RT Chief Promotes Candace Owens Segment Echoing Broader Kremlin Influence Themes
An RT-promoted Candace Owens interview appears to reflect a broader Kremlin effort to blend propaganda, ideological outreach, and “traditional values” messaging for Western audiences
Russian state media outlet RT, through its editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, promoted an “RT EXCLUSIVE” featuring Candace Owens thanking Vladimir Putin, Russia’s Ministry of Health, and Russian medical personnel after a member of her security team reportedly suffered a severe stroke during her June trip to Russia.
According to the account published by RT, the unnamed man underwent emergency brain surgery and later returned to the United States. The medical details were attributed to a letter from Owens that RT said it had obtained exclusively.
The segment drew additional attention after counter-extremism researcher Ryan Mauro, president of The Mauro Institute, highlighted Simonyan’s promotion of the story in an X post. Mauro cited it alongside Simonyan’s earlier description of Russian “covert projects” aimed at influencing Western audiences.
Simonyan and the “Covert Projects” Remark
The renewed focus on RT’s leadership also stems from earlier public remarks by Simonyan.
During a February 2024 appearance on Russian state television, Simonyan said Russia had built “an entire empire of covert projects” intended to work with public opinion and reach Western audiences, according to Newsweek.
The resurfaced remarks have since been cited by journalists and researchers examining RT’s English-language influence operations because they appeared to describe covert opinion-shaping efforts as an intentional strategy rather than an incidental consequence of state media coverage.
Russia’s Appeal to Western Conservatives
The Owens segment also appears to fit within a broader Russian effort to present the country as a destination for Westerners disillusioned with liberal social change.
In August 2024, Putin signed an executive order creating a simplified path to temporary residence for certain foreigners who reject what the order called the “destructive neoliberal ideological attitudes” of their home countries and identify with “traditional Russian spiritual and moral values.”
The policy allows qualifying applicants to bypass the normal residency quota and requirements to demonstrate knowledge of the Russian language, Russian history, and basic Russian law.
The decree dovetailed with an existing private project aimed at conservative Western families. In 2023, The Moscow Times reported on plans for a settlement outside Moscow marketed to conservative-minded Americans and Canadians.
The project’s own website describes American Villages in Russia as a fully private, nongovernmental initiative intended to help native English speakers “start a new life in Russia” while living alongside like-minded residents.
Past RT Controversies
Russia Today has been the subject of several past controversies and the target of federal scrutiny. In 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice announced charges against two RT employees accused of covertly funding and directing a U.S.-based media company that produced thousands of videos carrying undisclosed Russian messaging. The DOJ said the effort involved nearly $10 million and was intended to influence American audiences while concealing the source of the content.
The State Department later said RT had gone “beyond being simply a media outlet,” describing it as an actor involved in covert influence operations and intelligence-linked activity. In the same statement, the department said RT personnel, including its editor-in-chief, had coordinated directly with the Kremlin in support of Russian government objectives abroad.