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Unleashing The RT Files
RT's Central Role in Russia's Global Influence Machine is Taking Center Stage in the Diplomatic World This Week, but as Zev Shalev Reports, RT Has Played a Role in Russia's Covert Ops for Over Eight Years.
Zev Shalev
September 16, 2024
For nearly a decade, I've been pulling at the threads of what I've come to call "The Oligarch Web" - a vast network of Russian billionaires, state media outlets, and intelligence operatives working in concert to shape global narratives and influence world events. Russia Today (RT), a news organization that I first exposed as an arm of Russian intelligence back in March 2017, sits at the center of this web.
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I was among the first journalists to expose RT as a front for Russian Intelligence in 2017
A crucial meeting came to light in that early report titled "Was Russia Behind The Latest Wikileaks?”
"In August 2013, the Editor-in-Chief of Russia Today, the Kremlin-operated English news channel, paid an unusual visit to the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The memorable trip had little, if anything, to do with the affairs of the South American country. Instead, the TV executive was courting a partnership with a man who'd become a permanent embassy resident.
The deal they struck that day would shake the foundations of US democracy in the years to come and set the stage for a new Cold War.”
That deal with Julian Assange was just one strand in the oligarch web. Since then, my investigations have continued to map out the intricate connections between Russian oligarchs, state media, and covert influence operations worldwide.
Read my full story from 2017 here:
Now, eight years later, RT has been thrust back into the news. This follows a series of scandals about Russia’s intelligence services and its disinformation campaigns involving Pavel Durov of Telegram, which I reported on in part 1 of The Oligarch Web, and right-wing influencers, which I reported on in part 2 of The Oligarch Web, which I posted exclusively to Substack.
Part 1 of The Oligarch Web: Pavel Durov
Part 2 of The Oligarch Web: It’s Raining [Russian] Indictments
Part 3 of The Oligarch Web: The RT Files
In the third installment of our latest series, we're preparing to reveal "The RT Files" - our most comprehensive look yet at how RT serves as a central hub in the oligarch web, connecting Russian intelligence operations with global disinformation campaigns.
The upcoming episode will coincide with new efforts by the U.S. State Department to expose and limit RT's global reach. Our reporting will take you deep into the oligarch web, exploring RT's operations across multiple countries, including:
A special report on Canada: RT’s influence may have reached the leader of the opposition.
RT's ongoing influence campaigns in the United States in the election's final stretch.
The network's efforts to sway public opinion in Germany.
Most critically, we'll present evidence of how Russia has hidden a secret spy cell inside RT, using the news network as a cover for its most sensitive intelligence operations.
As I've argued for years, understanding RT is key to unraveling the entire oligarch web. This latest episode will provide the most definitive proof yet of RT's central role in Russia's global influence machine.
Stay tuned for "The RT Files" - the next crucial step in exposing the vast oligarch web that threatens democracy worldwide.
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