Margarita Simonyan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Margarita Simonyan
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| Маргарита Симоньян | |
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Simonyan in 2017
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| Born |
Margarita Simonovna Simonyan
6 April 1980 Krasnodar, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
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| Alma mater | Kuban State University |
| Occupation | Editor-in-chief |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Tigran Keosayan
(m. 2022) |
| Children | 4 |
Margarita Simonovna Simonyan (born on April 6, 1980) is a Russian media leader. She is the main editor for RT, which is a TV channel controlled by the Russian government. She also leads Rossiya Segodnya, another state-owned media group.
Simonyan worked as a journalist covering the Second Chechen War in the early 2000s. She later worked for local TV in Krasnodar and as a special reporter for the "Vesti" TV news program. She is part of the board of directors for Channel One Russia. At just 25 years old, she became the head of Russia Today, which is now known as RT.
In 2022 and 2023, countries like the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine placed restrictions on Simonyan. This was because they saw her as a key person in spreading information from the Russian government. In 2024, the United States also placed restrictions on her.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Margarita Simonyan was born in Krasnodar, a city in southern Russia. Her family is of Armenian background. Both her parents' families came from Armenia after difficult times in the Ottoman Empire. Her father's family moved to Crimea in 1915. During World War II, her father's family was moved by the Soviet government to the Urals region. Her mother's family came from Sochi after similar events in the late 1800s. Simonyan has said she feels connected to both Armenian and Russian cultures.
Her family owns a restaurant in Moldovka, near Sochi. Simonyan has shared that her family was working-class. From a young age, she knew she wanted to be a journalist. She started by working for a local newspaper and then a local TV station while studying journalism at Kuban State University.
In 1995, she spent a year in Bristol, New Hampshire, in the United States as an exchange student. This was part of the FLEX Program, which helps young leaders.
Career Highlights
As a reporter, Simonyan covered the Second Chechen War and also major floods in the Krasnodar region for her local TV station. She received an award for her bravery in reporting. In 2002, she became a reporter for Russia's national "Rossiya" TV channel. She reported on the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis.
Simonyan was one of the first reporters to arrive at the scene of the Beslan crisis. She later said it was the hardest thing she had ever experienced. After this, she moved to Moscow and joined the group of reporters who covered the Kremlin.
She was also the first vice-president of the Russian National Association of TV and Radio Broadcasters. In 2010, her first book, Heading to Moscow!, was published.
In 2018, Simonyan wrote the story for a film called The Crimean Bridge. Made with Love!. Her husband, Tigran Keosayan, directed the movie. The film received very negative reviews, and many people criticized Simonyan's writing. A Russian politician, Alexei Navalny, later claimed that government money meant for the film was misused and went to Simonyan's family.
Leading RT and Rossiya Segodnya
Simonyan was only 25 when she was chosen to be the editor-in-chief of RT (then called Russia Today) in 2005. She had already been working in journalism since she was 18. She has mentioned that her young age often made people wonder how she got such an important job. Some people believe she was chosen because she had good connections with the government. She is known to support the Kremlin and is close to President Vladimir Putin.
RT started broadcasting on December 10, 2005, with about 300 journalists. Simonyan often answers questions about RT's reporting style and political views. When RT launched, Simonyan said it aimed to be a professional news channel, like the BBC or CNN. She wanted it to show "Russia's opinion of the world" and give a "more balanced picture" of Russia. She also said that the government would not tell them what to report.
She later explained that RT became more popular when it started to be more direct and sometimes controversial. She said that RT's goal was not to make Russia look perfect. However, RT has often been criticized in Western countries for being biased. Simonyan has stated that "There is no objectivity – only approximations of the truth by as many different voices as possible."
In an interview, she talked about RT's coverage of the 2008 South Ossetia war, where Russia supported South Ossetia against Georgia. She said that RT was the only English-speaking channel showing South Ossetia's side of the story. She denied claims that RT was hiding information about Russian actions or censoring news. She said, "We are not making a secret out of the fact that we are a Russian station, and, of course, we see the world from a Russian point of view. We are being much more honest in that sense."
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On December 31, 2013, she was also made editor-in-chief of the new government news agency Rossiya Segodnya. She holds both leadership roles at the same time. In May 2016, she was not allowed to enter Ukraine because she was on Ukraine's list of restricted individuals.
In April 2022, Simonyan suggested changing the Russian Constitution to remove the rule against censorship. She argued that too much freedom of speech could harm Russia. She suggested Russia could be like China, which she described as "non-free but prosperous."
Controversial TV Segment
In November 2020, Simonyan defended a TV segment on NTV that was widely criticized for being offensive. The segment featured her partner, Tigran Keosayan, and an actress using a harmful stereotype to portray former United States President Barack Obama. Many people found the segment to be racist and inappropriate.
Views on the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine
In April 2021, Simonyan said on Russian State television that Russia could defeat Ukraine quickly in a "full-scale war." In December 2021, she suggested that a small conflict might stop the ongoing fighting in the Donbas region. However, in mid-February 2022, she denied that Russia was planning a large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Soon after, she asked why Russia was waiting to stop the conflict.
On February 23, 2022, Simonyan was added to the European Union's list of restricted individuals. This was because she was seen as promoting a positive view of Russia's actions in Crimea and supporting separatists in Donbas. These restrictions mean she cannot enter EU countries, and any money or property she owns there can be frozen.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, Simonyan expressed her support for it. She posted online that it was like a "parade rehearsal" in Kyiv. She also said that if people were "ashamed of being Russian now," they were "not Russian." She claimed that "Nobody is fighting against Ukrainians! We're liberating Ukraine! No one is bombing peaceful Ukrainian cities!"
On a TV show in March 2022, Simonyan made several claims that were not supported by facts. She also said that she was horrified that a "considerable portion of the Ukrainian people have turned out to be engulfed in the madness of nazism."
She stated that Russia was at war with NATO. In April 2022, while discussing the possibility of a World War III and nuclear war, Simonyan said that Russia would not give up. She added, "We're all going to die someday."
She suggested that Russia should disable Ukraine's nuclear power plants.
She asked Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev about Kazakhstan's view on the "special military operation" in Ukraine. He replied that Kazakhstan does not recognize certain regions as independent states, and this principle would likely apply to Luhansk and Donetsk. Simonyan believes that the food crisis in 2022, partly caused by Russia's actions, would make Western countries lift their restrictions.
Simonyan also commented on the challenges of the 2022 Russian military call-up, noting that many security officers were not being sent to the front lines. She also pointed out that some new recruits were not getting proper equipment.
In March 2023, after an international court issued a warrant for President Putin, Simonyan posted online that she would like to see a country try to arrest Putin. She suggested that such a country's capital would be at risk.
In October 2023, on her online show, she suggested that Russia could create a nuclear explosion "somewhere over Siberia." She believed this would not harm the ground but would act as a warning to Western countries. She said it would disable electronics and satellites, taking Russia back to a simpler time like 1993. Many Siberian politicians criticized her comments, and the Russian government distanced itself from her idea. Simonyan later said she had not suggested a nuclear strike on Russian land. Some Russian politicians called for her to apologize or face legal action.
In October 2023, Simonyan criticized Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip, saying that responding to violence with more violence makes one a "barbarian." She also said the conflict was good because it took attention away from Ukraine. She warned that "the world is on the brink of World War III."
In March 2024, she shared a recording on Russian social media. It was of a meeting between German air force officers discussing possibly sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
Restrictions and Sanctions
Simonyan was placed under restrictions by the United Kingdom government in 2022 because of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
In 2022, the European Union also placed restrictions on Simonyan. They called her "a central figure of the Russian Government propaganda" and said she was responsible for actions that harm Ukraine's independence and territory.
In January 2023, Ukraine also placed restrictions on Simonyan for her support of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In September 2024, the USA placed restrictions on her, along with RT, for allegedly interfering in the 2024 elections.
Comments about Armenia
During the 2020 Armenian–Azerbaijani war, Simonyan accused Armenian authorities of upsetting Russia. She said this was because they arrested a former president and did not recognize Russia's actions in Crimea. She suggested that the response from the CSTO (a security alliance) was fair given Armenia's "anti-Russian sentiment." The CSTO later said that her opinion was not their official view. Many people in Armenia criticized her words.
She said that any Armenian who criticizes Russia should be quiet. She also said that the Armenian leader, Nikol Pashinyan, was a "national traitor" who caused the war. A political commentator, Sergey Parkhomenko, also criticized her, saying she was acting like an important representative of the Armenian people, which he believed she was not.
In October 2022, Simonyan stated that Armenian authorities had banned her from entering the country.
"Beaver-Eater" Nickname
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"Bobroedka," which means "beaver-eater" in Russian, is a teasing nickname for Simonyan. It became popular online in Russia and other former Soviet countries. This nickname started in late 2012 when Simonyan decided to try cooking beaver meat. She told her social media followers that she would cook a beaver's head for broth and marinate the rest of the meat to fry. People found her choice of food unusual, as beaver is not commonly eaten.
After this, the nickname "bobroedka" stuck to Simonyan. It is often used in a negative way to insult or tease her. Many internet memes were made about the "beaver-eater" theme, often showing pictures of Simonyan and beavers. Simonyan responded by joking that she would cook hamsters next, which made people even more interested in her cooking habits.
The nickname was often used by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who had a long-running disagreement with Simonyan. After her first post about eating beaver, Navalny shared a photo of a beaver online, writing that it was "eating grass and enjoying life" and that "tomorrow Margarita Simonyan will devour him with vodka." Navalny and Simonyan often clashed over the years, and Navalny frequently brought up the "beaver-eater" nickname.
In April 2021, Simonyan sent beaver meat to the prison where Navalny was being held. She wrote, "Navalny is on a hunger strike. Just in time, I sent him a yummy package," and posted photos of beaver sausage and smoked meat. This act caused strong criticism on social media.
Simonyan herself does not like the nickname and has complained when media outlets use it. However, she sometimes uses it herself in her social media posts, but she considers it old-fashioned.
Personal Life
Simonyan was previously married to journalist and producer Andrey Blagodyrenko. They had a daughter named Mariana in August 2013. She is now married to Russian-Armenian film director Tigran Keosayan. They often work together and have three children. Simonyan speaks both Russian and English fluently. In a 2012 interview, she said she wished she knew Armenian, but her family never spoke it at home due to different dialects.
In July 2023, it was reported that seven people were arrested in connection with a plan to harm Simonyan and another journalist, Ksenia Sobchak.
Awards and Honors
- Ranked fifth in Forbes' 2017 list of Most Powerful Women In Media/Entertainment.
Russia:
Medal "For Strengthening the Combat Commonwealth" (2005)
Order of Friendship (2007)
Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation (2010)
Order For Merit to the Fatherland, 4th class (2014)
Order of Alexander Nevsky (2019)
Armenia:
Movses Khorenatsi Medal (2010)
South Ossetia:
Order of Friendship (2008)
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See also
In Spanish: Margarita Simonián para niños
- Mikhail Lesin
- Russian information war against Ukraine
