As Russian tanks were stuck in the mud outside of Kyiv, one part of Russia's government hummed with propaganda on TV.
Russian propagandists used clips from American cable news, right-wing social media and Chinese officials to create a counter narrative. They latched onto the idea that the United States was hiding bio weapon research labs in Ukraine and that China was an ally against the West.
State media journalists wrote about those themes in email. They sometimes broadcast battlefield videos and other information sent to them by the successor agency to the K.G.B., as well as excerpted and translated footage from favorite pundits, like the Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
One Russian news producer said to take Tucker. The clip in which Mr. Carlson described the power of the Chinese-Russian partnership was referred to in the email.
The All-Russia State Television and Radio Company, also known as V.G.T.R.K., had a database that contained thousands of email exchanges.
The New York Times created a search tool to find information from the 750 gigabytes of files related to the war's early stages. Email addresses and people's identities were confirmed by the Times. Content was broadcast on the air when things were discussed in the emails.
There is a propaganda machine that is perhaps Russia's greatest wartime success. As the country faces battlefield losses, mounting casualties, economic isolation and international condemnation, state-run television channels have spun a version of the war in which Russia is winning. Many in the West had hoped that the propaganda apparatus would weaken Putin's hold on power, but it has done so.
The state media company cherry-picks conservative Western media outlets like Fox News and the Daily Caller as well as obscure social media accounts to create this narrative. The F.S.B., successor to the K.G.B., fed other information and created an alternative version of the bombing of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
V.G.T.R.K. workers shared clips from American media that appeared to show opposition to the war rising in the West or how sanctions were backfired against the United States.
Some people in the area put stickers on the pump with a photo of President Biden on it. The manager of the gas station was worried about the stickers causing trouble.
The clip got a few thousand views on the video sharing site. The sticker protest hadgained a second wind as prices rose over the conflict in Ukraine.
The way inflation was rising in the US was covered in the segment. The reporter says that Biden can't or doesn't want to focus on domestic issues in the US.
Russia's growing isolation was shown in other material. V.G.T.R.K. employees talked about how to react when their channels were blocked in Europe. They talked about how they would respond to Russia being dropped from the popular singing competition.
The records show that China was used to bolster Russian story lines. They had a discussion with a top Chinese propaganda official.
V.G.T.R.K. didn't reply to questions. A Fox News spokeswoman didn't say anything.
V.G.T.R.K. operates some of the country's most watched channels, including Russia 1 and Russia 24. With national and regional networks, it reaches nearly the entire Russian population, from urban hubs to rural areas, and its dominance has grown as the government has restricted access to social media. Analysts estimate that the company gets $500 million a year from the Russian government.
The second most important part of propaganda in Russia is V.G.T.R.K., according to a Russian media researcher.
The company was created in 1990 and is run by a Kremlin ally. Television is the main source of news for two-thirds of Russians. The influence of V.G.T.R.K. extends to other media outlets, with its former Kremlin correspondent, Margarita Simonyan, now the top editor of Russia's English language news channel.
The relationship between the Kremlin and state broadcasters has been going on for more than two decades, according to Mr. Gatov. The Kremlin gives a list of talking points. The document known as the "temnik" is delivered to senior officials at V.G.T.R.K., outlining issues the Kremlin wants covered, positively or negatively, along with views to endorse and people to criticize, according to Mr. Gatov.
Vera Tolz is a professor at the University of Manchester and she said that people's trust in what they are watching is falling as the war goes on. She mentioned that there were cracks.
During the early days of the war, what was not outlined in Kremlin orders was left to television producers.
According to the documents, the United States was frequently targeted. Emails with long lists of news clips and viral posts were used to paint a dark picture of the US.
The idea that America was eager for a fight was reinforced by a clip of President Biden declining to answer questions about sending troops to Poland. The New York Times story about the information war between Russia and Ukraine was seen as proof of the country's dishonest practices. Mr. Biden was shown picking his teeth in another picture.
Producers were looking for clips about the United States. A local news program in northern Alabama reported that stickers were placed on gas pumps showing Mr. Biden saying, "I did that." A video of a U.S. grocery store emptied of food was posted on Telegram. Soon after it was titled, "Oil shock and empty shelves: Trump's grim prophecy is coming true."
In March, a V.G.T.R.K. reporter in Washington flagged a seven-year-old YouTube post that claimed that the United States and NATO had fueled Russia's hostility toward Ukraine.
The Western viewer is looking for alternatives. He didn't reply to the request.
China became more important as Russia became isolated. V.G.T.R.K. reporters reworked reports from Chinese state media to show that Russia was behind the war in Ukraine. A refrain said to be circulating on the Chinese internet is "If you buy a Russian candy you can turn it into a bullet against Nazism."
V.G.T.R.K. leaders planned to make sure that a gift containing reproductions of masterpieces by Russian artists would get through China when the birthday of a top Chinese propagandist came up.
Chinese officials and state media were used by V.G.T.R.K. to build support for a conspiracy theory that the United States built biological weapons in Ukraine. Producers said the U.S. was trying to create a mechanism for the covert spread of deadly pathogens.
Roger Stone, a former Trump adviser, spoke from the far-right television channel Real America's Voice.
Fox News was a fixture of internal news stories. A clip of a Fox News commentator discussing Russia's "sanction-proof" economy was shared by producers.
Mr. Carlson broadcasted around V.G.T.R.K.
The host of Fox News attributed American distrust of Russia to partisan anger.
V.G.T.R.K. was watching how it was seen.
Reports tracked the foreign media coverage of a leading V.G.T.R.K. presenter, Dmitri Kiselyov. According to the reports, Mr. Kiselyov's negative press mentions went up in 2022. Critical things were said at outlets in Germany, Nigeria and Canada. The state of Russian television under propagandists like Mr. Kiselyov was described in a quote marked red for negative.
Emails show close ties between state media and Russia's security apparatus, which provided information that was quickly put on the air that gave a rosy picture of a war that was in reality worsening.
The F.S.B. sent emails to state media saying that Ukrainian soldiers were abandoning their posts. There was an attack on a cargo ship.
The F.S.B. made unverifiable claims about the deaths of two Ukrainian officers in combat. The security service told them not to attribute the information to the F.S.B.
The F.S.B. and the Ministry of Defense told the state media how to cover events that drew international outrage. The military sent an email to V.G.T.R.K. and other state media after the bombing of the theater in Mariupol. The woman in the video said members of the Ukrainian nationalist group blew up the theater.
The note said that it should be used in stories.
The design and production was done by Aliza Aufrichtig.
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