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The Los Angeles protests against ICE raids drew international media attention. A Factchequeado investigation found that during these protests, which began on June 6, 2025, Russian propaganda outlets RT and Sputnik pushed contradictory narratives in English and Spanish.
In English, RT and Sputnik promoted conspiracy theories and misinformation about the protests, suggesting they were orchestrated by NGOs or by George Soros as part of a plot to “take down Trump.”
In Spanish, however, RT and Sputnik published content critical of Trump’s immigration policies, shared stories that humanized protesters, and portrayed the demonstrations as a direct response to ICE’s mass raids.
Sputnik: Pro-Trump narratives and anti-protest conspiracies in English; Anti-Trump opinions and protest legitimization in Spanish
On June 9, 2025, Sputnik’s English X (formerly Twitter) account promoted the conspiracy theory that billionaire George Soros was behind the protests: “Trump says it’s all paid for — and guess whose name keeps popping up? Yep, Soros,” Sputnik wrote in an X thread that also spread false claims about Soros allegedly supplying bricks to the protesters. It further suggested that the media was complicit in “spinning the riots as moral resistance” and casting federal authorities as “villains.”
That same day, Sputnik’s English account shared a video of Jackson Hinkle (an American known for spreading pro-Russian disinformation) claiming the protests could be part of a “coup” against Trump by the “deep state.”
Sputnik also reposted a video by Larry Johnson (also associated with pro-Kremlin disinformation) blaming Democrats for “pandering to illegal immigrants” and “ignoring laws,” and adding that Trump “would probably prevail”.
These videos, according to Sputnik, were recorded during a Moscow event called the “Forum of the Future,” organized by an institution led by Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, known as Vladimir Putin’s “brain”.
By contrast, none of these narratives appear in Sputnik’s Spanish X account. There is no mention of Soros, the bricks he supposedly provided, or a “coup.” On June 9, 2025, the Spanish account published an X thread titled “Without migrants, the U.S. is destined to disappear.” It framed the protests not as externally funded but as “a public outcry against the stigmatization of migrant communities.”
Instead of quoting Hinkle or Johnson, the Spanish content cited a professor from the National Autonomous University of Mexico who criticized Trump’s immigration policy as rooted in “hate and disdain,” asserting that “without immigrants, the U.S. simply wouldn’t be the power it is today.” It also quoted a spokesperson from pro-immigrant group Poder Latinx — partner of Factchequeado — who called the administration’s immigration policy “inhumane and cruel.”
Sputnik’s Spanish X did not spread conspiracy theories about how the media portrayed the protests. Instead, on June 12, it posted a video explaining that the display of Mexican flags at the Los Angeles protests was not “an act of defiance” but rather “an act of loyalty, solidarity, and pride from thousands of Latinos honoring their roots.”
The Spanish account also shared polling data showing Trump’s unpopularity in handling the protests and featured interviews debunking White House claims linking immigration to increased crime.
None of this appears on Sputnik’s English account, which instead promoted the conspiracy theory that “Chicano nationalists” were behind the protests, seeking to separate the American Southwest from the U.S. It also amplified an X thread by Kirill Dmitriev, President of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, blaming the protests on former President Joe Biden’s policies.
La diferencia en las coberturas también se extiende a las páginas web de Sputnik. El website en inglés utiliza términos como “anarquía”, “caos” e incluye la teoría de conspiración sobre Soros al referirse a las protestas contra ICE y las políticas migratorias de Trump en Los Ángeles. Por otro lado, el website en español no usa estos términos ni incluye la teoría de Soros, sino que se refiere a “tensión”, “disturbios”, y señala en los titulares que las protestan ocurren “contra la política migratoria” de Trump.
These editorial differences extended to Sputnik’s websites. The English site used terms like “anarchy” and “chaos,” and repeated the Soros conspiracy theory. The Spanish site used neither of those terms nor the Soros theory. Instead, it used “tension” or “disturbances,” and framed the protests as being “against Trump’s immigration policy.”
RT: Stigmatizing immigrants, attacking Democrats, and spreading conspiracies in English, but striking a different tone in Spanish
On looting: during the L.A. protests, looting occurred in parts of the city.
RT’s Spanish coverage described these events as “looting” that took place “amid the violence, clashes, and unrest in the U.S. city,” and directly linked the protests to “outrage over the raids on undocumented migrants.”
In English, however, RT used a different tone. On June 12, it posted a video allegedly showing looting in Compton, California, captioned: “Let us stay & loot your country,” framing the protesters as foreigners.
On the deployment of the National Guard:
RT in English defended Trump’s deployment of the National Guard while attacking California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, both Democrats. RT posted a video of protesters vandalizing self-driving cars with the caption: “California SUES Trump over National Guard deployment. This was in LA yesterday. How bad would it be WITHOUT troops?”. It also criticized Newsom’s references to the Founding Fathers, writing: “Newsom invokes founding fathers. They want illegals to fireball LA?”.
RT in Spanish reported Newsom’s statements without the editorial commentary. On the deployment, it posted a video titled “Total Distrust: Protesters express disappointment with the government over troop deployment.” The piece focused on demonstrators explaining their discontent with the Trump administration.
On Mayor Bass’ Statements: Another example of divergent coverage is RT’s treatment of Mayor Bass’s June 12 press conference.
Otro caso donde se evidencia la diferencia en las coberturas es en cómo ambas cuentas de X reseñaron las declaraciones de la alcaldesa Bass en una rueda de prensa que ofreció el 12 de junio de 2025. En español RT se refiere a las redadas masivas ordenadas por la Casa Blanca como la “causa directa” de las protestas, mientras que en inglés genera dudas de que esto sea así:
RT in Spanish reported: “Los Angeles MAYOR accuses Trump of using the city as ‘a TEST case.’ Karen Bass urged the White House to end the raids on immigrants, which she says are the direct cause of the massive protests.”
RT in English, however, wrote: “LA Mayor says chaos in her city 'PROVOKED by White House'. Claims ICE raids 'cause of the problems that have happened' Believe her that rioting, looting, violence all Trump's fault?”
Theories about the origins of the protests
RT in English, on June 10, 2025, posted a video segment from a “newscast” claiming the protests were “supported by Democrat-aligned NGOs,” calling them “a squad of Trump haters” more interested in toppling the president than defending migrants.
RT’s Spanish-language website did not mention these theories. Instead, it reported that the protests started “after immigration agents detained dozens of people in surprise raids.”
Russian propaganda playing both sides Isn’t new
“Russian state media — like RT and Sputnik — do this intentionally to inflame divisions among different audiences,” said Krystyna Sikora, a researcher of disinformation campaigns at the nonpartisan German Marshall Fund, in an interview with Factchequeado.
Sikora added that the English versions of both outlets have “found some support on the right,” while in Spanish “communities have different priorities,” so Russian media “tries to exploit the political issues most likely to provoke outrage in each audience.”
Peter Benzoni, who’s also a German Marshall Fund researcher, added that Russia seeks to deepen “existing political and geographic divisions between Latino and English-speaking communities” to “create chaos.” But he also argued there’s a second goal: “building trust” among Latino audiences.
“RT en Español or Sputnik en Español want their audiences to see them as reliable news sources,” Benzoni said, adding: “They want people to follow them and take them seriously. They have a very specific narrative they want to sell, and they do it by building trust, so when it really matters, like with the war in Ukraine, they already have their audience on their side.”
Olga Belogolova, director of the Emerging Technologies Initiative at Johns Hopkins University and former policy lead for countering foreign influence at Meta, told Factchequeado that “Russian influence operations have long employed a strategy of playing both sides.”
“From Soviet active measures during the Cold War to the present day, Russian influence campaigns have primarily been interested in driving division and chaos in the information environment,” she said, adding: “look at societal divisions and play up the most provocative ones on both sides.”
Belogolova also referenced the U.S. Department of Justice’s 2019 report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Russian interference in the 2016 election. It found that Russian agents created social media profiles with varying ideologies: anti-immigrant accounts, fake Republican profiles, fake Black Lives Matter pages, and fake LGBTQ+ accounts. These agents, working for Russia’s “Internet Research Agency,” recruited people across the political spectrum,” Mueller wrote.
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