Pravda.ru (russian: Правда.Ру, lit=truth) formerly Pravda Online, is a Russian news website established in 1999 and owned by Pravda.ru Holding headed by Vadim Gorshenin.

History

After the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, the oldest Soviet paper founded in 1912, ''

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the co ...

'', split into two different papers. Significant members of the main editorial staff (Viktor Afanasiev, Gennady Seleznev, Yuri Zhukov, Vera Tkachenko and Vadim Gorshenin) left Pravda to form the online news and opinion website Pravda.ru. Following a court case the Pravda name was allowed to be used by both the newspaper owned by the Communist Party of Russia and the pro-Putin Pravda.ru run by journalists associated with the defunct Soviet Pravda. According to politologist

Stanislav Belkovsky Stanislav Aleksandrovich Belkovsky (russian: Станисла́в Алекса́ндрович Белко́вский, born 7 February 1971, Moscow, Soviet Union) is a Russian political analyst and communication specialist. He is a founder and ...

, Pravda.ru is controlled by

Konstantin Kostin Konstantin V. Kostin (russian: Константин Костин, , born 4 September 1973) is a Latvian figure skater. He competed for the Soviet Union through 1991 and then for Latvia from 1992 to the end of his career in 2001. He is the 1992 W ...

and his wife Olga Kostina. The Russian politician,

Sergey Veremeenko Sergey Alekseyevich Veremeenko (born 26 September 1955) is a Russian businessman and politician who, according to ''Forbes'' magazine, has a net worth of 1.4 billion US dollars. He has investments in steel, mining, banking and microchips. He has 2 ...

also holds interests in Pravda.ru and Pravda International. Pravda.ru was registered in November 1999 and has been published since January 27, 1999. Pravda.ru also launched an English version (english.pravda.ru), a Portuguese version, as well as an Italian version. The printed version was registered by the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Press, TV and Radio Broadcasting and Mass Communications on 17 November 2003. In 2007 Pravda.ru was classified as a popular leftist, nationalist news website by the

Federation of American Scientists The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) is an American nonprofit global policy think tank with the stated intent of using science and scientific analysis to attempt to make the world more secure. FAS was founded in 1946 by scientists who wo ...

McCain controversy

In 2013, after Russian President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

published an op-ed on ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in support of Syrian President

Bashar al-Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...

, US senator

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...

announced that he would publish a response article on ''Pravda'', referring to the Communist newspaper. McCain, however, eventually published his op-ed on ''Pravda.ru''. This caused protests from the editor of Communist ''Pravda''

Boris Komotsky Boris Komotsky (russian: Борис Олегович Комоцкий; born 31 January 1956, Potsdam, East Germany) is a Russian political figure, editor of the ''Pravda'' newspaper and a deputy of the 6th and 8th State Dumas. From 1978 ...

and a response from the editor of ''Pravda.ru'' Dmitry Sudakov: Komotsky claimed that "there is only one ''Pravda'' in Russia, it is the organ of the Communist Party, and we have heard nothing about the intentions of the Republican senator" and dismissed ''Pravda.ru'' as an "Oklahoma-City-Pravda", while Sudakov derided Komotsky, claiming that "the circulation of the Communist Party ''Pravda'' is like a factory newspaper of AvtoVAZ from the Soviet times". McCain later attempted to publish his op-ed on the Communist ''Pravda'' as well, but the paper refused to publish it, since it was not aligned to the political positions of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

Controversy

The organization has been accused of supporting the Russian government's position on various subjects both within and outside the country and also of producing neo-Soviet,

Russian nationalist Russian nationalism is a form of nationalism that promotes Russian cultural identity and unity. Russian nationalism first rose to prominence in the early 19th century, and from its origin in the Russian Empire, to its repression during early B ...

news and outright conspiracy theories. The media outlet which is a part of a larger pro-Kremlin media holding is said to have created an algorithm for vetting media outlets in terms of their pro-government ideological standing. Pravda.ru has been known to produce tabloid style articles with outrageous claims in the headline, such as * “Aliens forced Americans out from the Moon”, * "Time machine built in Europe, Russian scientists say", * “Time can be turned back”, * “Alien and human skulls found on Mars”, * "Nuclear strike hits Yemen", * “Boriska, boy from Mars, says that all humans live eternally”, * "Autotrophs: new kind of humans appears who neither drink nor eat" * “Nazi Germany achieved its technological advantage with aliens’ help”. * "The decision on Kyiv has been made: it will be destroyed so that the Russians do not get it" According to former State Duma deputy

Boris Nadezhdin Boris Borisovich Nadezhdin (russian: Борис Борисович Надеждин; born April 26, 1963) is a Russian opposition politician and Moscow municipal deputy. He served in the 3rd convocation of the State Duma, from 1999 to 2003. Nade ...

, Pravda.Ru is “a pro-Kremlin site that has been coming down on the opposition all the time”; according to

Vladimir Pribylovsky Vladimir Valerianovich Pribylovsky (russian: Влади́мир Валериа́нович Прибыло́вский, 6 March 195613 January 2016) was a Soviet and Russian political scientist, historian, journalist, human rights activist, and a ...

, the site is maintained by the Department of Internal Policy of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation. In 2005, one of the correspondents of Pravda.ru was involved in the story of the attack of "Nashi" on the headquarters of the

National Bolshevik Party The National Bolshevik Party (NBP; russian: Национал-большевистская партия), also known as the Nazbols (russian: нацболы), operated from 1993 to 2007 as a Russian political party with a political program of Nat ...

References

{{reflist

External links

www.pravda.ru (Russian)

port.pravda.ru (Portuguese)
Russian news websites 1999 establishments in Russia Privately held companies of Russia