complexity of the Russian people and not imposing stereotypes,” writes one commenter. “I hate this war,” writes another. “And I love the Russian people. I pray President Trump will stop it.”

So who is Konstantin Rozhkov? A few months after launching his channel, the blogger released a video about himself. Sitting down in front of the camera, he explained that he spent over a decade covering international news for various Russian TV channels before getting a job with RT’s documentary division — thanks in part to his excellent English, which he perfected by working as a waiter in Florida.

Soon, he said, he realized he wanted to make his own content, and left the television business for YouTube.