In the modern world, the media play an important role in shaping the image of the state. Newspapers, magazines have a significant impact on the local population, becoming an effective political information tool. The article examines how two significant events for Russia and the international community (presidential election 2018 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup) appear before the readers. The author comes to the conclusion about the formation of two images of Russia by German journalists: the image of authoritarian regime and the image of benevolent, responsive citizens seeking changes. A peculiarity of the German press in covering Russia is the fact that they rather do not reflect the public opinion but try to impose it.