Italy’s Kremlin Ally: Propagandist Spreads Disinformation from Ukraine to West Africa

September 30, 2024 – Burkina Faso/Russia/Ukraine – 

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has unveiled the operations of Italian national Vittorio Nicola Rangeloni, a self-proclaimed journalist who has spent nearly a decade amplifying Kremlin propaganda across conflict zones—from Russian-occupied Ukraine to Burkina Faso. RSF’s investigation reveals how Rangeloni’s work blurs the line between journalism and state-backed disinformation, positioning him as a key player in Moscow’s global information war.

Rangeloni, a 32-year-old from Lecco, Italy, with partial Russian heritage, rose to prominence by producing media content in Eastern Ukraine that mirrored the Kremlin’s narrative. Fluent in Russian and lacking formal journalistic credentials, he embedded with Russian-backed separatists and portrayed Ukrainian forces as aggressors. His videos and reports, shared widely through social media and alternative media platforms, often omitted context and failed to meet journalistic standards, but were presented with professional polish and claimed to reflect “independent reporting.”

Now operating in Burkina Faso for a Russian-funded outlet called African Initiative, Rangeloni has repurposed his strategy to serve a different geopolitical agenda: promoting Russia’s presence in Africa while sowing distrust in Western influence. RSF warns that his media work there targets local audiences already disillusioned with French and Western institutions, reinforcing Moscow’s growing soft-power influence across the Sahel region.

By adopting journalistic formats—such as interviews, field reports, and on-the-ground videos—Rangeloni provides a false sense of objectivity. RSF emphasizes that such efforts constitute a deliberate form of information warfare. His reporting, while styled like traditional journalism, consistently aligns with Kremlin foreign policy and undermines democratic discourse by spreading distortions and half-truths.

This case underscores a growing trend in modern propaganda: multilingual, mobile operatives who operate in the gray zone between journalism and psychological operations. RSF calls for increased scrutiny of such figures and the platforms that host them, warning that the unchecked spread of state-sponsored disinformation risks undermining press freedom and public trust in legitimate media worldwide.

Rangeloni’s activities exemplify how state-aligned propagandists are weaponizing media tools to shift narratives across borders, making them formidable threats in today’s digital battles for truth.

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