RT India launch and Prasar Bharati’s 5 Russian MoUs deepen India–Russia media ties

New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday launched RT India, the India division of Russia’s state-funded television network RT, on a day that also saw India’s public broadcaster Prasar Bharati and news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) sign a series of cooperation agreements with leading Russian media organisations.

RT India, positioned as the network’s India-focused channel, is being launched as part of Moscow’s broader push to expand its media footprint in key partner countries. The new service is described as an India division of RT and will operate as part of Russia’s state-backed international news ecosystem, with content centred on India–Russia ties, global affairs and a multipolar world order.

Five Prasar Bharati MoUs with Russian broadcasters

As part of the official outcomes of the State Visit of the President of the Russian Federation to India, Prasar Bharati signed five separate understandings with Russian media entities to deepen cooperation in broadcasting.

The agreements are:

• Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation and collaboration on broadcasting between Prasar Bharati, India and Joint Stock Company Gazprom-media Holding, Russian Federation
  
  
• Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation and collaboration on broadcasting between Prasar Bharati, India and National Media Group, Russia
  
  
• Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation and collaboration on broadcasting between Prasar Bharati, India and BIG ASIA Media Group
  
  
• Addendum to the Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation and collaboration on broadcasting between Prasar Bharati, India and ANO “TV-Novosti”
  
  
• Memorandum of Understanding between TV BRICS Joint-stock company and Prasar Bharati
  
  

Taken together, the MoUs signal a structured push to formalise media collaboration across news, culture and factual programming. While detailed action plans will be drawn up later, the frameworks typically cover areas such as content sharing, programme exchanges, co-productions, training and technology cooperation.

The addendum with ANO “TV-Novosti”, the organisation behind RT, updates an existing MoU and is expected to align it with the launch of RT India and new formats of collaboration. 

The MoU with TV BRICS is likely to focus on content related to BRICS cooperation, while pacts with Gazprom-media, National Media Group and BIG ASIA open up a range of entertainment and information content that can be adapted for Indian audiences.

For Prasar Bharati, which runs Doordarshan and Akashvani (All India Radio), these agreements add a stronger Russia-focused layer to its external partnerships at a time when both countries are placing renewed emphasis on information and cultural ties alongside defence, energy and trade.

PTI and TASS seal news exchange agreement

In a parallel move on the news side, PTI and Russian news agency TASS on Friday signed a cooperation agreement for regular exchange of news content on developments in India and Russia.

The agreement was signed by Vijay Joshi, PTI’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief, and Andrey Kondrashov, Director General of TASS, on the sidelines of the India–Russia Business Forum at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, coinciding with President Putin’s visit.

Speaking at the event, Kondrashov described the deal as “another important step towards strengthening friendship and mutual understanding between Russia and India”.

“We are opening a new page in Russian–Indian media cooperation. Our cooperation will help make the news exchange more efficient, diverse and transparent,” he said.

Kondrashov underlined that this is especially important at a time when Russian–Indian relations, despite geopolitical turbulence, show “stable strategic depth” in many areas, including energy, food security, military-technical cooperation and cultural and humanitarian projects.

“The mass media is a bridge between our peoples, between our cultures. Thanks to PTI and TASS, this bridge will be even more reliable and stronger,” he added.

In his remarks, Joshi said the agreement was more than a routine news exchange arrangement.

He called it a renewal of both agencies’ pledge “to strengthen truth in an age of uncertainty” and “to see events and growth in our countries firsthand.”

Joshi pointed out that the global flow of information is largely shaped through Western lenses and dominated by agencies rooted in the US and Europe. While acknowledging their contributions, he said this imbalance has at times limited the diversity of perspectives reaching audiences.

“Our collaboration seeks to broaden that horizon—to bring in voices, stories, and viewpoints from our countries directly without any third-party filters,” he said.

He added that the partnership is a reminder of why journalism matters: “to inform, to connect, and to uphold truth above all”.

“Together, let us build a stronger, more trusted media ecosystem for the world we share,” Joshi said.