RTVI Expands Its African Footprint with Launch in Mali, Targeting New Audiences

The Russian television network RTVI has commenced its broadcasts in Mali through Malivision, the country’s leading service provider, as announced on Tuesday.

This initiative enhances RTVI’s presence, potentially reaching around 3 million viewers in Mali, and is part of a larger strategy by Russian media to broaden their influence throughout Africa.

Andrei Popov, RTVI’s global distribution director, remarked, “The channel’s arrival in Mali strengthens its foothold in Africa and opens up new avenues for growth.” He further noted that there are intentions to foster closer partnerships with local operators in the area.

As of 2022, RTVI has claimed to operate in 64 nations and unrecognized territories within Africa, as stated by CEO Dmitry Suryanin.

Although the primary audience for the channel consists of Russian speakers, its launch in Mali indicates an aspiration to widen its audience and messaging.

Links between RTVI and Sergei Chemezov, the head of the state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec and a former KGB associate of Putin during the Cold War in Dresden, have surfaced. Chemezov has openly referenced their shared history, stating, “We lived in the same building and had both professional and personal interactions.”

After being relaunched in 2017 with support from Israeli entrepreneur Aaron Frenkel, who collaborated with Rostec on various projects, RTVI faced allegations from a 2021 investigation by the exiled outlet Proekt. This inquiry suggested that Chemezov was the true power behind the funding.

Proekt reported that Brenrose Limited, the UK-registered entity holding the channel’s copyright, was led in 2018 by Kirill Ganin, who also worked with companies affiliated with Rostec. The same year saw Tatyana Druzhneva, a former executive at a Rostec partner firm, take the position of executive director at RTVI.

In 2019, ownership shifted to Mikayel Israyelyan, an American entrepreneur of Armenian descent with no known prior connections to Russian media. Sources cited by Proekt suggested that Israyelyan might have acquired the channel on behalf of another individual.

A former high-ranking official acquainted with Chemezov shared with Proekt that the Kremlin perceived RTVI as a “liberal project” instrumental in portraying a controlled sense of media pluralism. “A balance was required to demonstrate that freedom of speech exists in Russia,” the official stated, while also indicating that the channel “remained connected to the security services and took directives from Putin.”

Rostec has refuted any association with RTVI.