Two former Sputnik employees have turned over documents from their time with the Russian news agency that show the state-run organization prioritizes allegiance to the Russian Federation over objective journalism. On September 1st, former Washington correspondent Andrew Feinberg gave the FBI thousands of documents, including a handbook sent to him by his editor which read, in part:
Our main goal is to inform the international audience about Russia’s political, economic and ideological stance on both local and global issues. To this end, we must always strive to be objective but we must also stay true to the national interest of the Russian Federation.
Joe Fionda, a second ex-Sputnik employee, separately gave authorities hundreds of documents in August.
The agency is using the information as it investigates whether Sputnik and RT, another Russian state-run news organization, are acting as undeclared propaganda outlets and in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The Senate Intelligence Committee also is looking into the role the Sputnik and RT played in election interference.
Yahoo News, which has copies of the documents, also notes the following:
The documents also suggest Sputnik journalists had relationships with hackers linked to Russian intelligence and key American allies of Donald Trump. The information Fionda sent to the Justice Department highlighted a tweet in which one of Sputnik’s radio hosts boasted about his role in connecting Guccifer 2.0, the hacker behind the Democratic National Committee leaks, to Roger Stone, an early architect of Trump’s campaign. On April 30, Feinberg emailed [his editor Peter] Martinichev about a party he attended that was sponsored by the conservative blog Gateway Pundit. Feinberg said he stepped out for a cigarette and encountered Michael Flynn Jr., the son of Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.
Read the whole story: FBI document cache sheds light on inner workings of Russia’s U.S. news (and propaganda) network (Yahoo News)