The article examines the issues related to semantic development of Russian borrowings in Spanish language using the example of the analysis of media articles in Ibero-America. The most common borrowings are analyzed, including historicisms and sovietisms, projected on the events taking place in the countries of the Ibero-American area. The study showed that Russian borrowings in Spanish language receive additional increments of meaning that are absent in the donor language, and are used mainly to characterize negatively political and social situation in Ibero-American countries, being an effective way of influencing a mass audience.