Vice Media is is to launch in Russia and half-a-dozen eastern European countries, as the US youth brand continues its aggressive rollout across Europe.

Vice has expanded its strategic partnership with the Greek broadcaster Antenna Group to roll out across Russia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Slovakia and Croatia.

Vice will initially launch digitally, with plans to expand into TV channels, either its own or in partnership with local broadcasters, striking deals to run blocks of programming.

Russia is also being targeted by the BBC. In September, the corporation unveiled a proposal to launch the BBC World Service on satellite TV there to counter state-sponsored rivals and bring “democracy and the free press” to countries with repressive media regimes.

As part of the deal, Vice intends to launch new editorial and production operations to create and distribute its programming across the seven new markets.

“Vice has found an incredible market in eastern Europe, said Shane Smith, co-founder and chief executive. “Young people there want the kind of content that matters to them, whether it’s news or lifestyle or documentary, framed in the way they see the world. And very few outlets are offering it to them.”

The expansion builds on a deal struck between Antenna and Vice in 2014, which saw the launch of Vice programming blocks on Antenna-owned channels in Greece, followed by Serbia and Romania.

“Our partnership with Vice is a real success,” said Theodore Kyriakou, chief executive of Antenna Group. “We bring complementary strengths and have built large audiences quickly.”

The move comes a week after Vice announced it was to launch a TV channel on Sky in the UK and Ireland, its first channel launch in Europe. The deal is non-exclusive and Vice continues to negotiate with other partners in the UK, including BT and Virgin Media.

Vice plans to launch 12 TV channels across Europe over an 18-month period.