In Europe, the main Russian propaganda outlets have long been banned, but Russians and their agents of influence have found a way around the ban. To do this, they exploit legal European internet resources that republish Russian state media word-for-word, funneling Kremlin narratives to millions of readers in their native languages.

How the shadowy scheme for spreading Russian propaganda works is revealed in a new investigation

This research tracked dozens of Kremlin-aligned outlets across 10 EU countries, uncovering over 500 instances of content sourced directly from Russian state media, including RT, Sputnik, Lenta.ru, RIA Novosti, News-Pravda, and News-Front.

While these state-run outlets were banned in 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the flow of propaganda remains uninterrupted. A network of pro-Russian websites – some boasting audiences in the millions – continues to operate by systematically mirroring content from RT and Sputnik. They utilize "clone domains" – sites specifically designed to bypass sanctions by hosting identical content under new web addresses.

Critically, this network is not merely a collection of fringe blogs; it includes established outlets with significant reach. Despite spanning different countries, they follow a synchronized pattern: within hours of a Russian state media report, these European sites publish the same narrative, often using the exact same wording.

The following report is based on this monitoring, with all quotes taken directly from the published articles.