Inside RT, Vladimir Putin's English-language international mouthpiece
MOSCOW -- RT is a Russian news network. Its programming is available in 100 countries and six languages, all paid for by the Kremlin.
CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer visited RT’s Moscow studio Thursday, where the main story was the network’s Facebook page being blocked.
But RT was already in the news.
The U.S. intelligence report on Russian hacking called RT part of “a Kremlin-directed campaign to undermine faith in the US Government and fuel political protest.”
Editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan dismissed the report and doubled down on her criticism of America.
“In your own words: ‘The U.S. lacks democracy and has no right to teach the world.’ What was that all about?” Palmer asked.
“The U.S. has made a lot of mistakes all over the world… look at Iraq,” Simonyan said. “The country that makes such mistakes do not have the moral right to teach the world.”
A dark view of a dysfunctional America runs through RT’s content, from its broadcasts to its websites to its sister news service, Sputnik.
A recent Sputnik op-ed reads “America is in decay. Its institutions are crumbling. Its media discredited.”
Alexey Kovalev used to work for the state news service and is now with the independent paper the Moscow Times.
He says the Kremlin’s goal is clear.
“To bring down the West to same level as Russia, and to show that your institutions are as sham as ours and your press isn’t free,” Kovalev said. “Your politicians are all liars and crooks like ours are.”
If the propaganda works, Russians, especially young Russians, will lose their faith in democracy and stop agitating for political change, and young Americans will lose faith in their country.