Activity Category: Media Engagement Activity

On May 20, 2026, during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Beijing, China Media Group (中央廣播電視總台) president Shen Haixiong (慎海雄) and All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (全俄國家電視廣播公司) director general Oleg Dobrodeyev signed an agreement to deepen cooperation on documentaries and feature reporting, witnessed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin. According to Chinese state media, the agreement covers news coverage, program production, content exchange, joint events and personnel exchange between the two broadcasters, part of a wider package of Russia-China agreements signed that day spanning science, education, film, and youth exchange. The deal follows a similar memorandum VGTRK signed with CMG during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Russia in May 2025, part of a broader pattern in which Russian and Chinese state and private media outlets have signed at least 14 partnership agreements since 2022, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a non-partisan US-based think tank. All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, known by its Russian acronym VGTRK, is Russia’s state-owned television and radio broadcaster.

On May 20, 2026, during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Beijing, Xinhua News Agency signed a memorandum with Rossiya Segodnya (今日俄羅斯國際通訊社), Russia’s principal state multimedia news agency for foreign audiences, agreeing to jointly hold the 2026 Shanghai Cooperation Organization Expert Forum. According to Xinhua’s account of the agreement, the memorandum is meant to strengthen dialogue among think tank experts from Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states and advance cooperation in the information field. The agreement, which specifically mentions exchange of “professional experience” (专业经验交流) among the think tank experts, was one of four documents signed between Xinhua and Russian media that day, all included among the official outcome documents of the China-Russia heads-of-state meeting. According to Sputnik, Xinhua and Rossiya Segodnya had previously signed a memorandum to hold a BRICS Expert Forum during Putin’s May 2024 state visit to Beijing.

On November 3, 2025, during Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s visit to China, MTS Media, the Russian entertainment holding that operates the KION streaming platform and later rebranded as ON Media, and China Media Group (中央廣播電視總台), or CMG, signed a cooperation agreement. The agreement provided for an exchange of expertise and best media practices between the two companies, and for the joint development of special projects dedicated to strengthening Russian-Chinese cooperation and “friendship,” a term the CCP frequently invokes to frame bilateral ties with select partner states. MTS Media general director Sofya Mitrofanova said the agreement with CMG opened “an entirely new level” of the holding’s presence in the international media market. Before leading MTS Media, Mitrofanova held senior roles at Gazprom-Media Holding, including as director of digital transformation, and at the streaming platforms Ivi, Okko, and Premier.

On May 20, 2026, during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Beijing, National Media Group (國家媒體集團) signed a cooperation agreement with China Daily (中國日報), the CCP’s English-language state newspaper. According to National Media Group, the agreement provides for the exchange of news content and exclusive materials, along with editorial coordination on promoting shared coverage topics. The two sides also agreed to jointly promote the English-language edition of Izvestia, a National Media Group-owned newspaper that the European Commission suspended from broadcasting in the EU in May 2024 over its role in supporting and justifying Russia’s war against Ukraine, to international audiences through China Daily‘s platforms. National Media Group general director Svetlana Balanova, who is personally sanctioned by the EU and Switzerland in her capacity as head of NMG and of the Public Council under Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media regulator, said the agreement would help the two organizations “create modern standards for working with information in a digital environment” for international audiences.

On May 20, 2026, on the sidelines of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation and China Media Group (中央廣播電視總台), or CMG, signed a memorandum of cooperation covering three areas. In mass communication, the agreement provides for joint production of news reports, thematic programs, and short videos, along with the exchange of related materials. In science, it covers cooperation on news broadcasting and media technology, along with joint research projects and seminars. In culture, it covers joint exhibitions, events, and competitions. A Financial University official said the memorandum with what they called “one of the world’s largest media groups” opened new horizons for the university. The memorandum seems to mark a new commitment to producing broadcast and media content outside the core academic mission of the Financial University, a Moscow-based state institution focused on training economists, financiers, and lawyers.

On April 7, 2026, the International Civil Diplomacy Research Center (國際民間外交研究中心) at Qingdao Binhai University, a private university in Shandong province, signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the Russian outlet Dragon Newspaper, according to a press release from the university. The agreement, signed during a visit by Dragon Newspaper president Li Shuangjie (李雙傑), covers cultural exchange, academic research, and youth employment services aimed at what the university called strengthening “people-to-people bonds” (民心相通) between China and Russia. Dragon Newspaper has documented institutional ties to China News Service, which established a “strategic partnership” with the paper in 2012, and whose corporate structure, according to Chinese business registry records, wholly owns the company registered as operator of the paper’s website. The university’s executive vice president, Han Xiaomeng (韓曉萌), said the school maintains partnerships with more than 140 universities and research institutions across 40 countries and Taiwan and has hosted more than 2,300 international students. Both sides framed the agreement as part of the “China-Russia Education Year,” a bilateral framework promoting educational and cultural exchange.