[10] Russia Insider was founded in 2014 by Charles Bausman, an expatriate who had lived in Moscow for nearly 30 years and had been dissatisfied with what he perceived as the Western media's coverage of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
[16] In late 2015, Ukrainian writer and political activist Anton Shekhovtsov who investigates the European radical right and its connections to Russia, asserted that Bausman had sought funding from Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, who is reportedly close to the Kremlin, citing emails leaked by Anonymous International in which Alexey Komov acted as an intermediary.
[7][17][18] In an article for Haaretz in January 2018, Shekhovtsov wrote that the website was "originally launched to attack Ukraine after its former president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted and fled to Russia, by accusing the new Ukrainian authorities of fascism and anti-Semitism".
[19] Writing for ThinkProgress in 2018, Casey Michel similarly asserted that "a series of leaked emails showed site founder and editor Charles Bausman requesting funding from Konstantin Malofeev.
[10] It is considered by the Euractiv website to be alongside "several highly visible partisan outlets such as RT (formerly Russia Today), Ruptly and Sputnik".
[25] An article by Michael Edison Hayden for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) website in September 2021 described Russia Insider as being "infused with overtly fascist and antisemitic content.