RT – State Media Monitor

RT

Russia · Quick Facts

All conditions met

RUB 32.25bn

Identifiable 2026 federal subsidies

90%

Of 2024 expenditure covered by public financing

172/180

Russia, RSF 2026 · national context

Legal form

An autonomous non-commercial organisation, TV-Novosti, established in 2005 by the state-owned news agency RIA Novosti. It has no shareholders and no share capital, so the network is state-established and integrated into the state information system rather than state-owned in the corporate sense

Leadership

Corporate records identify Vera Nikolayevna Kharina as General Director of TV-Novosti from 14 April 2025. Alexey Nikolov continues to represent RT publicly as Managing Director, and Margarita Simonyan remains Editor-in-Chief

Services

RT International, RT Arabic, RT en Español, RT Documentary, RT Balkan and RT India, with the video agency Ruptly. RT Balkan began as a Serbian-language digital service in November 2022 and added a round-the-clock channel in December 2024; RT India began broadcasting from New Delhi in December 2025

Ruptly

Its German operating company entered insolvency proceedings in 2024, and the brand subsequently continued operating from Moscow

2026 to 2028

The enacted budget provides RUB 32.084 billion in 2026 for producing and distributing television, radio and online material in Russia and internationally, plus about RUB 161.6 million for the Window to Russia portal. The main allocation falls to approximately RUB 22.859 billion in both 2027 and 2028

Ofcom findings

In March 2022 the United Kingdom regulator revoked RT’s broadcasting licence, citing its relationship with the Russian state, its direct public financing, previous breaches carrying a GBP 200,000 fine, and twenty-nine pending investigations concerning due impartiality

Sanctions

TV-Novosti has been under European Union sanctions since December 2022. In September 2024 the United States designated it and other Rossiya Segodnya entities as foreign missions, and the Treasury sanctioned Simonyan and five senior personnel, stating that some had reported to or briefed Russian government officials and acted on behalf of the Russian Government

Sources: EGRUL-derived corporate record; TV-Novosti financial statements, 2024; enacted federal budget programme and separate portal allocation; Ofcom licence revocation, March 2022; United States Treasury designations, September 2024; Council of the European Union; Law on Mass Media, Articles 1, 3, 18 and 19; Federal Law No. 243-FZ, Article 9; Reporters Without Borders 2026. Classification per the State Media Matrix.

Typology trajectory — RT

Russia · 2022–2026

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

The classification is unchanged and rests on state establishment, overwhelming federal financing and documented operational links, rather than on corporate ownership: TV-Novosti has no shareholders and no share capital.

Federal allocations, 2026 to 2028

2026 main line

32.084

2027 main line

22.859

2028 main line

22.859

2026 portal

0.162

Figures in RUB billions. The main line funds production and distribution of television, radio and online material in Russia and internationally; the separate line funds the Window to Russia portal. Identifiable direct federal subsidies therefore total at least RUB 32.25 billion for 2026, falling by roughly a third from 2027.

Formal safeguards

Article 1 of the Law on Mass Media protects freedom to seek, receive, produce and distribute mass information, and Article 3 prohibits censorship and prior approval. Article 18 restricts founder interference except where authorised by legislation, an editorial charter or a founding agreement, and Article 19 describes editorial offices as professionally independent.

The documented mechanism

Ofcom revoked RT’s licence in March 2022, citing its relationship with the Russian state, direct public financing, previous breaches carrying a GBP 200,000 fine and twenty-nine pending due-impartiality investigations. The US Treasury stated in September 2024 that senior RT personnel reported to President Putin or other officials, briefed officials on their work and acted on behalf of the Russian Government.

Form

No shares, no shareholders

Editorial

Directed by the state

Funding

90% of expenditure

The network’s geography shifted after 2022. RT Balkan began as a Serbian-language digital service in November 2022 and added a round-the-clock television channel in December 2024, and RT India began broadcasting from New Delhi in December 2025. Ruptly’s German operating company entered insolvency proceedings in 2024, and the brand subsequently continued operating from Moscow. TV-Novosti has been under European Union sanctions since December 2022, and in September 2024 the United States designated it and other Rossiya Segodnya entities as foreign missions.

Sources: EGRUL-derived corporate record; TV-Novosti financial statements, 2024; enacted federal budget programme and separate portal allocation; Ofcom, March 2022; United States Treasury, September 2024; Council of the European Union; Law on Mass Media, Articles 1, 3, 18 and 19. SC = State-Controlled Media, per the State Media Matrix.

RT, formerly Russia Today, is a Russian state-funded international television network founded in 2005. It is operated by the Autonomous Non-Commercial Organisation TV-Novosti, financed predominantly from the federal budget.

Media assets

Television: RT International, RT Arabic, RT Spanish, RT Documentary, RT Balkan and RT India

Video agency: Ruptly

Ownership and governance

RT is operated by ANO TV-Novosti, a non-profit entity originally established by the state news agency RIA Novosti.

Alexey Nikolov serves as General Director and Margarita Simonyan as Editor-in-Chief. The published record names neither, despite Simonyan being among the most widely sanctioned figures in Russian media.

State Media Monitor identified no independent supervisory board, protected appointment procedure or external oversight mechanism at the organisation.

In September 2024 the United States imposed sanctions on the Rossiya Segodnya media group and five subsidiaries, RIA Novosti, RT, TV-Novosti, Ruptly and Sputnik, together with Simonyan personally and five senior RT managers: deputy editors-in-chief Elizaveta Brodskaya and Anton Anisimov, the deputy director of English-language news broadcasting Andrey Kiyashko, the digital media projects manager Konstantin Kalashnikov and the digital media projects employee Elena Afanasyeva. Simonyan is also under European Union and United Kingdom sanctions.

Source of funding and budget

RT is financed almost entirely from the Russian federal budget.

In 2024 TV-Novosti’s financial statements record spending of RUB 31.7 billion, approximately USD 390 million, an increase of RUB 4.2 billion on 2023 and the highest in the organisation’s history. Of that, RUB 28.6 billion came from state budget allocations. RT’s profit for 2024 was the highest recorded since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

RT is to receive RUB 79 billion across 2025 to 2027, approximately USD 970 million. Budget documentation for 2026 to 2028 provides ANO TV-Novosti with approximately RUB 28 billion annually.

The subsidy has historically been split across lines. In 2022 RT received RUB 28.695 billion in two parts: RUB 25.925 billion for operating costs of the channel, radio and network editions and for distribution in the Russian and international information space, and RUB 2.769 billion specifically for the expenses of the German branch. Planned figures were RUB 28.467 billion for 2023 and RUB 28.983 billion for 2024. Any current figure should be checked for a comparable split before being presented as a single allocation.

RT has consistently been the largest recipient of state media subsidy in Russia.

Editorial independence

Academic studies and non-governmental research consistently find RT disseminating Kremlin-aligned narratives. A Politico investigation drawing on Oxford University interviews with former RT journalists documented internal editorial processes, raising concerns over censorship and propagandistic content.

AI and digital policy

State Media Monitor could not identify a published RT policy governing generative artificial intelligence, mandatory human verification, model provenance or audience disclosure, and could not establish the extent of adoption in production.

Classification rationale

RT remains classified State-Controlled Media (SC).

It is state-established and state-governed. RT is operated by ANO TV-Novosti, a non-profit entity established by the state news agency RIA Novosti. No independent supervisory board, protected appointment procedure or external oversight mechanism was identified. Its Editor-in-Chief and five senior managers are personally sanctioned by the United States, and its Editor-in-Chief additionally by the European Union and United Kingdom.

It is almost entirely state-funded. Of RUB 31.7 billion spent in 2024, RUB 28.6 billion came from state budget allocations. RT is to receive RUB 79 billion across 2025 to 2027, with approximately RUB 28 billion annually provided in the 2026 to 2028 budget period. It has consistently been the largest recipient of state media subsidy in Russia.

Its editorial agenda is directed by the state. Academic and non-governmental research consistently documents Kremlin-aligned output, and interviews with former journalists have documented internal censorship. The formal protections of the Law on Mass Media are unsupported by independent governance.

September 2026