Tigran Keosayan and Alena Khmelnitskaya have been married for over twenty years. Their couple seemed perfect to many, which is why the divorce shocked the fans so much. The director soon remarried. This time the journalist Margarita Simonyan became his chosen one.
Now Tigran and Margarita are raising two children. The director tries to maintain good relations with his ex-wife.
“I believe that a man should always be responsible for the woman he has lived with for 20 years. She bore me two children, and I must make sure that Alena has everything she needs. In the end, it is not her fault that I fell in love with another, ”noted Keosayan himself.
Margarita supports her husband's decision. She herself was able to find a common language with Alena. According to Simonyan, she is comfortable communicating with Khmelnitskaya, because they live in completely different worlds. Only with Keosayan's ex-wife can a journalist forget about work and talk about pleasant female little things, discuss her favorite kind of wine or problems in raising children.
Simonyan remembered that even after the divorce, the husband often visited the ex-lover and helped her in everything.
“I was already pregnant, and Tigran went to Alena's every day to cook breakfast for his youngest daughter. He didn’t want children to need attention, to feel abandoned. Tigran stopped doing this only after Alena had a new lover. We all communicate well. For example, we are planning to celebrate the first of January together. We will gather all the acquaintances, friends. Alena will come with her beloved, there will definitely be Tigran's children, ”said Margarita.
Fans support Keosayan and Khmelnitskaya in their desire to maintain friendly relations. The director's children from both marriages communicate well with each other.
By the way, Alena herself has repeatedly talked about her relationship with her ex-husband. According to the woman, meeting with him does not give her great pleasure. However, she understands that they need to communicate regularly for the well-being of their daughters.
The best confirmation of the good relationship between Tigran and Alena will be the series "Actress". Khmelnitskaya will play one of the main roles in it, and Keosayan will act as a director. By the way, the script for the film was written by Margarita Simonyan.
Margarita Simonyan is a Russian journalist, editor-in-chief of the Russia Today TV channel, the international news agency Rossiya Segodnya and the Sputnik news agency.
Having started her career as an ordinary correspondent for a provincial television studio, she managed to take one of the leading places in Russian television journalism. Today Simonyan is among the first hundred of the most influential women in the world according to Forbes.
Childhood and youth
Margarita Simonyan was born on April 6, 1980 in the Russian city of Krasnodar. The girl, together with her sister Alice, grew up in a poor family. Father Simon, an Armenian by nationality, earned a living by fixing refrigerators, and mother Zinaida sold flowers in the market.
As the journalist later wrote from the pages of LJ and Instagram, the girls lived with their parents in an old house on Gogol Street, where rats were constantly running, there was no gas, running water or sewage. The difficult living conditions only strengthened the girl's desire to escape from poverty and achieve comfortable living conditions. When Margarita was about 10 years old, the Simonyan family was allocated an apartment in a new microdistrict of the city.
In kindergarten, the future journalist quickly learned to read, so their teacher often left Rita with a book to entertain other children: the girl read fairy tales aloud. Later, Simonyan went to a Krasnodar school specializing in the study of foreign languages, where she studied with only A's, went to the Olympiads. In the 9th grade, Simonyan had a chance to go to study abroad on an exchange program. The girl ended up in the USA: she lived in a family, which she still treats with warmth and gratitude, and studied in the 12th grade of the school. At one time she wanted to stay and live in a distant country, but love for her homeland forced her to return to Russia.
Margarita Simonyan in her youth After graduating from school with a gold medal, Margarita entered the Kuban State University at the Faculty of Journalism. The girl also studied at the new "School of Theater Arts" under the guidance of a Russian TV presenter and journalist in Moscow.
Journalism and career
In 1999, Simonyan began working as a correspondent for the Krasnodar television and radio channel. She managed to get this work thanks to a collection of poems of her own composition, which Margarita published a year earlier. The channel decided to shoot a story about a talented girl. Talking to the film crew, Simonyan mentioned that she wanted to work as a journalist, and she was offered an internship on the TV channel. The choice of the first place of work determined the future professional biography of Margarita.
Margarita Simonyan has been working on television for a long time At the age of 19, the girl went to shoot a story in Chechnya. A miniature figure (her height was 160 cm) did not prevent her from showing masculinity and strength of character. Margarita told her parents that she was going to the war zone only upon her return, after 10 days. A series of reports in one of the hot spots of the world brought fame to Margarita Simonyan and a number of journalistic awards: "For Professional Courage", the first prize of the All-Russian competition of regional TV and radio companies and the Russian Order of Friendship.
In 2000, Simonyan became editor-in-chief of the Krasnodar TV channel, and a year later - a correspondent for the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company in Rostov-on-Don. She continued her career as a military journalist, having visited Abkhazia, covering the clash of militants with the state army in the Kodori Gorge.
In 2002, Margarita Simonyan was invited to Moscow as a correspondent for the Vesti TV program. The journalist accompanied the President of Russia, being among the presidential pool of journalists. In September 2004, she went to Beslan to cover the events of the hostage-taking at the school. The tragedy influenced Margarita's worldview and views; in an interview, she advises young journalists not to start a career as war correspondents.
In 2005, the Russia Today TV channel was created, which broadcasted in English and was designed to reflect Russia's position on international events. Margarita Simonyan was appointed editor-in-chief of the Russia Today TV channel.
The founders of RIA Novosti argued that the appointment of such a young person to such a position was that the project should be led by a person who had not seen Soviet news, who had his own ideas about how to show Russian news to foreign viewers. Later, Margarita also began to supervise the Arabic-language and Spanish-language versions of the channel.
In 2011, the girl became a TV presenter of the news project "What's going on?" on the REN-TV channel. During the program, she discussed the most significant events of the week, which for some reason were not adequately covered on federal channels. Margarita communicated with direct participants in the events and spectators.
In 2013, Simonyan became the TV presenter of the political show "Iron Ladies" on the NTV channel. Together with a colleague on the air, the journalist asked not always convenient, but topical questions to well-known politicians and businessmen. In the same year, the channel's management decided to close the show.
At the end of 2013, Margarita Simonyan was appointed editor-in-chief of the Russia Segodnya international news agency.
From early childhood, Margarita dreamed of becoming a writer and engaging in print journalism. At the age of 18 she published a collection of her own poems. In 2010 she published the book "To Moscow". Due to her active journalism and editorial activities, the writing of the book took about 10 years. This novel tells about the generation of the 90s and hard fates, unfulfilled dreams. In 2011, thanks to her novel, Simonyan won the prize for the best book by a journalist.
In 2012, Margarita published an excerpt from her new story "Train" on the pages of the Russian Pioneer magazine. The girl also writes culinary articles for this magazine.
Personal life
Little is known about Simonyan's personal life. In a 2012 interview, she mentioned that she has been in a civil marriage with journalist Andrei Blagodyrenko for 6 years. The woman argued that the official marriage and wedding preparations did not attract her at all; this state of affairs was quite satisfied.
Back in an interview in 2012, Simonyan said that together with family members she was opening the Zharko! at a resort in Sochi. At the same time, the girl was increasingly noticed in the company of a famous director and actor, who at that time was still officially married to.
According to information that later appeared in the article "Komsomolskaya Pravda", the romance between the journalist and the director began on the initiative of Tigran. He wrote a message to the girl on the social network Facebook, where he expressed support to Margarita: at that time, a persecution was carried out against her on the radio. Initially, Simonyan did not pay attention to the letter, since she did not believe that the famous director would be interested in her person. But the correspondence ended with a joint dinner at a restaurant. Soon, a relationship began between the journalist and the filmmaker, which grew into a civil marriage.
In September 2014, Margarita's son Bagrat was born. At the same time, on the page of one of the social networks, Keosayan confirmed that he had become a father. Later it turned out that this is the second child of the couple - in August 2013, Margarita gave birth to her husband's daughter Maryana. As the journalist said in an interview, she recalls with gratitude the time when she was pregnant. Each time Margarita experienced a surge of strength and never suffered from toxicosis, despite the fact that with Maryana she survived the threat of miscarriage.
Pregnant Margarita Simonyan Simonyan is committed to early childhood education. In a playful way, teachers-linguists study with Maryana and Bagrat, therefore, already at such an early age, children speak five languages - Russian, Armenian, English, French and Chinese.
It is interesting that friendly relations have been established between the ex-wife of Tigran Keosayan - Alena Khmelnitskaya and Margarita Simonyan. The women became best friends, and even together with the director they created a project - the psychological thriller "Actress". In the creation of the film, which was successfully broadcast on the NTV channel, Margarita participated as a screenwriter.
Margarita Simonyan now
Margarita supports the policy of the existing political system in Russia. In 2018, she became a confidant of Vladimir Putin during the presidential campaign. At the same time, the journalist published a post in Telegram dedicated to her friend's refusal of US citizenship. According to the editor-in-chief of RT, the girl supported the opposition and immigrated to the United States in 2013, but after 4 years she decided to regain Russian citizenship. The TV journalist duplicated the information in
PHOTO: Tigran Keosayan and his new wife
The news that the star couple Khmelnitskaya - Keosayan broke up appeared thanks to the famous journalist Bozhena Rynska. It was she who first posted on the Internet a photo showing Tigran Keosayan, his new wife and their children. The public was shocked by the news, because until recently Alena and Tigran looked quite happy together. Khmelnitskaya gave her husband a second daughter, was his muse and always appeared together at all social events. What happened in the star family? Why did they suddenly split up after 21 years of marriage?
How did the novel begin
Rumor has it that the star marriage began to crack back in 2011, when Tigran began to appear more often in the world alone. Many then did not attach much importance to this and decided that the spouse was engaged in a lot with the youngest daughter. But already in 2012, Tigran began to appear with the famous presenter Margarita Simonyan. In an interview that same year, Margarita announced that she was opening the Zharko! Restaurant in Sochi. As it turned out, later it was their joint project with Keosayan. It was later.
And first there was an entry on Facebook. Once Margo received a message from Tigran, in which he admitted that he had been watching her for a long time, since the days of reports from Beslan, and sympathized with her. He was outraged by the persecution that the girl was allegedly subjected to. The journalist herself did not believe it, she thought it was a fake. Why would a famous director suddenly become interested in her fate? She only saw him on TV and even somehow appreciated the humor when he participated in a cooking show. BUT! For some reason she answered! Correspondence ensued, then long telephone conversations began. And then lunches and dinners in restaurants. Gradually, they began to acquire common themes, interests, projects.
Tigran Keosayan, his new wife, and Alena Khmelnitskaya
Tigran taught the girl to write scripts. Her old dream was to become a writer, but there was not enough time. Margarita's talent has awakened. Together they began filming series based on her scripts. Comedy “Sea. The mountains. Expanded clay. ”, Filmed by Tigran Keosayan and his new wife, was broadcast on Channel One with such success that Konstantin Ernst himself called and reported a high rating.
Once both realized that life without each other is no longer possible. There was an urgent need to see each other every day, correspond every minute, hold hands. Margarita confesses with a smile on her face that all the most important things in life goes to her unexpectedly literally falls from the sky.
Tigran Keosayan and Margarita Simonyan
Biography of Margarita Simonyan
Unlike the childhood of her lover, Margot's childhood years were not so rosy. She was born in Krasnodar. In the 80s, it was not a well-groomed, luxurious metropolis, but an abandoned province with ruins of houses right in the center. Her family had a small house in the Armenian "ghetto", with walls never drying out, a street toilet for five families and neighbors who were drug addicts. As the journalist claims, although her parents are purebred Armenians, the family is absolutely Russian. Dad was born and raised in Sverdlovsk, mom - in Sochi. They never lived in Armenia. Numerous relatives live in Adler.
The parents of Tigran Keosayan's new wife received higher education in Krasnodar. But it was never useful to them. Despite the red diploma of the Krasnodar Polytechnic Institute, my father was forced to repair refrigerators, and my mother, an intelligent and fragile woman, did odd jobs. I knitted hats, sold persimmons, tried to "shuttle". With all this, my mother managed to take Rita and her younger sister Alice to all kinds of circles, to a special school of English and to music and sports.
Having brilliantly passed the entrance exams to the best school in Krasnodar, Margo determined her future. At that time, there was already an exchange program for schoolchildren and young Margarita was sure that she would go to America to finish her studies. And so it happened. In 1995, the Americans chose the 5 most promising guys, and she was among them. In the States, Margot was an excellent student and had great opportunities to stay there. She was expected to study at a good university, a high-paying job.
But one fine moment the girl realized that she could only live where she grew up, that she would never be happy in a foreign country.
She graduated from school already at home with a gold medal. Then she entered the Kuban University as a journalist. In 1999 she published her first collection of poems, thanks to which she got a job as a correspondent for the local television and radio channel "Krasnodar". But this was not enough for an ambitious and ambitious girl.
Energy was in full swing, I wanted to conquer the peaks. Not knowing how to get into the big federal media, the nineteen-year-old girl came up with only one way - she went to the war in Chechnya. Of course, without saying anything to the parents. The count on stunning reports from the hot spot turned out to be correct, she was noticed. Margarita was awarded the journalistic award "For Professional Courage", the Russian Order of Friendship.
Having decided to continue her career as a military TV journalist, she sanctified the clashes of militants in Abkhazia. In September 2004 she went to Beslan. This tragedy greatly influenced the worldview of the journalist. A year later, the Russia Today channel was created, of course, Simonyan was appointed its editor-in-chief. Further, the career of the star of international news was on the rise.
And in 2013, Margarita was appointed editor-in-chief of the Rossiya Segodnya MIA, where she works to this day.
Living together with Tigran Keosayan
Before the appearance of Tigran in her life, Margot was not serious about close relationships. It is known that at the time of her acquaintance with the famous director, she was living in a civil marriage with journalist Andrei Blagodyrenko. The fact is that while living in her “ghetto”, the girl did not see happy families there. A married woman seemed to her an unhappy, downtrodden creature whose task was to do the daily chores around the house.
Margarita with Andrey Blagodyrenko
She never intended to get married, which made her parents very sad. After all, they have been waiting for their grandchildren for a long time. Even now, Tigran Keosayan and his new wife, although they have two children, live in a civil marriage.
When the couple realized that they had feelings, they decided to part ways because they did not want to hurt anyone. We parted for one day - they couldn't stand it anymore. As a result, Keosayan moved to Rita in a small but cozy house located 63 km from Moscow. Until Alena Khmelnitskaya had a man, her ex-husband used to visit them in Barvikha every morning to chat with her daughters over morning tea.
Oddly enough, they are on friendly, respectful relations with Alena. Khmelnitskaya, like a wise woman, encouraged the continuation of the relationship between her daughters and her father, because they are not guilty of anything. Moreover, Alena found the courage to invite Tigran Keosayan and his new wife with their children to the family celebration. They got to know each other better and, as usual with this trio, a joint project has matured. The film "Actress" was shot according to the script of Rita, in which the ex-wife played the main role.
Now the Keosayan-Simonyan couple are loving, but strict and demanding parents. Especially the young dad. He talks to his son and daughter like adults. But fooling around is also not averse, he likes to tell them all sorts of fables of his own composition, to sing funny songs.
We hope that Tigran Keosayan and his new wife will be happy for a long time, for life ...
Why do all the threads lead from Simonyan to the USA?
The site kompromat.wiki publishes very interesting data.
For example, Margarita Simonyan turned out to be the center of attention of the resource, since the Russian society wonders why the state gave such advances to an ordinary journalist?
So, let's get acquainted with the biography of an ordinary journalist of Armenian origin, who has captured the leading positions of the Russian state media field and a huge chunk of the Russian budget, Day.Az reports with reference to gradator.ru.
Simonyan Margarita Simonovna is a Russian journalist and media manager. Editor-in-chief of the RT channel since 2005, the Rossiya Segodnya international news agency since 2013 and the Sputnik news agency since 2014.
Simonyan Margarita Simonovna, born on 06.04.1980, a native of Krasnodar.
Relatives. Sister: Simonyan Alisa Simonovna, born on 08/07/1981. She was involved in PR support of major federal projects, in particular, the construction of the Crimean bridge and the holding of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. By the way, Alice, like her sister Margot, also prefers a deep neckline.
Margarita Simonyan claims that she did not contribute to the development of her sister's business through her channels in power. In her opinion, Alisa Simonyan "is simply one of the best PR specialists in Russia."
Husband (civilian): Keosayan Tigran Edmondovich, born on 04.01.1966, film director, screenwriter and producer. Since 2012, Simonyan has been in a de facto marriage with Keosayan, who left the family and officially divorced his previous wife Alena Khmelnitskaya in 2014. Simonyan conducts business through the commercial structures of Keosayan, since he does not want to directly show government orders.
Keosayan himself received state money to create patriotic films. According to some reports, Simonyan contributed to this through her connections. The family also owns a restaurant in the Krasnaya Polyana district of Sochi.
Education
She studied at the special school number 36 in the city of Krasnodar.
In the tenth grade, to improve the English language, she was sent on an exchange to New Hampshire (USA) for a year as part of the Future Leaders Exchange program. During this trip, the future journalist, in her own words, was imbued with "some skepticism about democracy and a persistent dislike for American values." Of course, Margot is lying, because on this trip she just came to the attention of the Armenian lobby of the United States, which, in turn, is used by the US special services.
At the age of 19 she graduated from the School of Television Skills of Vladimir Pozner, who was also attracted by the Armenian lobby of the United States. By the way, he recently appeared in Los Angeles with the promotion of Armenian interests.
Then she graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of the Kuban State University.
She also studied at the Internews television school of Manana Aslamazyan. As you know, this company is also American.
Labor activity
After graduation, she worked as a correspondent for the Krasnodar television and radio company.
In 2001, she was appointed the leading editor of news programs at the Krasnodar TV and Radio Broadcasting Company, and then her own correspondent for the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company in Rostov-on-Don.
In the fall of 2002, she became a special correspondent for Vesti.
In 2005, the first Russian TV channel in English, Russia Today, was founded, with M.S.Simonyan appointed as its editor-in-chief. Subsequently, she also became editor-in-chief of the Arabic-language (Rusiya al-Yaum) and Spanish-language (RT Español) versions of RT.
Since 2014, in parallel, he has been the editor-in-chief of the Rossiya Segodnya international news agency, as well as the editor-in-chief of the Sputnik news agency, affiliated with the Rossiya Segodnya MIA.
Also in the 2010s at various times hosted the analytical program "What's going on?" on the REN TV channel and the political talk show “Iron Ladies” with another presenter of Armenian origin Tina Kandelaki, who previously presented herself as a Georgian, on the NTV channel.
Links / Partners
Blagodyrenko Andrey Alexandrovich, born on July 13, 1966, Head of the Directorate of Multimedia Centers of the International Agency and Radio Sputnik. Blagodyrenko, like Simonyan, spent his childhood in Krasnodar and was closely associated with the Armenian diaspora in this city. He worked in Rostov-on-Don, where at some point Simonyan ended up, then both moved to Moscow, where they became known as a couple. Blagodyrenko has produced various television projects.
Despite the fact that Simonyan cheated on Blagodyrenko, and then left for another man, now they maintain a relationship. Blagodyrenko was even assigned to the Sputnik International Agency, of which Simonyan is the editor-in-chief.
Alexey Gromov, born on May 31, 1960, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration.
Gromov has been in charge of the media in the Kremlin since the 2000s. He worked closely with Simonyan from the moment the girl got into the so-called presidential pool of journalists. It was Gromov and the then adviser to the President of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Lesin, who had the idea to create the Russia Today media holding. It was Gromov who decided to appoint Simonyan as the head of RT. Over time, Simonyan worked closely with Lesin.
Lesin also turned out to be an American hireling, fled to the United States, where he ended his days under strange circumstances in 2015, while Gromov still keeps Russia Today under special control and patronizes Simonyan. Gromov and Simonyan are said to have common business interests.
Oleg Borisovich Dobrodeev, born on October 28, 1959, General Director of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK). Rumor has it that Simonyan can sit up with Dobrodeev and, God forbid, head the VGTRK herself.
Dmitry Konstantinovich Kiselev, born on April 26, 1954, General Director of the Russian international information agency "Russia Today", Deputy General Director of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. Kiselev, as the head of the Rossiya Segodnya news agency, appointed Simonyan as editor-in-chief of the agency, but in reality he is only a “wedding general”.
To information
Margarita Simonovna Simonyan was born in Krasnodar, in an Armenian family of a refrigerator repairman and a flower seller in the market. But the Simonyan family was simple only at first glance. In reality, it enjoyed the support of the influential Armenian diaspora in Krasnodar. In addition, it was rumored that Eduard Shevardnadze himself was among Margo's distant relatives. The fact that the Simonyan family was not so simple was evidenced by the fact that during her school years the girl was sent under the Future Leaders Exchange program to American New Hampshire. And there is also information that Father Simonyan had influence in criminal circles, from Russia to America.
Subsequently, Margarita will assure that in the United States she was imbued with "some skepticism about democracy and a persistent dislike for American values." However, at that time, after returning to Russia, she went to learn the basics of journalism to the pro-Western representative of this profession, Vladimir Pozner, who opened his School of Television Skills, and then studied at the Internews television school of the liberal journalist Manana Aslamazyan. And besides, Margarita openly expressed her desire to become her own correspondent in Moscow for some western channel.
Is it just a coincidence?
If you think about it, Simonyan is a cleverly disguised American foster child, and the resources she leads in fact devalue Russia's image in the world, she also destroyed the leading Russian news agency RIA Novosti, replacing it with the scandalous soap Sputnik.
Simonyan received her higher education at the Kuban State University, but studied at it in absentia, since in her first year she was arranged by a correspondent for the Krasnodar television and radio company. The young girl was clearly "molded" a career.
The still completely inexperienced student was sent as a war correspondent to Chechnya, where she made several reports, after which she immediately received the prize of the Kuban Union of Journalists "For Professional Courage."
A few months later, the journalist was also awarded the prize of the second All-Russian competition of regional television and radio companies, and at the Krasnodar TV and radio company she was promoted to leading editor of news programs. However, in her new position, she worked for no more than six months, since she moved from regional television to the federal VGTRK, as a correspondent in Rostov-on-Don.
Already in 2002, Margarita was called to Moscow as a special correspondent for Vesti. Earlier, the Kuban TV producer Andrei Blagodyrenko moved to the capital, who headed the production company "Profile" in Pervoprestolnaya. It is difficult to say whether he contributed to the move of the journalist, but soon they began to live together. At the same time, a girl from Krasnodar, who had not yet had time to graduate, was immediately assigned to the so-called presidential pool and began to cover almost all of Vladimir Putin's trips.
In 2004, Simonyan was entrusted with a live report from Beslan, where Chechen terrorists in the city center seized a school with children. It was Margarita Simonovna who, in one of her direct interventions, significantly underestimated the number of hostages to 354 people, while the exact number of them was 1128 people. In addition, she stated that "the terrorists are not making demands," while their main point was "the withdrawal of troops from Chechnya."
The inaccurate information angered local residents, whose relatives ended up in the seized school. This broadcast was also seen by the terrorists, after which they significantly toughened the conditions for the residents of Beslan captured by them.
Literally six months later, Margarita Simonovna was awarded the then Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov with the medal "For Strengthening the Combat Commonwealth."
In 2005, Gromov and Lesin, who at that time became an adviser to the President, but continued to supervise the Russian media, decided to create a TV channel that would shape public opinion among Western audiences "in the interests of Russia." The channel was named "Russia Today", and twenty-five-year-old Simonyan was appointed editor-in-chief of such a serious project. The journalistic community expressed its bewilderment at this appointment and, it was surprising.
The new TV channel had a large budget by Russian standards and since then has reached broadcasting coverage in more than 100 countries and had 22 offices in 19 countries and regions, with a presence in Washington, New York, London, Berlin, Gaza, Cairo, Baghdad and other large cities of the world. And all this was supposed to be run by yesterday's graduate of the correspondence department of the journalism department of the Kuban State University. Many of Margarita's colleagues expressed their dissatisfaction when the state awards were presented to the editor-in-chief of Russia Today, treated kindly by the authorities.
Obviously, in her career advancement, Margarita Simonovna jumped at least several flights of stairs. Therefore, already, being the editor-in-chief of a large television channel, she herself wanted to try herself as a TV presenter of any political talk show. But she did not want to work for a foreign public, so she knocked on her Russian counterparts. At first, she was sheltered on REN TV, where he hosted the program "What's going on?", But due to low popularity it was closed six months later. TV critics said that the program was made "in the spirit of the Soviet propaganda model."
Then Simonyan tried herself on the radio as the host of the weekly column "Point of View" on the frequency of "Kommersant FM", but here she parted ways just a few issues later. Then there was "NTV" and a joint program with Tina Kandelaki "Iron Ladies", which also lasted no more than six months. Television critics compared the presenters to "kitchen gossips who are trying to talk about big politics."
In December 2013, on the basis of RIA Novosti, the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency was created, headed by journalist Dmitry Kiselev. In the same month, before the New Year holidays, Kiselev invited Margarita Simonovna to become the editor-in-chief of the new agency. And in November 2014, Simonyan headed the editorial office of the Sputnik news agency, affiliated with the Rossiya Segodnya MIA.
In 2015, one of Simonyan's patrons, Mikhail Lesin, died in the United States. Various sources claimed that the former press minister was either beaten to death or killed with a baseball bat. The leaks allegedly came from the FBI. Lesin was found dead in a hotel located in downtown Washington. In this hotel, he was supposedly supposed to have a meeting with representatives of the US Department of Justice, to whom he was supposed to tell about how the "propaganda machine" "Russia Today" is arranged. Political scientist Gleb Pavlovsky even called the murder a staging and suggested that Lesin was quietly working for the US intelligence services. After the death of her past curator, Margarita Simonovna, without thinking twice, published an article titled "Mikhail Lesin. Afterword", from which it became clear that over all these years she had become a very close friend of the late politician, and how he played backgammon with her Krasnodar Armenian grandmother.
It is not known whether Lesin really should have "leaked" information to the American special services about Russian propaganda and whether he had time to tell something about "Russian Today"; however, soon the US authorities launched a real fight against the TV channel.
In 2017, it became known that the FBI was investigating the activities of the RT TV channel and the Sputnik news agency. In the hands of the bureau staff was a hard drive containing internal documents and correspondence of Sputnik employees, which was given to them by one of the agency's former reporters, Andrew Feinberg.
And in the fall of the same year, the US Department of Justice demanded "RT America" to register as a "foreign agent." This became a fairly large legislative precedent for the United States, since before that, the media in this country had not received such requirements. Following Russia Today and Sputnik, other foreign TV channels such as Al-Jazeera could receive similar status. As a result, on November 10, 2017, the US Department of Justice officially added T&R Productions LLC, which operated RT America, to the list of foreign agents.
At the same time, it was a great exaggeration to say that the Simonyan TV channel really somehow influenced the political moods of US citizens. Of course, the potential audience of "RT America" by 2016 could be up to 85 million people. But in fact, this indicator only indicated the number of people for whom this channel was included in the cable TV package. In fact, RT America's daily audience was about 30,000.
From time to time, the channel's audience expanded significantly due to major news stories related to Russia. One of these events took place in the fall of 2018. Then everyone was discussing two Russian citizens who appeared on the recordings of street cameras in the British city of Salisbury, precisely in those days and near the places where a former GRU officer, a defector Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, were poisoned. After these videos were published in the media, the Russian authorities announced that the individuals present on them were identified and they were civilians, some Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.
Margarita Simonovna did her best to prove herself in the role of a tenacious and perceptive investigator. However, all the participants in this impromptu interrogation looked more than ridiculous. The presenter clearly did not pressurize the interviewees in those places where additional leading questions suggested themselves. But she showed genuine interest in the sexual orientation of Petrov and Bashirov, lowering the bar for interviews to talk shows for housewives. The "interrogated" looked dull at all, were confused in their testimonies, and if they were asked questions by a more professional journalist, it is not known where these answers would lead them. As a result, the interview turned out to be in the genre of comedy and was quickly dismantled into quotes and "memes".
Probably, the same Aleksey Gromov, who by that time had become the first deputy head of the Presidential Administration, made sure that the meeting took place on RT. At least Alexei Alekseevich did not forget his protégé all these years. It was she who, together with her common-law husband Keosayan, was offered to make a film for the Sochi Olympics "Sea. Mountains. Expanded clay". And later the same couple took up the film "Crimean Bridge. Made with Love".
And it turned out to be a complete spent and a laughing stock.
Someone argued that the funds for the film were allocated by the Ministry of Culture, while others said that the project was paid for personally by Arkady Rotenberg, who was contracted to build the bridge. As a result, it turned out that at least 100 million rubles were received without a competition from the Cinema Fund. Margarita Simonovna herself was the screenwriter of the film, and Keosayan was the director.
The movie was filmed at the studio of Keosayan's brother David, and his niece Laura Keosayan and his first wife Alena Khmelnitskaya were in the lead roles. It should be said that the film, for obvious reasons, flopped at the box office without paying off, and at the same time received terrible press from independent film critics.
But the film industry was not the only business linking Simonyan and her relatives to a high-ranking official. In particular, her younger sister Alisa could also be indebted to Gromov.
Registered as an individual entrepreneur, she received orders for public relations of the most important state projects - the Olympics in Sochi, the World Cup and the construction of the Crimean bridge. She also fulfilled orders for the Skolkovo Foundation, and worked with partners of Alexei Gromov Jr., including Oleg Deripaska.
Alisa Simonyan often worked not only as an individual entrepreneur.
So, for the PR of the Crimean Bridge, she got a job in the company of Arkady Rotenberg "Stroygazmontazh" and, as his employee, supervised the work of the information center "Crimean Bridge". True, this center was established by the Prime Agency and the Eurasian Communication Center, which were the structures of Russia Today. Gromov's youngest son Danila also worked in this information center.
Margarita Simonovna herself was also engaged in commercial activities through the sole proprietor. According to her own statements, it was she who started this business, and then hired her sister as an employee, and only later she "separated".
Sometimes Simonyan had to involve her husband for doing business. Some clients were not satisfied with the status of an individual entrepreneur, and then Margarita Simonovna entered into contracts through the Coliseum company, which was owned by Keosayan.
In 2019, a big interview with Simonyan came out. It is curious that the TV producer poured out his soul in the Telegram blocked by Roskomnadzor, specifically on the Nezygar channel. Aleksey Gromov is considered to be the curator of this information platform, and especially Nezygar in the Kremlin. It was rumored that Margarita Simonovna decided to have a frank conversation, due to the fact that a new big appointment was prepared for her. In particular, there were rumors that the journalist decided to sit up with the head of Russian television, Oleg Dobrodeev. And in this case, information support would really not hurt her. Indeed, despite her multiple awards and a fast-paced career, ordinary viewers did not greatly appreciate the production talent of Margarita Simonovna.
For many, Simonyan was simply annoying. Often, the editor-in-chief of the Russia Today TV channel collected a whole scattering of critical comments under her posts on social networks. Once she spoke about her awkward feelings in those moments when she had to call the ambulance. In particular, the journalists are uncomfortable in front of the medical staff for the "oak staircase", "oak parquet", "English wallpaper and a vintage Italian chandelier" in a "good house" in a "good village near Moscow". "As if I stole it all" - exclaimed Margarita Simonovna. The phrase "as if I stole it all" instantly spread among the people. “They stole it,” was the mildest answer to the editor-in-chief of RT.
The "prodigy" of Russian journalism - Margarita Simonyan managed to head the Russia Today media holding at the age of twenty-five. At the same time, close relatives of Margarita Simonovna now also show not hefty abilities, receiving contracts from the state for PR support of the country's largest events and making films with money from the Cinema Fund. True, an ordinary viewer cannot understand why the state gave such advances to an ordinary journalist.
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