MOSCOW, MAY 7, 2020 — On May 9 RT will run special programming dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the allied victory in the Second World War and Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War in English, German, Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian. Since the beginning of 2020, RT has launched multiple Victory Day projects, including a film recreating the circumstances surrounding the capture of the iconic May 1945 photograph “Raising a Flag over the Reichstag.”
On May 9, RT will air the full version of the documentary series under the title #VictoryAlphabet: from Brest to Reichstag, which tracks the Red Army’s progress in 1945. The series is part of RT’s special project #VictoryPages that tells the story of WWII across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, VK and YouTube.
RT will also broadcast the aerial display over the Red Square, as well as various shows and documentaries about WWII. RT Spanish will present a series of programs dedicated to citizens of Spain and South American countries who participated in WWII. RT Arabic will revisit some of the major battles and stories of the people who fought them. RT France will air a series of interviews with French war veterans and WWII historians.
RT Deutsch will present its special project: an online meeting of a German MP and a Russian veteran who made it to Berlin in May 1945 but just missed the opportunity to scribble on the Reichstag wall, as many Soviet soldiers had. Now, a member of the German parliament has given the vet a chance to have the message of his choosing written on the wall of his office inside the parliament building. The conversation had taken place just a few days before the veteran passed away in May.
For the last several months RT’s #VictoryMail has gathered the stories of WWII veterans from across the world. RT delivered the letters of gratitude from people living in Russia, Belarus, Germany, USA, China and many other countries to the vets in different corners of the globe.
RT has produced a special project centered on the legendary wartime photograph “Raising a Flag over the Reichstag,”transforming the moment of victory into a commemorative film. RT carefully analyzed all available authentic photographs taken on the roof of the Reichstag by the author of the iconic shot, Yevgeny Khaldei, as well as more than 40 supporting photographs of the Reichstag, surrounding buildings, panoramas and architecture in order to recreate the exact moment when the picture was taken.
On Twitter, RT’s team has been running a virtual reconstruction of the final months of WWII, which includes dozens of historical figures posting from dedicated accounts in ‘real time’ to share their thoughts and progress reports.
On Instagram, RT’s Endless Letter series provided visuals to many of the authentic wartime letters from the frontlines. The images were created by young artists of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
RT is a global, round-the-clock news network of eight TV channels, broadcasting news, current affairs, and documentaries, with digital platforms in six languages and the RUPTLY video news agency. According to a 2017 survey on TV news consumption by Ipsos, a leading audience research firm, RT has a total weekly audience of 100 million viewers in 47 of the 100+ countries where RT broadcasts are available. RT is the #1 TV news network on YouTube with more than ten billion views across its channels. RT is the only Russian TV channel to be a seven-time Emmy finalist.