Not-so-soft power Inside Russia’s campaign to turn African journalists into Kremlin mouthpieces
Russian propaganda outlet RT has been banned across much of the Western world for spreading blatant lies and disinformation. But instead of scaling back, it’s pivoting to new audiences — particularly in Africa. Beyond expanding its reach, RT is working to shape a new generation of journalists trained to amplify the Kremlin’s narrative. BBC News Russian sent a reporter to one of RT’s new courses, which claims to equip African reporters with the tools to “fight fake news” — all while parroting Kremlin propaganda. Meduza shares an English-language version of their investigation.
Addressing a virtual audience of African journalists, the director of the Russian state-run propaganda outlet RT made a bold claim: “We are among the best in fact-checking. We have never been caught spreading false information.” His speech, pre-recorded and streamed to hundreds of media professionals across the continent, is part of a free international training program that RT launched last year.
After the Kremlin-controlled network was officially designated a “tool of Russian state propaganda” and banned from broadcasting in the U.K., the European Union, Canada, and the United States for spreading disinformation about Russia’s war against Ukraine, it pivoted to a new strategy: training foreign journalists.
The initiative targets media professionals in China, as well as across Southeast Asia and Africa. RT claims its Africa program is the most popular, with more than 1,000 journalists and bloggers from 35 countries completing the course. While this number couldn’t be independently verified, a Telegram channel created specifically for participants had more than 300 members. Among them was a BBC News Russian journalist, who enrolled in a one-month online course to see firsthand what exactly RT is teaching.
The program consisted of live webinars and pre-recorded daily lessons. The roughly 30 video lessons, all professionally produced in RT’s studios, were led by the network’s anchors and executives. RT managing director Alexey Nikolov opened the course with a warm welcome from Russia. “We greet you from our RT studio in Moscow. It may be a little colder here than you’re used to, but we’ll try to keep the atmosphere warm,” he said.
Kremlin-colored glasses
At first glance, elements of RT’s curriculum resemble a standard introductory journalism course, covering topics such as conducting interviews, finding stories, reporting breaking news, and working in conflict zones.
But the training was steeped in pro-Kremlin narratives, with RT’s own reports and interviews serving as the learning materials. A lesson on breaking news coverage featured a report from Russian-occupied Mariupol, where surrendered Ukrainian soldiers were labeled “neo-Nazis and radicals of all kinds.”
Another session, focused on the global media landscape, saw RT anchor Mourad Hammami denounce Western journalism as “political warfare that has infiltrated [the viewer’s] home.” Throughout the course, RT presenters actively promoted the network, positioning it as an “alternative source of information.”
One training session was dedicated to debunking fake news — at least in theory. Instead of exposing disinformation, however, the lesson simply repeated well-known Kremlin talking points.
During the session, RT correspondent Igor Kurashenko dismissed the 2018 chemical attack in Douma, Syria — perpetrated by the Russia-backed Assad regime — as a “textbook example of fake news.” In doing so, he ignored a two-year investigation by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which found that a Syrian army helicopter had dropped cylinders filled with toxic chlorine on apartment buildings, killing at least 43 civilians.
Kurashenko then went on to deny the 2022 mass killing of Ukrainian civilians by Russian forces in Bucha, calling it “the most famous fake.” “Russia rejects these allegations. Ukraine has yet to provide details of this ‘tragedy.’ For two years, Russia’s permanent representative to the U.N. has requested a list of the alleged victims,” he told the class.
There is, however, ample evidence of the killing of civilians in Bucha. Numerous independent investigations, including one by the U.N. Human Rights Office, have confirmed the atrocities. The Ukrainian fact-checking organization StopFake debunked RT’s claims as early as 2022. According to its findings, Bucha’s city council has long had a verified list of victims, available upon request. The names of those killed have also been inscribed on a memorial wall in Bucha, erected in 2023.
Participants in the course appeared largely uncritical of RT’s disinformation. Dereje Yiemeru, an Ethiopian journalist whose social media profile features a photo of Vladimir Putin, defended RT’s version of events. In a conversation with BBC News Russian, he dismissed the Bucha massacre as “staged.” He also said he joined RT’s program to better understand how the network operates and what sets it apart from other media outlets.
Ishmael Koroma from Sierra Leone acknowledged that disinformation is a serious problem but shrugged off RT’s bias, arguing that every news organization operates within its own “news values and style.”
When BBC News Russian asked RT about the course’s objectives and the pro-Kremlin narratives pushed by its presenters, the network avoided a direct answer. Instead, it stated: “Our training program aims to teach journalists how to recognize both sophisticated and crude propaganda.”
At the end of the course, African journalists were tasked with producing an article or report on a topic that global media allegedly “ignores” but that aligns with RT’s “alternative” narrative.
‘Conduits of Russianness’
At the end of 2024, RT’s editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan, said that due to “constant attacks from the West,” the Kremlin-funded network would “redistribute funding and focus its efforts elsewhere.” That meant seeking out more “friendly” locations — particularly in African countries.
Anti-colonial sentiment and nostalgia for Soviet-era support of liberation movements have fueled pro-Russian sympathies in parts of Africa. Many governments on the continent also see Moscow as a key partner in military and diplomatic cooperation.
According to Russian state media, RT has already established at least seven bureaus across Africa, secured deals with more than 30 local TV stations to air its content, and ramped up daily reporting from the continent. The network is also expanding beyond its English- and Arabic-language broadcasts, with its French-language division — once aimed at France — now reoriented toward francophone African audiences, according to Simonyan.
In collaboration with “Russian Houses” — Moscow’s official cultural outreach centers abroad — RT has been screening pro-Kremlin documentaries across Africa. One propaganda film, Why I Moved to Russia, was shown recently in Tanzania and Mali. The documentary features Americans discussing their reasons for emigrating to Russia, including unfounded claims that U.S. schools secretly conduct “transgender lessons” while parents believe their children are attending art classes.
RT is far from the only media outlet offering courses for African journalists. China has run similar initiatives for over a decade. Western organizations, including BBC World Service and the international charity BBC Media Action, also provide journalism training programs.
But Nigerian journalist Philip Obaji Jr., who covers Russian influence in Africa, argues that RT’s media training is not just about skill-building — it’s part of a broader Kremlin strategy to “change public opinion” on the continent.
“What the Russians are doing here is an attempt to ensure that Kremlin narratives resonate with ordinary Africans. To do that, they’re working directly with the people who disseminate information — journalists,” he explains.
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At the end of the program, RT promised participants it would keep them informed about job opportunities at the network. Obaji Jr. believes RT may not just be hiring for itself but also for Kremlin-funded information campaigns and other Russian media operations in Africa.
His concerns are echoed by Yevhen Fedchenko, head of the Ukrainian fact-checking organization StopFake. He draws parallels between RT’s approach and Soviet-era tactics, emphasizing that recruiting loyal journalists through training programs is a long-standing Russian strategy. “[These graduates] can be used to push the Kremlin’s agenda, influence public opinion, and even shape policymaking. In this way, they become conduits of Russianness in the region,” he says.
Ilya Ber, head of the fact-checking project Provereno Media, argues that soft power ceases to be such when it is built on deception. “I look at this through a fact-checker’s lens. Many countries use soft power to promote their interests and values — that’s normal, especially when it’s done through genuinely beneficial humanitarian, cultural, or educational initiatives. But when outright deception, fake news, and ‘alternative facts’ become the foundation of soft power, it stops being ‘soft’ at all. It turns crude — and frankly, repulsive,” he says.