AI chatbots are emerging as a new distribution channel for state-aligned media, quietly routing readers to sanctioned Russian propaganda outlets.
A new study from Insight News finds that between October and December 2025, major conversational AI tools generated at least 300,000 visits to eight Kremlin-linked or pro-Russian websites tracked by SimilarWeb, including RT, Sputnik, RIA Novosti, and Lenta.ru.
The researchers analyzed referral traffic from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Mistral, focusing on how AI systems increasingly function as “answer engines” rather than simple productivity tools. While the traffic volumes remain small relative to the total audiences of these sites, the pattern highlights an unregulated pathway for sanctioned media to reach global users.
RT alone received roughly 98,400 AI-driven visits in Q4 2025, with more than 88,000 coming from ChatGPT and just over 10,000 from Perplexity. That figure represents well under one percent of RT’s total traffic, which exceeded 123 million page views during the quarter, but it establishes AI tools as a measurable new referrer category.
Similar dynamics appeared across other major outlets. RIA Novosti recorded about 72,200 AI-referred visits, Lenta.ru about 61,200, and Izvestia roughly 22,100, almost entirely from ChatGPT. Several sites, including RIA Novosti and Lenta.ru, saw Perplexity appear as a referral source for the first time in the same quarter, suggesting that AI-driven discovery is still expanding.
The study notes that the geographic distribution of this traffic complicates enforcement efforts. Despite European sanctions and platform restrictions, a meaningful share of audience traffic to these outlets still originates from Western countries. RT’s audience mix continues to include the United States (10%), Germany (2.27%), Spain (1.48%) and the United Kingdom (1.21%), markets where access to sanctioned media is intended to be curtailed.
Say the researchers,
“The Similarweb data points to a clear trend: AI chatbots are generating real, measurable traffic for sanctioned Russian propaganda websites. The nature of AI-driven discovery makes this traffic particularly consequential, despite its modest volumes compared to legacy distribution channels.
In raw terms, this already means hundreds of thousands of visits per quarter. In structural terms, which is more important, it means that sanctioned outlets are being reinserted into information flows through interfaces that users tend to trust more than social media or search ads.”
Insight News is a Europe- and Ukraine-focused independent media outlet created to counter disinformation and propaganda.
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