While outlets like Russian broadcaster RT may now be blocked in places like France, Germany and the US, years of eroded trust in the so-called mainstream media mean that receptive audiences have long since defected to alternative news sources. That spin machine stunned the likes of France when, for instance, an under-embargo junta in Mali managed to turn public opinion against the French – despite them fighting jihadists – and in favour of the Russian mercenaries of Wagner. Those mercenaries are now reportedly headed to Ukraine.