In the Historic Center of Mexico City, about 5 blocks from the Zócalo, there is a historic 3-story building, with neoclassical architecture, that houses the Journalists Club, a non-profit organization that says it has “promoted journalistic excellence since 1952.”
But an investigation of Factcheckedcarried out with the support of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and in alliance for its dissemination with Animal Político, reveals that This Club currently operates as a front for Russian disinformation and narratives that benefit the Kremlin, ranging from claiming that the reason for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “NATO’s eastward expansion” even calling the invasion a “special military operation,” a phrase used by Vladimir Putin’s government.
Their website replicates Russian narratives
The Journalists Club, led by Celeste Sáenz de Miera and Mouris Salloum George, states that its website, Voces del Periodista, promotes “freedom of expression and journalistic rigor,” but, according to an analysis of its publications, it is currently “a conduit for pro-Kremlin and anti-Western propaganda.”. This was determined by an analysis carried out by the Alliance for Securing Democracy of the think tank non-partisan German Marshall Fund at the request of Factchecked.
Since April 2025, almost three-quarters of its content (72%) are republications from state media, mainly from the Russians RT and Sputnik (53%), followed by the Cuban state media Prensa Latina (18.6%). Furthermore, the speed of publications (136.9 articles per week on average) suggests that there is an automated process for amplifying Russian content.
The analysis revealed that through this massive republication operation, the Voces del Periodista page amplifies the narratives of the Russian and Cuban regimes while publicly “it is presented as a genuine and national journalistic project”, hiding that, in reality, it acts “as a propaganda façade” for both States.
After being contacted by FactcheckedSáenz de Miera and Salloum George indicated that Voces del Periodista “operates as a communication system” that is “autonomous from the Club.” However, they did not explain why almost three-quarters of the content on their website are republications from Russian and Cuban state media.
Your biweekly magazine receives Mexican public funds
The magazine, also called “Voices of the Journalist,” operates under the leadership of Mouris Salloum George, national director of the Journalists Club and husband of Celeste Sáenz de Miera, and publishes analyzes of global issues in which Kremlin narratives are promoted.
For example, the magazine does not call the invasion of Ukraine an “invasion,” but rather a “special operation,” as President Vladimir Putin calls it. It is also stated in the magazine that “NATO expansion” is the cause of the invasion of Ukraine, another point of agreement with the Kremlin.
In addition, the magazine publishes writings by the Russian ambassador in Mexico, Nikolay Sofinskiyand Dmitri Medvedev, vice president of the Russian Security Council. In the case of Sofinskiy, the magazine does not reveal to the reader who is in front of a letter from Putin’s diplomatic representative in Mexico.
In the investigation, we discovered – from official documents available on the National Transparency Platform of Mexico – that the Mexican Senate, dominated by the Morena party since 2018, to which President Claudia Sheinbaum and former President Manuel López Obrador belong, invested between 2020 and 2023 951,000 pesos (about $51,000) in advertising in Voces del Periodista. It is not known where the magazine is distributed or how you can get a physical copy, and it has 2,600 followers on Facebook.
Russian propagandists “train” Mexican journalists
In January 2024, senior Russia Today (RT) officials traveled to Mexico City to give a 5-day “course” on “content creation.” The event took place in the building’s Neoclassical Patio and included Victoria Vorontsova, director of RT in Spanish, Karina Melikyan, director of International Cooperation and Distribution of RT, and Mirko Casale, of the Russian propaganda program “There you go”.
The workshop it was free for the participants and the Journalists Club assured Factchecked that he did not charge RT for the use of the headquarters. “The spaces on RT were absolutely free, since great and renowned journalists generously provided a course on technological updating and journalism with academic validity,” stated Salloum George and Saenz de Miera in a letter sent. Using as a reference the cost of renting the Neoclassical Patio for weddings and social events, the value of having occupied the space for 6 days would be 431,000 Mexican pesos (about 23,300 US dollars).
From Factchecked We contacted RT, but did not receive a response until the moment we published this investigation
The Club applauds and honors Kremlin propagandists
Annually the Club holds the “National and International Journalism Contest” to “praise the practice of the profession.” Although during these contests – which have the support of senior officials of the Mexican federal government – hundreds of Mexican journalists have been awarded, in Factchecked We found that, currently, the Club also operates as a front to legitimize international disinformants and Russian propagandists.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Club has awarded almost all of its international awards – with medals and diplomas – to Russian propagandists, including Russian state media and a private media outlet (Tsargrad) financed by Moscow and founded by a Russian oligarch, Konstantin Malofeev, who faces criminal charges in the United States.
In 2023, the Club received Jackson Hinkle at its headquarters to present him with the award for “best international analysis.” Hinkle is known for promoting Russian disinformation, maintains a close relationship with the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and he even has a company called “Fake News Media LLC” registered in California, where he holds the position of “head of propaganda.”
The Club, in 2017, decorated Alex Jones with the “international award for multimedia and multiplatform journalism.” Jones, founder of the American portal InfoWars, was sentenced in 2022 to pay $965 million for defamation after spending years claiming that the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012 was staged and that the parents of the 20 deceased children were “actors hired to continue the theater.”
Misinformers have also participated in the judging jury for the Club’s awards, as happened in 2024 with the Spanish writer Guillermo Rocafort, who that same year the Provincial Court of Madrid convicted of spreading false claims about the journalist Ana Pastor, founder of Newtral, a verification organization from Spain, member of the LatamChequea network just like Factchecked. Rocafort, who was also awarded a Club award in 2023, reveals pro-Kremlin narratives and conspiracy theories in your X account.
All this occurs while Celeste Sáenz de Miera says publicly that “the deliberate violence of lies” must be denounced and that her organization defends “the truth as an ethical obligation and the backbone of journalism.”
The directors of the Club indicated to Factchecked that their contest “does not accept any sponsorship.”
The Journalists Club is “the Mexican house” of Russian diplomats
The Journalists Club is “the Mexican house” of Russian diplomats. That you said Celeste Sáenz de Miera in 2023 to the then Russian ambassador, Viktor Koronelli, when delivering an award aimed at Russian propaganda outlet Tsargard for his coverage of the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian oligarch Malofeev was not at the event, but the award was received by Ambassador Kronelli, who also gave a speech stating: “We have other media in Russia and I believe that in subsequent years all of them will be awarded these types of awards.”
The Club and Russian diplomats also show a close relationship on social networks. The Russian Foreign Ministry, on several occasions, celebrate when they reward their propagandists while amplifying statements that Sáenz de Miera gives to the Russian media.
The Club also lobbies for Russia. In December 2024, the Russian embassy celebrated that Celeste Sáenz de Miera would ask UNESCO to rectify a report that this UN agency published in 2024 about risks faced by journalists. Sáenz de Miera stated in the letter that the report excluded “our murdered Russian colleagues.” In the letter sent to Factcheckedthe Club’s directors stated that they are “independent” of any political power.
From Factchecked We consulted the Russian ambassador in Mexico and the coordinator of Social Communication of the Mexican Senate, Abelardo Martín Miranda, but we did not receive a response until the time of publication.
*This text is part of the Putin’s Washing Machine series.
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