The malign influence of Putin’s TV propaganda machine
IT was a chilling warning reminiscent of a Cold War espionage novel. But US Senator Angus King was deadly serious when revealing Russian cyber-spies were ‘setting up shop’ in Scotland – to boost support for another independence referendum.
The Kremlin interference, he said at a Washington hearing this month, was part of an ‘information war’ aimed at the ‘division of society’ across Europe.
Such a claim might have been treated with scepticism even a few years ago, but growing evidence of Russian involvement in the US election, and possibly the Brexit vote, lend it credibility.
When the Kremlin-funded parent organisation of RT was created in 2013, Vladimir Putin set out the mission statement in no uncertain terms.
His spokesman said: ‘The tool of propaganda is an integral part of any state. It is everywhere and Russia should use it as well.’
Last year, ex-BBC correspondent and Nato representative Mark Laity summed up RT’s modus operandi: ‘If telling the truth helps, they will tell the truth. If telling a lie helps, they will tell a lie.’
The editor-in-chief of RT, Margarita Simonyan, 37, was named this month as among the world’s most powerful women by American business magazine Forbes – well above Hillary Clinton.
Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, has referred RT to media regulator Ofcom over advertisements on the London Underground that made jokey references to Russia’s perceived attempts to undermine democracy in the West.
Slogans included: ‘Watch RT and find out who we are going to hack next’; and ‘Missed the train? Lost a vote? Blame it on us’.
In 2015, Ofcom ruled RT had breached broadcasting rules on accuracy and impartiality in its coverage of wars in Ukraine and Syria.
The previous year, it threatened RT with sanctions after finding four of its reports on Ukraine in breach of impartiality rules.
In fact, Ofcom has found RT in breach of guidelines on at least 15 occasions. Possible penalties include fines and revocation of RT’s licence, but these have never been imposed. Last month, the Times revealed correspondence between Ofcom and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), exposing the UK Government’s concerns that public criticisms of RT could provoke a response from Mr Putin’s regime.
The emails, obtained under a freedom of information request, show Ofcom regularly gives government officials a warning when due to publish a ruling against RT.
Scotland is attractive for Russian propagandists because of the possibility of another independence referendum, which the Kremlin hopes would weaken the British state. It is telling that the Kremlin’s Sputnik news agency has established its British headquarters in Edinburgh – not London.
A recent study found SNP politicians have made more than 50 appearances on RT and Sputnik. Alex Salmond accounted for more than a third of the SNP’s exposure on the outlets.
The Nationalists’ attraction to the Kremlin-backed media has been driven primarily by the movement’s distrust of the BBC and other mainstream media, which they believe are biased against the pro-independence cause.
Last year Blair Jenkins, who headed the 2014 Yes campaign, accused the Scottish media of ‘propaganda’ in an interview with Sputnik soon after its Edinburgh launch.
Sputnik has repeatedly published on its website the claim the 2014 independence referendum was rigged – feeding suspicions its objective in Britain is to end the Union.
ACCORDING to security analyst Bruce Jones: ‘It is part of Russian doctrine to go in as deep as possible into an enemy society and strike there. Part of that strategy in Britain is to encourage a schism between Westminster and Holyrood.’
Condemning Mr Salmond’s involvement with RT yesterday, Lib Dem MSP Alex ColeHamilton said in a Holyrood motion RT had been ‘implicated in trying to influence the French presidential election through the propagation of disinformation’. The motion also calls on MSPs to recognise that RT is ‘complicit in the cover-up of serious breaches of human rights within Russia’ and urges Mr Salmond to ‘re-examine his decision’ to host a chat show on the channel.
There is mounting evidence a new front in the propaganda wars has opened up on social media. Research suggests 13,500 fake Twitter accounts tweeted about the Brexit vote, largely in favour of Leave, only to disappear just after it, in a possible indication of Russian meddling.
The US Department of Justice has told RT America to register as a ‘foreign agent’ rather than a news organisation.
Last month, Mr Putin said cryptically that Moscow would respond to any restrictions on the work of Russian media outlets in the US swiftly and reciprocally.
Scotland is also a battleground in these information wars and for as long as another independence vote remains a possibility, it is likely to remain a key target – with the help of our former First Minister.