The Russian state-funded propaganda outlet RT has recently been advertising its English language news service around Washington, D.C., with posters, but not all residents are pleased about the campaign.
Red State first reported on one of RT’s posters in Washington. It features an almost satanic portrayal of former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell—evocative of Soviet propaganda—and criticizes the Iraq War. "This is what happens when there is no second opinion," the poster reads.
One D.C. resident who prefers to be known by the name "Mary Contrary" affixed her own "second opinion" to the RT poster. Describing herself as a "friendly anti-propaganda agent provocateur," her flier notes that dozens of journalists and political dissidents have been murdered in Russia in the last two decades. "Question Kremlin-funded propaganda," it says.
Contrary, who declined to reveal her true identity to the Free Beacon, said in an email that she has lived in D.C. for a few years and had "a very visceral, gut reaction of disgust" to the RT posters when she spotted them in northwest D.C. near Capital Bikeshare stations. She found it hypocritical that a news outlet sponsored by the government of Vladimir Putin, who is widely condemned as a corrupt and authoritarian leader, would disparage U.S. foreign policy.
"I was really sick of seeing this stuff all over town," she said. "I wanted to do something about it and I thought, what better way than a little provocative counter-propaganda? There's a nice bit of irony, too, since RT's tagline is 'Question More.'"
Russia has been expanding the global reach of its state news agencies as it clamps down on foreign news outlets at home. The new service "Sputnik" now operates in 34 countries with more than 1,000 staffers who disseminate radio, social media, and news wire content in local languages.
The U.S. version of Sputnik has posted articles that largely blame Ukraine for the crisis in that country’s east, even as more reports emerge of Russia sending troops and military equipment into Ukraine to support pro-Russian separatists. Other pieces take a leftist bent, including anti-war posts and a favorable profile of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), an avowed "Democratic socialist."
Contrary said she worries that "there are people who can easily fall prey to that kind of propaganda, if they're not well informed."
"I can easily imagine, and I bet you can too, some professor with communist sympathies using this kind of stuff in class to prove a point about the Iraq War, or to try to get students to see things from Russia's perspective, or something really lousy like that," she said. "I think it is very damaging to the American ethos—it plays on a very ugly strain of anti-Americanism that I can see disenchanted or uninformed Americans subscribing to."
Voice of Russia, the Kremlin-funded radio station in Washington, has run into numerous legal troubles and faced fresh allegations of tax fraud earlier this year.
Contrary said she has pasted her "counterpropaganda" on about four or five RT posters across town, though some might have been taken down. She used to do similar "pranks" in college.
"For example, I had a professor who was always ranting about the evils of the Republican Party and neocons and capitalism and singing the praises of Noam Chomsky and that sort of thing, very anti-American," she said.
"One day I was sick of it, so I put my feet up on the desk, opened up a copy of Neo-conservatism by Irving Kristol, and lit a cigarette in the middle of the lecture. I got kicked out of class, of course, but it was worth trying to make a point. I think people, especially young people, should question more, and value independent thinking."