Russian Sputnik news agency moves UK headquarters to Edinburgh

Russian state-funded news agency Sputnik has moved its UK headquarters from London to Edinburgh.

No small operation, Sputnik broadcasts online in over 30 languages and is set to air a daily news and current affairs programme, World in Focus, anchored by Scottish broadcasters Jack Foster and Carolyn Scott.

The new UK bureau, which will be located in Edinburgh’s Exchange Tower, will be headed up by Russian former political adviser Oxana Brazhnik, while Dundee-native and fluent Russian speaker Johanna Ross will serve as executive producer.

Some critics have voiced fears that the station will act as a mouthpiece for the Kremlin, with one unnamed Scottish National Party MP saying that it may be “a tool for disinformation”.

Sputnik UK director Nikolai Gorshkov has rather a different take on the news station’s claim of “telling the untold”.

“We’re offering people angles on stories and views and backgrounds that they might not necessarily get from anyone else. The days of mainstream media are gone, to a certain extent,” he stated.

Rumours are already flying regarding possible motivations behind moving Sputnik’s headquarters from London to Edinburgh, with the most extreme suggesting a desire to deepen rifts between Scotland and England.

Source: BBC and Daily Mail