none of the sputnik hosts we reached out to would speak to us for this story, except scottie nels hughes who was in a fill-in host for lee stranahan. we know that russian state media is putting out lies about this conflict. i say that as someone on the ground in ukraine. why should the united states tolerate having russian state media. let the american people make that decision. trust the american people to hear what they re saying, make the decision whether or not they believe that is the truth happening. after the 2016 presidential election, the u.s. intelligence community led by james clapper put out a report, accusing sputnik of being part of russia s interference effort. there s this gray area of first amendment protection rights versus an insidious presence in our country that is really there to weaken and destroy our system.
calls himself pro-russian, and while the world condemns russia for the atrocities in bucha, where ukrainians were bound and executed, some sputnik hosts aren t convinced. there s not much dispute about whether these atrocities actually occurred. i think the question is who s responsible for doing it? reporter: they claim to simply be offering a different viewpoint, asking questions, challenging the narrative, which often veers into seeing conspiracies, seeding doubt and distrust, classic elements of disinformation. the companies that put sputnik on the air are forced to register as foreign agents with the justice department. sputnik is required to tell listeners who backs them, a media group funded by the russian government. none of the sputnik hosts we reached out to would speak to us for this story except scotty nell hughes, a former cnn