THE editor of the first UK bureau of Russian news service Prada claims it will not "sugar-coat everything Russia does" when it opens in the Scottish capital next year.
Oliver Haste, who heads Pravda International's UK operation operation, made the claim in an exclusive interview, in which he also defended the comparison of Scotland and Crimea's independence stories, Brexit's beneficiaries and the next referendum.
Pravda International, an online offshoot of the original communist state-run newspaper which splintered after the collapse of the Soviet Union, will first open in Edinburgh then London.
The arrival of the Russian news website follows the opening of state-owned Kremlin mouthpiece Sputnik News in the Scottish capital earlier this year.
Mr Haste claimed his international team would offer an alternative perspective on world affairs such as the Middle East as well as UK and Scottish news.
He outlined the target audience and the type of news service Pravda International, which also has print editions in Eastern Europe and Russia, will provide.
Pravda hopes to engage "people who don't necessarily define their position as right wing or left wing but who maybe have a non-conformist political position".
"Pravda shall position itself as a journal which covers international macro issues but from a more contrarian position.
"Imagine if you will The Economist but for those who reject neo-liberalism."
The fast-growing presence of of Russian media in the Scottish capital has raised some concerns but Mr Haste said there was no Cold War style motive by Pravda.
He said: "We are independent.
"Our aim isn't to sugar-coat everything Russia does and we are happy to be critical of Russian foreign policy if and when we believe it wrong.
"One of the way's we wish to engage Scottish people is by having Scottish journalists who are given free editorial remit on issues pertaining to the UK."
That will include any future independence vote.
"What one tends to find with independence movements across the globe is that if they are given a bit of autonomy they get a taste for it and want ever more.
"Gradual devolution in Scotland will increase the appetite for full independence as a new generation of Scots grow up seeing themselves as having a distinct identity."
On Brexit, he said: "Of the 20 countries in the world with the highest standards of living 15 aren't in the EU.
"As for Russia, it would be preferable for Russia to have diplomatic relations with individual national parliaments than have to deal with the EU commissioners who generally speaking are not predisposed to Russia owing to foreign policy disagreements.
Mr Haste, who studied Philosophy at University College London, said concerns over equating Scotland's independence vote with a recent controversial referendum in Crimea were unfounded.
He said: "It is an interesting analogy.
"Only one prominent journalist in the UK - Peter Hitchens - noted that Crimea had already had a referendum for independence in 1992.
"Despite a pro-independence vote it was ignored by the Ukranian government who knew that Russia was too weak at the time to uphold the result owing to the chaos of the Soviet Union imploding.
"It was the resentment at this result that festered for years later and led to ethnic Russian militias forming.
"It was presented as an arbitrary land grab by the Russians but given that Putin had been in power since 1999 one has to ask why suddenly in 2007 out of the blue did he decide to intervene?
"It was in part because of NATO attempts to creep up to the Russian border which was a very provocative and naive move from the US administration."
Mr Haste, who studied Philosophy at University College London and has English and Russian roots, has political connections including previously being involved with a Conservative Party think-tank called the Bow Group, and was encouraged on his journalistic path by the father of former girlfriend Tory special advisor Carrie Symonds - The Independent co-founder Matthew Symonds.
There is potential for UK expansion also, he said.
"In terms of readership demographics we expect to be most read in cities with a fairly educated, worldly and bohemian demographic like London, Edinburgh and large university towns like Oxford, Cambridge and Bristol."
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