„Sputnik Южная Осетия“

About the Agency

The Sputnik South Ossetia („Sputnik Южная Осетия“) news agency and radio service started broadcasting in the Tskhinvali region on June 17, 2015. Its audience is not limited to the population of the Tskhinvali region - its unique number of users totals 15.6 million (according to the 2020 data).

Sputnik South Ossetia is owned by Sputnik, a Russian-state owned news agency, which was established in 2014 by the Russian media group Russia Today (now RT). Currently, the agency broadcasts in many countries around the world (including the de facto republic of Abkhazia) and is often used to disseminate propaganda messages from the Kremlin. Consequently, pro-Russian and anti-Western messages can be found in the information materials of Sputnik South Ossetia.

Anatoly Bibilov, the de facto president of the Tskhinvali region, is an active reader and listener of Sputnik South Ossetia. According to him, the agency is "the only independent news agency that tries to cover ongoing events in the Tskhinvali region impartially."

About the Agency Activities

Sputnik South Ossetia covers events in the Tskhinvali region and beyond, prepares video and photo reports, interactive materials and infographics. However, it should be noted that the multimedia complex is not only engaged in journalistic activities - Sputnik South Ossetia often organizes various projects, press conferences and charity events.

Sometimes, publications of the news agency draw the attention of the de facto government of the Tskhinvali region and push them make a decision on a specific issue. A clear example of which is the restoration of the bust of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Giorgi Beruashvili, in Tskhinvali.

Noteworthy, that the news agency advocates raising awareness of the Great Patriotic War and often appears supporter or organizer of various relative events in the Tskhinvali region.

The Board of the Agency

The first head of Sputnik South Ossetia was Narek Ordyan, who is known to have worked in the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Ordiani arrived in Tskhinvali from Moscow on February 9 2015. He shortly assembled a team and founded Sputnik South Ossetia. Noteworthy, that on October 13 2017, on the "25th anniversary" of the Republic of South Ossetia, the de facto president of the Tskhinvali region, Anatoly Bibilov, awarded Narek Ordyan a medal for objective coverage of events   as well as for his contribution to strengthening cooperation between the peoples of "South Ossetia" and Russia.

In October 2017, Narek Ordyan was replaced by Vitaly Radnaev, who had extensive experience of work in the field of journalism and for three years held the position of Editor-in-Chief of Radio Sputnik in Moscow. The main merit of Radnaev is the establishment of the radio broadcasting Sputnik South Ossetia. In 2017, the radio Sputnik South Ossetia covered Akhalgori district, totaling 70% of the audience, which equals to 20% of the territory of the Tskhinvali region.

In 2019, Vitaly Denisov became the head of the news agency, who still holds this position.

The Agency Structure

Sputnik South Ossetia is an informational portal in Ossetian and Russian languages, radio broadcasting and a high-tech multimedia press center.

Evaluation of the Agency’s Activities

A 2020 publication by the Georgian Center for Strategy and Development describes Sputnik South Ossetia as an "information supporter of the Russian Federation's policy", that violates journalistic standards and leaves no room for discussion. In addition, Myth Detector published an article on December 2, 2019,  stating that Sputnik South Ossetia is a media outlet of the Kremlin. Its goal is to portray Georgia as an aggressor neighbor. The news agency also actively promotes anti-Western propaganda, according to which NATO and the EU are dangerous alliances. It is also important that Sputnik South Ossetia (like other Sputniks) always refers to the Russian Federation in a positive context and tries to present it as "patron" protecting the people of the Tskhinvali region from future threats posed by Georgia and the West.