[Infowarrior] - Russia's new information/media operation

[Richard Forno]

Russia launches Sputnik to silence dissent, combat West’s ‘information war’ against Putin

State-run media outlet to open newsrooms in more than 30 capitals, including Washington, D.C.

By Marc Bennetts - Special to The Washington Times - - Sunday, November 16, 2014

MOSCOW — The Kremlin this month unveiled its latest weapon to combat the West’s “information war” on President Vladimir Putin with the launch of Sputnik — a lavishly funded, international media outlet whose advent heralds a silencing of dissent and criticism in Russia.

Named after the Soviet satellite that spooked Western powers when it became the first man-made object to leave the Earth’s atmosphere in 1957, state-run Sputnik plans to open newsrooms in more than 30 capitals, including Washington. Other offices will open in Beijing and Cairo, as well as in former Soviet republics.

Headed by Dmitry Kiselyov, a virulently anti-Western TV anchor who says the role of Kremlin-run media is to “love Russia,” Sputnik replaces the widely respected RIA Novosti state news agency, which was “liquidated” late last year on the orders of Mr. Putin. It also incorporates the Voice of Russia radio station.

Speaking to journalists last week, Mr. Kiselyov, 60, said Sputnik is aimed at an international audience “tired of aggressive propaganda promoting a unipolar world and who want a different perspective.”

Sputnik’s launch comes just weeks after Kremlin administration chief Sergei Ivanov said Russia and Mr. Putin were victims of an international smear campaign.

“There is an information war,” Mr. Ivanov told academics and journalists in late October. “Facts are misrepresented, while white is called black and vice versa. There have been multiple statements, some of which have simply been lies.”

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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/16/sputnik-launched-by-russia-to-silence-dissent-comb/

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