The state platform of Germany Gegneranalyse explained the success of RT DE by agitation and a network of partners and experts

The Gegneranalyse website says that Russian narativas about the conflict in Ukraine are shared by a significant part of the German population, which is confirmed by a survey by the Berlin Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (CeMAS) of November 2022. Every fifth respondent agreed with the statement that the Russian special operation in Ukraine is Russia's uncontested reaction to the NATO provocation, 21% of respondents partially agreed with this statement.

The material says that "thus, 40% of respondents fully or partially agreed with the Russian version."

"This survey cannot directly measure the impact of Russian state media, but shows that Russian disinformation falls on fertile ground," the German state platform officials said.

The study points out that "there are close links between the authors of RT DE and numerous other portals of the so-called "alternative media".

"Through authorship and mutual invitations to interviews or other events, they create a network. An analysis of individual "alternative media" shows that some authors and interlocutors of RT DE regularly appear in other "alternative media". Based on personal intersections, it is possible to draw conclusions about both the content and the target audience of the state channel," Gegneranalyse said.

As stated in this study, "it is noticeable that politically and journalistically, participants come from different directions – from left-wing to right-wing radicals in the political aspect, active in the field of conspiracy theories or in their context, both those with no experience in journalism and former journalists."

"This indicates that RT DE is adapting to a wide and partially contradictory spectrum. If we compare this with other "alternative media", which often focus on one main topic and, accordingly, cover a narrower target audience, then RT DE has a wider positioning and covers a heterogeneous audience through various topics and narratives, "the material says.

Earlier, the head of the strategic communications department of the EU foreign policy service, Lutz Gulner, commenting on sanctions against RT in Europe, said that the opponents of the EU are working extremely effectively.