By Ekaterina Janashia | 2026-03-25

Since Europe banned RT in 2022, Russian operators have built a shadow network that mirrors the broadcaster's content in real time, launders it through local conspiracy channels and delivers it to millions of European phones daily, all with no Kremlin branding in sight.

A February investigation by independent outlet Verstka found that the network uses the cryptic prefix "MT" -- with M likely standing for "Mirror" -- and has successfully circumvented the blockade imposed on RT (formerly Russia Today) and Sputnik following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The channels synchronize to publish posts the moment they appear on officially banned RT accounts.

How the mirror evolved

The European Union (EU) officially banned RT and Sputnik on March 2, 2022, citing their role in a "systematic, international campaign of disinformation." Telegram quickly became the primary battlefield for maintaining a European foothold.

Initially, a channel called RussianMirrors served as a directory linking to language-specific mirrors. When regulators pressured Telegram to block it for users with European SIM cards, the operation adapted. The directory migrated to a new hub called MirrorNewsChannels, which links to dedicated channels including MT News -- Deutsch, MT News -- English and MT News -- Français -- all currently accessible within the EU.

The technical execution is seamless. When the official, geo-blocked RT DE channel publishes content, MT News -- Deutsch mirrors it within seconds. The network is supported by an anonymous Telegram account under the handle "Fra Ru 3," which Verstka identifies as the technical backbone for multiple RT and Sputnik mirrors. A PayPal donation link connected to the directory is registered to an individual named Francesco Russo. The identities behind the operation remain murky, but the objective is not: keep the Kremlin's narrative audible in the West.

Propaganda through the back door

The more consequential vulnerability is, in fact, the amplification ecosystem surrounding the MT network. Verstka found that content moves through a broad web of European extremist and conspiracy channels, effectively laundering its origin.

In Germany, MT News -- Deutsch content is regularly reposted by prominent figures in radical right and anti-vaccination movements. Eva Herman, a former TV presenter turned ultra-conservative influencer, commands nearly 200,000 subscribers. Other major amplifiers include Vivoterra, a conspiracy-minded community with 150,000 followers, and LION Media, a hub for right-wing "alternative" news.

The reach extends far beyond the MT network's own modest subscriber base of roughly 15,500. Verstka describes the result as a "Russian Matryoshka": a banned broadcaster hidden inside a mirror channel, itself hidden inside a local conspiracy group.

A billion-dollar adaptive threat

Moscow is not running this operation on a shoestring.

Russia's federal budget for state television in 2026 has surged to 106.4 billion RUB (approximately $1.15 billion), a 54% increase over previous projections. Roughly 24.7 billion RUB is earmarked for the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company to maintain foreign correspondence bureaus and external operations.

That funding underwrites what experts describe as a "whack-a-mole" dynamic: block one mirror, two more appear. Despite sanctions, the reach of RT and Sputnik-affiliated Telegram channels grew 2.3 times between 2022 and 2024, according to Novaya Gazeta Europe. Mirror posts averaged 8.3 million views per day across the EU in 2023 alone.

"Russian actors have evolved into a highly adaptive ecosystem. They exploit both technical gaps and a critical regulatory vacuum to circumvent EU sanctions. The threat is fluid," a January report by EUvsDisinfo stated.

Enforcement of the EU's Digital Services Act, which came into full force in early 2024, has been uneven. In late December 2024, Telegram blocked major Russian outlets including RIA Novosti, Izvestia and Rossiya 1 for users in France, Poland and Italy -- a significant step, though researchers from the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law described the actions as piecemeal.

As the Kremlin subsidizes its media apparatus at record levels, the battle for the European information space has migrated from traditional broadcasting into the decentralized architecture of Telegram proxies, an environment purpose-built to resist the kind of top-down enforcement that works on legacy platforms.