Following the money: why the Kremlin media available in Lithuania are not trying to make a profit

Delfi initiates a series of articles on who and how finances disinformation in Lithuania. In the first part, read about the Russian state media, and in the other parts, about the actors on the margins of the Lithuanian public space and what determines whether their projects are successful.

There is no specific list

As Eglė Samoškaitė, Head of the Division of Strategic Communication of the Department of State Security, informed Delfi, there is no specific list of Russian state media channels available to the Lithuanian population, because everything is available in the Internet age.

“But in principle, it is possible to target through companies controlled by the media,” he said.

Six of these “companies” can be distinguished: Rossija Segodnia, Immanuel Kant University of the Baltic States, VGTRK, Federal Agency for State Asset Management, National Media Group and Gazprom Media.

As B. Whitmore summarized, all of them are controlled directly or indirectly by Russian states.

Operate multiple portals

Rossija Segodnia’s sole shareholder is the Russian Federation. The company is run by the infamous presenter Dmitrijus Kiseliovas. He was awarded the January 13 medal for his refusal to spread the Kremlin’s lie after the events of January 1991 in Lithuania. However, it was later that D. Kiseliov became the Kremlin’s main spokesperson, and in 2014, D. Kiseliov publicly justified Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the disintegration of Crimea. Furthermore, the European Union has imposed sanctions on it at the same time.

Kiseliov is famous for his claims that Russia can turn America into “radioactive ashes”, deliver other crushing blows to America, regular reports on “fascists in the Baltic states and Ukraine”, and so on.

Rossija Segodnia operates the Baltnews portals for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The state-owned company also owns the entire Sputnik portal network. Lithuania is among the 31 domains of the country.

Although Russian officials have denied this, there are indications that Rossija Segodnia also controls the television group RT. For example, Margarita Simonian is the editor-in-chief of the RT and Rossija Segodnia news agencies.

As researchers from the University of Oxford Monos Elswah and Philip N. Howard study RT, this organization is one of the most important in the global disinformation network.

“It is the best funded and most staffed company in the world, creating and disseminating useful information for the Kremlin around the world,” according to their study, “Anything that Causes Chaos.”

However, Rossija Segodnia’s official financial statements do not show that the company is very successful. In recent years, its income has reached 18 million. EUR, and in 2018 50 thousand. The profit of EUR in 2019 became 610 thousand. with a loss of EUR.

The detail of the financial results of each company is shown in the figure. Note: For the conversion from rubles to euros, Eurostat publishes the average exchange rates for the respective year.

Delfi contacted Rossija Segodnia in Russian, but did not provide data on how many employees prepare posts for a specific Lithuanian audience or if they generate any income.

The Baltic Federal University of Immanuel Kant, whose sole owner is also the Russian Federation, did not provide that information.

The Kaliningrad-based university is headed by Alexander Fedorov. The RuBaltic.ru portal, which also owns the Lithuanian version of Lt. Rubaltic.ru, is managed through the Rusiška Baltija center that operates at the university.

Television has the biggest impact

However, the Lithuanian audience is not influenced more by Russian portals, but by television.

“The main source of propaganda, television, is fully controlled by the Kremlin: Russia’s largest audience, Pervyi Kanal, Rossija 1, Rossija 24 and Zvezda, is owned by the government, and the state-owned Gazprom owns NTV and TNT. The controlling stake in Channel 1 belongs to the Federal Agency for the Administration of State Property (Russian: Росимущество).

The shareholders include the National Media Group, controlled by Yuri Kovalchuk, chairman of the board of directors of Russia’s largest bank, Rossija, and a friend of Putin, and another prominent associate of the president, Roman Abramovich.

The agency also operates channel Rossiya 2, and the National Media Group owns the fifth most popular channel. Other smaller channels, which broadcast globally in Russian and non-Russian language (RTR Planeta, RT – Russia Today) are also controlled directly or through the national media group by the Kremlin ”, says the study” Russian propaganda: analysis, evaluation, recommendations “.

Lietuvoje transliuojamus “Rossija 1”, “Rossija 24” ir “RTR Planeta” Rusijos Federacija valid for VGTRK (Russian State Broadcasting and Television Company of All Russia).

In 2019, this company received 389.7 million. -7.6 million euros. loss of EUR.

By the way, in February, the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission found a violation in RTR Planeta’s programs for the second time in six months.

At the meeting, the Commission considered the information published on the RTR Planeta “Žinios” (“Vesti”) program on January 13 and concluded that it was a serious violation of the Public Information Law, which incites hatred and spreads disinformation. . If during the year the Commission identifies three violations when unauthorized information is published, the free reception of this television program in Lithuania may be suspended after all procedures have been completed. The Commission had already done so in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018 ”, reported the BNS news agency.

It’s about privatization

The Federal Agency for the Administration of State Property, which belongs to the Russian Federation, and several others own the First Channel (Russian: Первый канал), which also operates the First Baltic Channel, which is broadcast in Lithuania.

In 2019, the Pirasis Kanalas company received 372.5 million LTL. revenue, but incurred EUR -57.2 million. loss of EUR.

As announced by the RBC in late 2020, the Russian government intends to reduce its stake in the First Channel from 51 to 34 percent in the near future. This should happen after the investment of the private equity bank VTB. He still controlled 20 percent. shares of the company.

Konstantinas Ernst has led the First Channel for 21 years.

Able to win

Other televisions broadcast in Lithuania are also officially controlled only partially by the Russian government.

REN TV, to which REN Lietuva also belongs, is managed by the National Media Group. Incidentally, in February, Latvian telecom operator Tet announced that it had excluded Ren TV, NTV Mir and PBK from its digital terrestrial television and cable television broadcasting services due to international sanctions.

“Despite our repeated attempts, we have not been able to obtain legally correct information about the beneficiary of these channels, who may be related to those subject to international sanctions,” the Tet report said.

According to the Elta news agency, the Latvian State Security Service carried out several raids on SNF facilities last year on suspicion that the channel could be related to Yuri Kovalchuk, a Russian billionaire who is subject to sanctions. from the US and the EU by 2014 from Russia. annexation of Crimea.

Unlike the media companies discussed above, 2019 was profitable for the National Media Group. 577.2 million were received. 21.2 million euros of income. profit in euros.

It is interesting that the board of the National Media Group is headed by Alina Kabayeva, a former famous athlete, later model and actress, famous not so much for her skills as for her connections to the most influential person in Russia. It was previously reported in the media that she and Russian President Vladimir Putin are engaged and even have children.

At the end of January, it was announced that the head of the National Media Group, Olga Paskina, would resign in the near future.

Gazprom media, a media management company owned by Gazprom, Russia’s largest state-owned company, has not been reporting since 2016. However, the latest figures for the televisions it operates show that they are profitable.

In 2019, NTV and TNT, led by Alexei Miller, earned 5.9 million, respectively. 10.6 million euros. 23.6 million euros. 319.7 million euros. income in euros.

NTV’s financial report indicates that in 2019, television received $ 17.8 million. euro of state aid.

Hybrid model

Nerijus Maliukevičius, professor at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University, who studies information wars, stressed that the Kremlin supports all the listed channels in one way or another directly, through grants or through various projects. .

“I would say that the modern Kremlin has realized that one of the essential conditions for the stability of its regime is investment in controlled media and the use of this tool for national or foreign purposes to spread the idea of ​​the Russian world.

These investments are strategically important, the information field is very important for this regime, which was seen quite early, at the beginning of the Putin regime, one of the first initiatives was the information security doctrine in the 2000s. Even then, it was said about the strategic control of the media that the goal would be not to allow foreign capital, ”said N. Maliukevičius.

However, your profit or loss criteria are not necessarily key indicators, and when it comes to spending money, it would be much more interesting to know how much money is actually being spent to maintain these channels.

“The fact that there are also for-profit channels only shows that there is a hybrid operating model where it is capable of delivering attractive products that attract publicity. For example, NTV is positioned as a commercial channel, although in reality it belongs to a state corporation and operates profitably, which means they are successful, ”said N. Maliukevičius.

And the fact that, despite the losses, the Kremlin also finances deficit channels, such as Rossija Segodnia’s projects, according to the interlocutor, shows the peculiar logic of the Kremlin.

“According to the principles of Western management, there must be a question of efficient use of funds, etc., but this does not necessarily apply to Russia. In most cases, some of the money goes to the left and is looted, which is what RT manager M. Simonian’s food manager and her husband only mean.

I got caught up in a statement by an Estonian minister about Russia’s soft power projects. He said “thanks for the corruption” because a large part of the investment in those A3 or Baltnews formats goes to the left, in the pockets of those actors. However, this is not an argument to change course ”, said the expert.

According to him, more important for the Kremlin is the old inertia, which is even reminiscent of Soviet propaganda traditions, and the propaganda tools created at that time.

“The old systems have been reformed, they have been made more attractive, in English, and there are still attempts to launch various projects to create attractive campaigns,” he added.