Vladimir Putin rules not only over Russia, its space and its citizens, but also over an alternative reality in which black is white, night is day and right is wrong. He has systematically squeezed the life out of independent journalism at home and manipulates information from the outside world to Russian and global audiences. Viewed through the prism of the state-run Sputnik news agency and the RT broadcaster, the West is decadent, ugly with racism and consistently betrayed by its elected representatives.
Now Sputnik has opened its first British bureau and has decided that Scotland is an appropriate base for its “news” operation. It joins the Russkiy Mir (Russian World) foundation, which is already investing in the University of Edinburgh. To view these as harmless