'I just think it’s really sad': Irish journalist sanctioned for Russian propaganda 

Irish journalist Bryan MacDonald has been included on a list of sanctions imposed by the British Government against a number of people it said were linked to Russian broadcasters and newspapers, who had helped spread disinformation and propaganda for the Kremlin.

On February 24, Irish journalist Bryan MacDonald posted on Twitter: “I genuinely didn't believe Russia would launch a full-scale military attack on Ukraine."

"Like most journalists, analysts and pundits based in Russia, I thought it was sabre-rattling or a bluff to force the West's hand in negotiations."

Mr MacDonald, who works for the Russian state media outlet, RT, formerly known as Russia Today, added: “I apologise for getting it so badly wrong.” 

In the run-up to the invasion, Mr MacDonald had frequently tweeted about the geopolitical situation involving Russia, Ukraine and the West. 

His tweets pushed the view that Russia would not invade Ukraine.

After his apologetic tweet of February 24, on the first day of the war, the Carlow-native posted to Twitter just twice more.

This week, Mr MacDonald was included on a list of sanctions imposed by the British Government against a number of people it said were linked to Russian broadcasters and newspapers, who had helped spread disinformation and propaganda for the Kremlin.

The sanctions list said Bryan McDonald – using both spellings of the surname — was “head of Russia desk for the English language edition of RT (formerly Russia Today)”.

Russia's state-controlled Russia Today (RT) television broadcast van near the Kremlin. File picture: Mladen Antonov / AFP via Getty Images

Mr MacDonald's work for RT, an outlet which is funded by the Russian Government, dates back a little under a decade. He worked on a freelance basis before that.

RT has a website, social media and TV news channel, with the latter channel not actually available in Russian. 

Its TV channel was available in English, Arabic, Spanish, German and French. 

Following the invasion, it was banned in the UK and Europe.

Propaganda and disinformation accusation

Prior to this, the outlet had been accused of espousing propaganda and disinformation for the benefit of the Russian government.

In January, the US State Department said RT was one of Russia’s “key state-funded and directed global messengers within this ecosystem, using the guise of conventional media outlets to provide disinformation and propaganda support for the Kremlin’s foreign policy objectives”.

The UK's communications regulator, Ofcom, has been keeping an eye on RT since the Ukraine crisis exploded into a full-scale invasion. 

RT and Ofcom have clashed before. 

After a chemical poisoning in Salisbury, England, in March 2018 of Russian military intelligence defector Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, Ofcom monitored RT’s output. 

What it found was coverage so biased on this issue that Ofcom imposed a swingeing £200,000 sanction for seven serious breaches of the due impartiality rules in the British Broadcasting Code. Ofcom has announced 27 expedited investigations into RT coverage of the invasion of Ukraine. 

Despite this, Mr MacDonald has disputed the suggestion he engaged in spreading propaganda and false information.

In 2014, he was the subject of an in-depth piece by a publication called The Interpreter, which describes itself as a journal covering the actions and policies of the Russian government. 

The Interpreter claimed he was using “both subtle and not-so-subtle" means to “influence more respectable western outlets’ coverage of the crisis in Ukraine”. 

These were claims he disputed.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner’s The Mick Clifford Podcast last year, he was described as having worked for the Independent, Daily Mail and Ireland on Sunday before he left the country.

He said he left Ireland in 2008 after the financial crash and initially found himself in Berlin. 

From there, he said he “drifted” to Russia.

“I’ve spent most of the last 11 years here,” he told Mr Clifford.

At that time in August 2021, the Black Sea city of Sochi was his home.

He described the media in Russia as “stratified”, with State media controlled by the Government with little if any criticism of Putin, and other layers of media not subject to the same scrutiny.

“Russia Today is a foreign broadcaster,” he said. 

The level of State interference would be probably no more than the State interference at RTÉ... They just simply wouldn’t care.” 

He said he was never asked to “spike" a story during his time on the Russia desk, “even stories critical of the government or critical of Putin”, and he was never told not to print anything. However, he added the experience would be different for domestic-based media.

This opinion is not one shared by the British Government.

It said  RT is owned or controlled by ANO TV-Novosti, which is affiliated with the Russian government and carries out a “business in a strategically significant sector to the Government of Russia”.

“Therefore, as an employee of RT, MacDonald is a member of, or associated with, a person involved in destabilising Ukraine or undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence of Ukraine, or obtaining a benefit from or supporting the Government of Russia,” the sanctions list said.

The EU, US and UK have sanctioned dozens of people since the Russian invasion of Ukraine for what it says are links to the Kremlin. 

These latest sanctions against media organisations and individuals included the freezing of assets and travel bans.

In a statement reacting to the sanctions this week, Mr MacDonald was bullish as he defended his work at RT and criticised the British for launching sanctions.

He said he was inaccurately described as the head of the Russia desk at RT, when he was head of the Russia desk at RT.com which is “totally separate to the television, which they banned”.

“I just think it’s really sad,” he said. 

“And it reflects badly on the British government, which claims to have respect for press freedom.” 

He also accused the British Government of getting its facts wrong about him on its sanctions list.

“What makes this ruling even more ridiculous is that I ran the [online] desk to the highest professional standards. 

We did not engage in any disinformation. Our output was balanced and rigorously fact-checked. Under no metric could it have been considered ‘propaganda’. 

"In fact, this seemed to upset some people as they wanted RT to fit a particular narrative.” 

He said that this desk was disbanded more than two months ago and “incidentally”, all the other employees were British.

Mr MacDonald also pointed out that the British Government listed him as being from Kilkenny which isn’t the case, telling The Mick Clifford podcast last year that he was from Carlow.

“Also, I find the targeting of myself with financial penalties to be beyond hilarious,” he said. 

“I don’t have money to be placing in UK banks. Nor do I have a mansion in the Cotswolds or a townhouse in Islington.

I was a journalist working for a news outlet. Not a tycoon. Unlike, for instance, many of those Russians who have donated to Britain’s ruling Conservative party.” 

 However, he also did address his statement of “getting it wrong” about whether or not Russia would actually invade Ukraine.

“I’m genuinely sorry about that,” he added. 

“I could point to the fact that almost all Russia experts held similar views, but that would be a cheap deflection. I can only speak for myself, and I absolutely did not believe there would be a full-scale military offensive in Ukraine.” 

Mr MacDonald did not comment on his future plans in the wake of the sanctions being imposed.