The Russia Propaganda Alert is a media analysis initiative of the Digital News Association (DNA)​ that serves as a resource to detect Russian narratives targeting Spanish-language news outlets in Latin America and the Western Hemisphere. DNA analysts and journalists review the daily dissemination of Russian foreign content on news sites, social media platforms, state-owned media, and the personal pages of Russian foreign officials as part of its Latin America Disinformation Tracking Initiative.

Russia’s Patterns and Propaganda Techniques

A few days ago on Dec. 29-30, 2025 The Washington Times Commentary section published an analysis by DNA Analyst Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, who revealed how Russian state sponsored media organizations were targeting Mexico as part of a deliberate effort to stoke anti-U.S. sentiment and turn America’s southern neighbor against it. 

The Washington Times column referenced some of the most common narratives identified by the Digital News Association’s Latin America Disinformation Tracking Initiative and focused on how Moscow is turning its attention to Mexico. According to the column, RT en Español’s cable service is now broadcasting in nearly all Latin American nations, boasting a following of more than 500 million with nearly 10 percent—40 million—in Mexico alone.

In his analysis, “Russia is targeting Mexico with anti-U.S. propaganda,” Shapiro reported that, “The Kremlin’s interest in sewing discord in Mexico was reaffirmed in an April 2024 U.S. diplomatic cable titled, ‘Mexico: RT’s invasion.’ The cable’s findings, according to a recent New York Times report, were supported by a 2024 Justice Department investigation that uncovered a Kremlin sponsored influence campaign called Doppelgänger, which aimed to turn America’s allies and citizens against her. According to the cable, American diplomats were alarmed by the “sudden and dramatic expansion” of Kremlin sponsored news in the North American nation, and troubled by the fact that RT Español’s audience skyrocketed from 191,000 views on X in 2022 to 715 million in 2023.”

Several Common Themes

The  Washington Times identified several common themes, asserting that today’s Kremlin propaganda is focused on igniting resentment among Mexicans and other citizens of neighboring Central American nations against the United States, raising war support for the Kremlin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine by falsely aligning Kyiv with “terrorism,” and targeting other U.S. allies such as Israel.

The column revealed that while Russia has had extraordinary success in expanding its audiences throughout Latin America by using conventional methods, it has engaged in covert techniques to ensure that citizens of Central and South American nations are unaware that the information and ‘news’ they are receiving is originating from Kremlin sponsored sources: “These tactics, [the German Marshall Fund] says, include ‘information laundering,’ a process of republishing content from Russian sources on less suspicious third-party websites to damper people’s awareness that they are reading Kremlin propaganda.”

The U.S. cable also discussed that American diplomats were alarmed by the “sudden and dramatic expansion” of Kremlin sponsored news in Mexico and concerned that RT Español’s audience increased from 191,000 views on X in 2022 to 715 million in 2023.

Latin American Country Discussed as Russian Propaganda Target in The Washington Times:

                               Mexico 🇲🇽

Topics and Issues Covered by Russia

• U.S. diplomatic cable titled, “Mexico: RT’s invasion” 
• U.S. Justice Department uncovering a Kremlin influence campaign called Doppelgänger 
• RT’s aggressive investment in Mexico and its strategy to undermine the United States
• RT Español’s audience increasing from 191,000 views on X to 715 million 
• British and French officials addressing Mexican officials about Russia’s regional activities 
• Club de Periodistas de México collaborating with Russian state sponsored media
• Russian state media engaging in ‘information laundering,’ to republish content on third-party websites as a covert tactic to infiltrate the information marketplace

Washington Times Column: December 29-30, 2025 

Russia is targeting Mexico with anti-U.S. propaganda

A U.S. diplomatic cable says Moscow is exploiting anti-American sentiment in Mexico

A specter is haunting Mexico — the specter of Russian propaganda. And it is part of a Kremlin disinformation campaign designed to turn America’s southern neighbor against it.

Earlier this year, I penned a Washington Times column titled “Russia is turning Latin America against the U.S. with veiled propaganda,” detailing how Kremlin sponsored media outlets such as Russia Today (RT), Sputnik, TASS and RIA Novosti are targeting Central and South America in Spanish with the aim of igniting anti-U.S. sentiment. I wrote that RT Español has a staff of more than 200 Spanish speaking employees in Moscow dedicated to disseminating the Kremlin’s anti-Western viewpoint throughout the region.

The column also revealed that Kremlin-sponsored outlets falsely accused then President-elect Trump of planning to use tariffs to “intensify … covert operations,” in the region and reported that the U.S. Agency for International Development was igniting a civil war in Spain while mischaracterizing Republican support for anti-Maduro sanctions as a political tool to appease Florida’s Latino voters. These outlets also depicted the Putin regime as a defender of Christian values despite the ongoing genocide in Ukraine and Moscow’s mass kidnapping of Ukrainian children — an act Rep. Mike McCaul recently called, “evil in its pure form.”

As Moscow continues to contaminate Latin American with anti-American sentiment, it is taking aim at our southern neighbor. Shortly after the 2024 U.S. elections, the Digital News Association’s Latin America Disinformation Tracking Initiative revealed that Russian media was falsely reporting that Mr. Trump was seeking to ignite a trade war with Mexico to “break the value chains between the Mexican and American economies,” and “end free trade,” while weakening regional currencies.

The Kremlin’s interest in sewing discord in Mexico was reaffirmed in an April 2024 U.S. diplomatic cable titled, “Mexico: RT’s invasion.” The cable’s findings, according to a recent New York Times report, were supported by a 2024 Justice Department investigation that uncovered a Kremlin sponsored influence campaign called Doppelgänger, which aimed to turn America’s allies and citizens against her.

According to the cable, American diplomats were alarmed by the “sudden and dramatic expansion” of Kremlin sponsored news in the North American nation, and troubled by the fact that RT Español’s audience skyrocketed from 191,000 views on X in 2022 to 715 million in 2023. For the Silo, Jeffrey Scott Shapiro.

For the full column please visit our US friends at The Washington Times.