RUSSIAN INFLUENCE IN THE MEDIA SECTORS OF THE BLACK SEA COUNTRIES TOOLS, NARRATIVES AND POLICY OPTIONS FOR BUILDING RESILIENCE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF DEMOCRACY The report explores Russia’s corporate presence and influence in the media sectors of five Black Sea countries (Bulgaria, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and Armenia) by providing deeper understanding of the links between media ownership and anti-Western propaganda and disinformation. Corruption networks and soft media power have allowed Russia to benefit from inherent governance deficits in these Black Sea countries to infiltrate businesses, and to shape political narratives and environments in the region. Russia has sought to expand its influence in the media sectors of the Black sea countries through applying a variety of direct and indirect tools, including a complex mixture of ownership-networks and untraceable subcontracts for the retransmission rights of the official Russian media to domestic companies; obscuring media ownership and funding streams, particularly in the online domain, etc. Through an in-depth content analysis of three media outlets with different degrees of pro-Russian orientation in each of the five countries, the report shows how different type of media are used for resurgence of Brezhnev-era-type propaganda, irrespective of the economic, political and social differences across the countries. The results highlight that the degree of consistently reproduced similarities in the pro-Russian narratives among the media outlets is very high despite the differences in formal editorial policies, claimed financial and management independence and (in)formal economic and political links. The report has been prepared by a team of authors, including: Dr. Rumena Filipova, Analyst, Economic Program, Center for the Study of Democracy, Bulgaria; Dr. Todor Galev, Senior analyst, Economic Program, Center for the Study of Democracy, Bulgaria; Ms. Tamar Kintsurashvili, Executive director, Media Development Foundation, Georgia; Ms. Ana Chitaladze, Researcher, Media Development Foundation, Georgia; Ms. Sopho Gelava, Researcher, Media Development Foundation, Georgia; Mr. Simion Ciochina, Communication Manager, Institute for European Policies and Reforms, Moldova; Dr. Roman Shutov, Strategic Advisor for Eastern Partnership Programme, Baltic Centre for Media Excellence, Ukraine; Mr. Gegham Vardanyan, Editor in Chief, Media Initiatives Center, Armenia; Ms. Nouneh Sarkissian, Managing Director, Media Initiatives Center, Armenia; Ms. Anahit Harutyunyan, Armenia. CSD would like to thank Dr. Todor Yalamov, Sofia University, and Mr. Martin Vladimirov, Center for the Study of Democracy for their valuable comments and contributions, as well as Ms. Daniela Mineva, and Mr. Petar Terziev, Center for the Study of Democracy for their coordination and research support. Editorial Board: Dr. Ognian Shentov, Chairman, Center for the Study of Democracy Dr. Todor Galev, Senior Analyst, Economic Program, Center for the Study of Democracy Ruslan Stefanov, Director, Economic Program, Center for the Study of Democracy This publication is supported by the Black Sea Trust, a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Opinions expressed in the publication do not necessarily represent those of the Black Sea Trust, the German Marshal Fund, or its partners. ISBN 978-954-477-339-7 © 2018, Center for the Study of Democracy All rights reserved. 5 Alexander Zhendov Str., Sofia 1113 tel.: (+359 2) 971 3000 fax: (+359 2) 971 2233 www.csd.bg, [email protected] Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................... 9 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 15 RUSSIAN INFLUENCE PATTERNS IN THE BLACK SEA REGION MEDIA ........................................ 17 LINKS BETWEEN MEDIA OWNERSHIP AND RUSSIAN INFLUENCE IN THE BLACK SEA COUNTRIES .......................................................................................... 23 THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE ............................................................................................. 24 RUSSIA’S CORPORATE FOOTPRINT IN THE MEDIA SECTORS OF BULGARIA AND UKRAINE ...................................................................................... 30 MAPPING THE PRO-RUSSIAN NARRATIVES IN THE BLACK SEA COUNTRIES’ MEDIA ................... 33 COMMON FEATURES OF PRO-RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA .................................................... 35 DIFFERENCES IN PRO-RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA ................................................................ 44 WHAT IS TO BE DONE? ................................................................................................... 47 COUNTRY REPORTS ........................................................................................................... 53 BULGARIA ......................................................................................................................... 53 UKRAINE .......................................................................................................................... 77 GEORGIA .......................................................................................................................... 92 MOLDOVA ...................................................................................................................... 109 ARMENIA ........................................................................................................................ 122 List of tables and Figures TABLE 1. TABLE 1. SELECTED LOCATIONS OF FOREIGN BENEFICIAL OWNERS IN THE MEDIA SECTORS OF BULGARIA AND UKRAINE ................................ 30 FIGURE 1. FREEDOM OF THE PRESS RANKING FOR FIVE BLACK SEA COUNTRIES (1994–2017) ....................................... 25 FIGURE 2. WORLD PRESS FREEDOM INDEX FOR FIVE BLACK SEA COUNTRIES (2003–2017) ....................................... 26 FIGURE 3. ANNUAL TURNOVER OF THE COMPANIES IN THE MEDIA SECTORS OF BULGARIA, MOLDOVA AND UKRAINE (THOUSANDS EUR) ..................... 28 FIGURE 4. ANNUAL AVERAGE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES IN THE MEDIA SECTORS OF BULGARIA, MOLDOVA AND UKRAINE .................................................. 29 FIGURE 5. RUSSIAN CORPORATE FOOTPRINT IN THE MEDIA SECTORS OF BULGARIA AND UKRAINE (AVERAGE ANNUAL TURNOVER FOR 2014–2016) ................. 31 FIGURE 6. RUSSIAN INFLUENCE IN THE BULGARIAN MEDIA SECTOR............................ 32 FIGURE 7. THEME COVERAGE ACROSS THE MEDIA OUTLETS OF THE FIVE SELECTED COUNTRIES ........................................................... 38 FIGURE 8. TYPES OF ARTICLES PREDOMINANT ACROSS THE MEDIA OUTLETS OF THE FIVE SELECTED COUNTRIES ........................................................... 40 FIGURE 9. REFERENCES TO RUSSIAN NEWS AGENCIES ACROSS THE MEDIA OUTLETS OF THE FIVE SELECTED COUNTRIES ........................................................... 41 FIGURE 10. SHARE OF ANONYMOUS ARTICLES ACROSS THE MEDIA OUTLETS OF THE FIVE SELECTED COUNTRIES ........................................................... 42 FIGURE 11. POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE PORTRAYAL OF RUSSIA AND THE WEST ACROSS THE MEDIA OUTLETS OF THE FIVE SELECTED COUNTRIES ................. 43 FIGURE 12. MAIN TOPICS IN THE COVERAGE OF THE SYRIAN CONFLICT ..................... 56 FIGURE 13. MAIN TOPICS IN THE COVERAGE OF RUSSIAN MEDDLING IN FOREIGN ELECTIONS ........................................................................... 63 FIGURE 14. MAIN TOPICS IN THE COVERAGE OF ENERGY ........................................... 69 FIGURE 15. TOPICS RELATED TO THE WAR IN SYRIA .................................................. 95 FIGURE 16. TOPICS RELATED TO RUssIAN INTEResT IN ENERGY IssUes ................................ 98 FIGURE 17. TONE OF COVERAGE TOWARDS THE ACTORS RELATED TO GEORGIA-GAZPROM RELATIONS .......................................................... 99 FIGURE 18. TOPICS RELATED TO RUSSIAN MEDDLING IN ELECTIONS .......................... 104 FIGURE 19. THE NUMBER OF PUBLISHED ARTICLES ON THE THREE MAIN THEMES ...... 119 Russian Influence in the Media Sectors of the Black Sea Countries 7 FIGURE 20. TOP SUB-TOPICS PUBLISHED ON SPUTNIK.MD ........................................ 120 FIGURE 21. TOP SUB-TOPICS PUBLISHED ON KP.MD ............................................... 120 FIGURE 22. TOP SUB-TOPICS PUBLISHED ON VEDOMOSTI.MD ................................... 121 FIGURE 23. WAR IN SYRIA: NUMBER OF ARTICLES .................................................. 125 FIGURE 24. WAR IN SYRIA: TYPES OF ARTICLES ....................................................... 125 FIGURE 25. NUMBER OF ARTICLES ON RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE IN ELECTIONS .............. 127 FIGURE 26. ELECTION INTERFERENCE: TYPES OF ARTICLES ........................................... 128 FIGURE 27. ENERGY: NUMBER OF ARTICLES ............................................................. 130 FIGURE 28. ENERGY: TYPES OF ARTICLES ................................................................. 130 FIGURE 29. NUMBER OF ARTICLES ON ALL THEMES .................................................. 133 FIGURE 30. ALL ARTICLES BY TYPE .......................................................................... 133 8 Executive Summary Russian Influence in the Media Sectors of the Black Sea Countries 9 EXecutive Summary The Black Sea region has been subject to increasing pressure and uncertainty, following Russia’s occupation of parts of Georgia in 2008, the annexation of Crimea and destabilization