Russian media group Sputnik intends to open office in Bucharest

Russian media group Sputnik News is preparing to open offices in Bucharest and Chisinau. The group is controlled by the Russian state and includes a radio network and a network of news in various languages, writes Mediafax newswire.

On November 10, Russia announced it would launch a new multimedia international services called Sputnik that will be financed by the Russian state and will counteract the ‘aggressive propaganda’ of the West and offer ‘an alternative interpretation’ to international events, according to theguardian.com, quoted by Mediafax.

Sputnik is part of Rossiya Segodnya, which in 2013 incorporated state media agency RIA Novosti and radio network Voice of Russia.

According to theguardian.com, the Sputnik radio network will run in 30 languages starting 2015. It will broadcast over 800 hours of content per day, which will be produced in 130 cities in 34 countries.

According to Dmitry Kiselyov, the general manager of the media group, most of the content will be created locally with local journalists, also taking into account the preferences of the audience.

Each Sputnik information center will have between 30 and 80 employees. A team of more than 100 people will work in the Kiev office of the media group.

According to The Guardian, the Sputnik News expansion is part of Russia’s international media strategy, as Russia means to invest a great deal in media development this year. Russia Today has a budget of USD 400 million while Rossiya Segodnya, which includes the Sputnik group, will have a budget of USD 170 million.

In September, the Romanian media reported that Russia Today might be interested about entering the Romanian market.

The official website of Sputnik News states that the multimedia group aims to produce content in 30 languages, Romanian included. The group will have multimedia centers in major cities of the world such as Beijing, Washington, Cairo, Berlin, London, Paris and Kiev, Bucharest and Chisinau.