‘The State Department's Global Engagement Center (GEC) has identified several outlets that publish or republish work by Escobar as being used by Russia for propaganda and disinformation.[31][32] In 2020, the GEC stated that both the Strategic Culture Foundation(SCF) and Global Research, two online journals where Escobar's work has appeared, acted as pro-Russian propaganda sites.[33] According to the GEC, "Pepe Escobar began writing articles for Global Research in 2005 and ten years later became an SCF author.[31]
Escobar has also been a commentator for RTand Sputnik News; both outlets were highlighted in a 2022 GEC report as members of "Russia's disinformation and propaganda ecosystem."[32] Ukrainian journalist Volodymyr Yermolenko describes Escobar as an example of "anti-Western intellectuals" hosted by RT, adding that Escobar suggests "dividing Ukraine between Poland and Russia."[34]
In 2012, Jesse Zwick at The New Republicasked Escobar why he was willing to work with RT; Escobar replied, "I knew the Kremlin involvement, but I said, why not use it? After a few months, I was very impressed by the American audience. There are dozens of thousands of viewers. A very simple story can get 20,000 hits on YouTube. The feedback was huge.”[35]
On February 25, 2022, the Spanish newspaper ABC criticized Escobar's Sputnik comments concerning Ukraine and other topics, calling them "los habituales de la desinformación rusa: imperialismo 'yanqui', excesos de la OTAN, victimismo ruso" (tr. "the usual ones of Russian disinformation: 'Yankee' imperialism, NATO excesses, Russian victimization.")[36]’
