On June 30, 2002, VGTRK executive Oleg Dobrodeev announced the creation of RTR-Planeta, aiming at Western Europe and the Middle East with plans to launch in North America by autumn.

[7][8] On March 11, 2006, an edition of Formula of Power with the participation of the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko was removed from the Russia channel; instead, an interview with the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh was shown.

[15] On May 29, 2008, the National Television Company of Ukraine expressed its intention to seek deprivation of RTR-Planeta's license due to the broadcast of that year's Eurovision Song Contest held in Serbia, in parallel with the First National Channel, which owns exclusive rights to broadcast it in the country.

[16] On July 1, 2008, based on the version of RTR-Planeta for the CIS countries, the Minsk television company Capital TV launched RTR-Belarus in Belarus.

[18] On July 22, 2008, The National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting warned several Russian channels, including RTR-Planeta, of its intention to assess the legality of their presence on Ukrainian cable networks.

[20] In September 2008, RTR-Planeta began broadcasting in Belarus in the "Premiere" package of Zala, the IPTV service of the operator Beltelecom.

VGTRK owed 4,8 million rubles for technical services in Tajikistan, as well as the increased cost in electricity bills.

To step up the accessibility of its content to viewers RTR Planeta has eagerly embraced new technologies launching in various IPTV, ADSL and other advanced networks.