On a contemporary seek advice from to India, Vladimir Putin individually introduced the release of RT India, a brand new Kremlin-funded broadcaster. It is a part of the established RT (previously Russia As of late) community. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, RT misplaced its license to broadcast in the United Kingdom, used to be banned within the EU and used to be compelled to near in america.
However the closure of RT’s western broadcast operations didn’t mark the tip for the community. It’s been the usage of ingenious ways to achieve western audiences, together with allegedly covertly investment Conservative influencers in america.
Because the release of RT India presentations, it has additionally been reorienting in opposition to audiences additional afield. In line with our prior analysis, we know the way RT tailors its operations for various audiences, and the way it adapts to converting political realities.
This implies we will be able to begin to unpack the place the release of RT India falls inside Russia’s broader knowledge technique, and what we will be able to be expecting from it.
The primary essential level is that RT India didn’t come from nowhere. It’s a part of Russia’s broader “turn to the south”. This method has adopted the secure deterioration of family members between Moscow and western capitals, particularly for the reason that full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
RT, for its section, has focused non-western audiences for years. RT Arabic used to be introduced in 2007, and RT en Español – extremely lively in Latin The usa – in 2009. But the partial lack of western markets after the invasion of Ukraine has led RT to redirect assets from its solid funds (31 billion rubles, or about £303 million in 2025) in opposition to new goal audiences.
RT has spent a large number of time, effort and cash honing its craft. It is aware of how you can bundle its content material in order that it doesn’t seem like a Russian affect operation.
One not unusual technique is platforming presenters that the target market is aware of and trusts. For US audiences, this integrated Occupy’s Abby Martin and William Shatner of Megastar Trek repute.
In the United Kingdom, political personalities like ex-SNP chief the overdue Alex Salmond (who paused his display after the full-scale invasion) and flesh presser and previous Famous person Giant Brother contestant, George Galloway, who nonetheless steadily seems on RT. On RT India, it’s Bollywood celebrity Anupam Kher and flesh presser and writer Shashi Tharoor.
Every other key function for RT is development a shared identification with the target market. For RT The usa and RT UK, this used to be by means of interesting to those who noticed themselves as essential thinkers, ready to problem the untrustworthy “establishment”. For RT India, it’s a an identical thought. However the untrustworthy “establishment” isn’t home, it’s world – and in particular, western.
West v the remaining
Our ongoing analysis signifies that, as with the RT channels focused on audiences in puts like Latin The usa, Africa and the Heart East, RT India revives Russia’s Soviet-era anti-colonial strategic narrative.
This rhetoric frames fresh Russian international coverage as a continuation of Soviet anti-imperialist engagement, and accuses the “collective west” of neocolonial intentions. It argues for strengthening ties around the so-called “world majority” of states that see themselves as deprived in a global gadget that favours the “collective west”.
It ignores the privileges that Russia enjoys inside the program (akin to everlasting UN Safety Council club and veto energy), and advocates for a multipolar, “de-westernised” global order.
Those narratives are mirrored in RT India’s promoting campaigns. In overdue 2023 to early 2024, its first marketing campaign featured billboards pointing out, “Why does the west still see India as a third-world country?” and, “They think you believe, we believe you think,” with pictures of 10 Downing Boulevard and the White Space within the background.
Putin introduced the channel on a contemporary seek advice from to India.
Alexander Kazakov/EPA-EFE
The 2025 release marketing campaign for the TV channel, displayed in airports, metro stations and alongside main roads in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad, offered RT as “A new voice from an old friend”. Its bio on X describes it as, “Not anti-western … just not western,” reinforcing the “west v the rest” framing.
With regards to the battle in Ukraine, RT amplifies the narratives promoted by means of the Kremlin and ruling Russian elites. On RT India, Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine is mechanically framed as a defensive “special operation” geared toward protective Russian-speaking populations from what it calls the “Kiev regime”.
Western reinforce for Ukraine is framed as neo-colonial warmongering. By means of tapping into ongoing social debates in regards to the horrors of Ecu colonialism, this selection and deceptive illustration of the struggle turns into relatable.
It’s true that India has a historical past of pleasant family members with Russia – and the Soviet Union ahead of that. And the evils of Ecu colonialism will have to now not be denied. However Putin didn’t individually release RT India simply to make those issues. What’s extra, the imperial nature of Russia’s family members with Ukraine is one thing that RT India for sure gained’t recognize.
Now, as ever, the RT community is selectively representing the sector to take a look at and construct reinforce for the Kremlin’s global targets.
