Russian state-owned media group wants to open Bucharest office

The Russian media group Sputnik News, which is controlled by the Russian Government and includes a radio network and news sites in several languages, plans to open offices in Romania's capital Bucharest and in Chisinau, the Republic of Moldova capital. The Russian Government announced on November 10, 2014, a new international multimedia service, called Sputnik, funded by the state, which aims to fight the "aggressive propaganda" of the West and provide an "alternative interpretation" of the world events, as reported at the time by the AFP news agency, according to the Romanian agency Mediafax. The Sputnik Media Group is part of the Rossiya Segodnya international information agency, which in 2013 incorporated the state news agency RIA Novosti and the radio network Voice of Russia, according to reports in the international media. The Sputnik radio network will operate in 30 languages starting 2015 - including in Romanian, and will broadcast in 130 cities from 34 countries worldwide, according to the UK news site theguardian.com. Sputniknews.com has several versions, including in English, Spanish, Russian, German, and Turkish. Diana Mesesan, diana@romania-insider.com