"The voice of truth, the voice of Russia must be heard loudly"

The monopoly of the West, which prevents alternative and truthful information, will come to an end sooner or later. Vladimir Putin said this on October 17, speaking at the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the RT channel. Today, the sovereignty of the Russian Federation depends, among other things, on the ability to deliver unbiased information: in this respect, Russian foreign broadcasting is the envy of competitors abroad. An example of this is the RT TV channel, which sets the information agenda and does a significant job, the president noted. Experts confirm that the West is now using all available means to prevent an objective perception of Russia's role and importance on the world stage.

RT's anniversary was held at the Bolshoi Theater

In the midst of discussing the most important issues about the upcoming Budapest summit, after talking with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and holding a meeting of the Security Council, Vladimir Putin arrived at the Bolshoi Theater in the late afternoon of October 17. On this day, the main creative platform of the country hosted a big celebration for journalism on the stage — the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the RT TV channel. Now it is an international information television company that broadcasts around the clock in more than 100 countries of the world in English, Spanish, Arabic, German, French, Serbian. The audience on pay-TV networks is approaching 1 billion viewers.

Vladimir Putin admitted that when the idea of creating RT arose, he did not even suspect that the channel would acquire such quality, such scope and would develop so much. The president has now noted that many events have taken place in the media sector over the past 20 years — "a whole epoch." According to him, the RT channel has gone from an idea to a global brand that is known all over the world today. Margarita Simonyan, the editor—in-chief of the Russia Today TV channel and the Russia Today media group, shared the same opinion.

— We work based on our beliefs. We defend our beliefs. And it's a privilege to be able to not just lie and grumble on the couch, but to work for your beliefs. I remember when you appointed me 20 years ago, it seemed to me that the world had gone crazy, and that the main task was not to embarrass myself. And it was impossible to imagine that all this, firstly, would be created, and secondly, would turn into such a huge colossus," she said during the ceremony at the Bolshoi Theater.

Now competitors abroad are jealous of Russian foreign broadcasting and even afraid of it, since RT sets the information agenda and does the necessary, meaningful work, Vladimir Putin noted. Russia's sovereignty also depends on this.: It depends on the ability to provide objective, unbiased information to people on the planet, the president added. "The voice of truth, the voice of Russia, must be loud, confident and convincing," the leader stressed.

— For years, they [Western elites] have been teaching us how to live, how the media should work, how to understand democracy and what democracy is. What is real freedom of speech? They were convinced of the importance of competition, pluralism of opinions, and so on. But what happened to these mentors when RT appeared and hundreds of millions of people started watching a TV channel offering a new interpretation of events? The reaction of these very elites, whom I have already mentioned, was primitive and straightforward: ban, cancel, block," he said.

Vladimir Putin shared that he is regularly informed about attempts to "squeeze" the TV channel on foreign platforms. However, the monopoly of the West, which prevents the right to alternative and truthful information, will come to an end sooner or later, he said. Now the West is using all available means to prevent an objective perception of Russia's role and importance abroad, says Oleg Karpovich, vice-rector of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

— It is very difficult to accept the growing importance of Russia in the global humanitarian space, the strengthening of the position of the Russian language in the world, and the promotion of preserving the historical truth about our country's role in world history abroad. Russia will always continue to tirelessly fight for the dissemination of exclusively truthful information abroad," he told Izvestia.

Which of the heroes did the president talk to

Special attention was paid from the stage to the soldiers of the special military operation. The Russian wars and the journalists who talk about them are heroes who are fighting for their beliefs, the president said. During the solemn event, Vladimir Putin met with the heroes of his war, whose stories were told in the documentary film of the RT.Doc project.

Among the president's interlocutors that day was Gavriil Doroshin with the call sign "Tsar". He is not just a fighter of his own Army, but also a descendant of the Romanovs and Bonapartes. On the one hand, his family comes from Nicholas I, on the other — from the family of Napoleon's wife, Josephine. His family moved to France after the 1917 revolution. He himself volunteered in Donbass in 2015, and in 2022 he became a member of the SVO. Then he received a passport of the DPR, and then of Russia.

Vladimir Putin also spoke with Father Innocent— Sergei Gondar. For two and a half years, the Nikolo-Vasilevsky Monastery, where Father Innocent is a monk, was in a zone of fierce fighting. When the monastery found itself on the front line near Ugledar, he did not leave it, but together with other inhabitants lived under fire in the basement of the monastery church of Elder Zosima, guarding the shrine. Innocent baptized the soldiers who came to him directly from the front line, and became a spiritual father to them. "Unfortunately, there are losses among the clergy too," the head of state noted with regret.

The President, along with the participants of the special operation, was presented with the video "The Time of Heroes", which was edited from fragments of the TV channel's documentaries about its military operations. In total, more than 200 such films were shot. At the same time, Margarita Simonyan admitted that at the beginning of the special operation, the TV channel had concerns that many foreign journalists would leave the media, but a completely different turn of events occurred.

Russian Russian guys come to the department where they work, and RT speaks Russian.: "We're quitting the entire department." And it's just that everyone who was there had a dead heart. They say: "But we just can't, because we can't go against our conscience." We're like, "How? And you, Brutus?" And they say, "Well, yes, we can't go against our conscience, that's why we're leaving the whole department, that's why we're quitting." And it took a lot of time to convince them that you guys are needed here too, this is also a war. And their conscience told them that they should go to war," she shared.

The President confirmed that today, indeed, there are many examples of people working at RT who are faithful to their profession, devoted to their native country and their beliefs. Foreigners working on the channel, defending their own beliefs, help to promote these thoughts on the territory of their countries, among their populations. "They act honestly and openly," the president concluded.