As much as RT dislikes the shorthand description "Kremlin-backed channel", its coverage of Ukraine could not have been kinder to Moscow if Vladimir Putin had chosen the running order himself. While Putin kept up the pretence that there were no Russian troops in Crimea, so too did RT. The storming of government buildings across eastern Ukraine has been portrayed as the understandable actions of peace-loving protesters who fear "chaos" in Kiev. Meanwhile reports about the crackdowns on independent media in Russia or the arrest of anti-Putin protesters struggled for airtime.
