Kiselev conducts in Ukraine since 25.09.2009 on the main Ukrainian TV channel "Inter" socio-political talk SHOW talk show "Big Politics with Evgeny Kiselev" (in Russian). "Great Politics" in Ukrainian. (follow the link for the entire transfer with records)
In Russia, under Gusinsky during perestroika, he was a co-founder of NTV, director of the NTV channel, vice president of the NTV television company, chairman of the board of directors of the NTV television company, and the general director of NTV. In fact, he started, developed NTV and then witnessed the collapse of the NTV empire. Now he does not have the status of a top manager, but simply a journalist.
Today he is in Kiev, he has a wine cellar and he doesn't really need politics anymore. He comes to Moscow once every 2-3 weeks.
5-6 hours and in Kiev. Flight 1 hour. But while getting to the airport + check-in + boarding is just one way 5-6 hours from porch to porch. So he lost nothing. From the capital to the capital. In money I think I have not lost much. Khoroshkovsky as the owner of "Inter" is a very rich man and the channel is one of the two main channels in Ukraine. Yuri Stoyanov (the program "Gorodok" also works there). The structure of the Inter media group (holding, media empire). In 2007, the Ukrainian television company NTN joined the group. ATZT "Ukrainian Square TV Corporation"
The fact that he came under the distribution, so it can be with any person when changing power in a team, group, country. The usual redistribution of spheres of influence. This is normal. You kicked someone from the top, and tomorrow they kicked you in the ass. Law of nature. The glade remains, but the owners change.
No one sits on Olympus forever.
Ukraine is just a place to work.
He was invited as a political journalist who is remembered in Ukraine from the times of perestroika. He, as an intellectual, is capable of broadcasting on complex sensitive topics.
The media make politics.
Than they will be buzzing on Maidan, let it be better to watch talk shows on TV as entertainment.
The format of journalism is the same: political analytics about key events. People of the same scale: the main politicians in the political market are the level of Yulia Tymoshenko.
There are dofig and more Russian-speaking intellectuals in Ukraine, and political games are interesting to many (rating in Inter). Politics affects everyone, even if people ignore it. The audience of the program.
Kiselev has a Russian passport, was born in Russia. Posner (1 channel RF) has an American passport and was born in France.
Posner and Kiselev are united by maturity, erudition and formal impartiality towards the guests of the program.
He knows political science well as a science and quickly understood the situation in Ukraine. The territory and people are smaller.
The problem is one - he is Ukrainian. understands the language at 100, but speak Ukrainian. can not. Although he knows Persian with a bang and in 1999 he spoke English with Clinton.
Works on the leading Ukrainian. TV channel "Inter". I was also at TBI, but now it seems only at Inter.
Now people are intensively studying body language. No, not gestures, not the language of the deaf, but the language of the body. Say, high negotiations are underway, and a person is sitting leg by leg - that's it, there will be no happiness, that is, a contract. Or, here, the boss is talking to you - and again! - looked at his watch. If you do not immediately fly out of his office like a bullet, then you will run into his displeasure, expressed already much more openly with all the unpleasant consequences.
So I did not escape the temptation to observe how the body behaves when the owner's brains are busy with something else. And when I tell my girlfriends what I really wanted to say, but some politician from the TV said aloud something completely different, they often smile incredulously - they say, the housewife is playing regular psychological games.
But when I showed them the video with Yevgeny Kiselev, even Sveta fell silent. Well, see for yourself:
To begin with, I would like to draw your attention to how this "extra-class journalist" lost weight. Medical reasons aside, his body tells us that he is having a "uncomfortable" period in his life. Let me explain: have you noticed how an ordinary person is blown away when he gets to any leadership positions? He has to change his costumes immediately. Because it simply does not fit into its old ones. Don't ask, I don't know why, I'm not a psychologist, I'm just an observer.
When a person loses weight - if not a patient, of course, and is not on a strict diet - then the process has gone in the opposite direction. The person, apparently, wants to become less visible.
Yes, I understand that this is not a scientific explanation - but argue with me if I'm wrong!
Second. Pay attention, gentlemen, to how this "extra" sits: he wrapped his arms around himself, holding onto the body with all his might - a pose that means that a person wants to isolate himself from the whole world, from the interlocutor, from himself! He keeps himself, as if not to say anything superfluous and God forbid, miss arrows at his address!
By and large, his advice about "steal Russians for Savchenko" actually needs to be read the other way around: he is forced to say it, he is afraid to say it! Maybe he understands responsibility for what he said. Maybe he is afraid of punishment ...
Yes, it is hard for the citizen of Russia Yevgeny Kiselev to be in other people's penates ... And what about his citizenship, by the way? After all, he is still, hey, "ashamed to be a Russian citizen." And to become Ukrainian is scary! Previously, he made excuses that he did not want to take the status out of the hands of the “bloody Yanukovych”. But it’s almost two years since the president is different, and Yevgeny Alekseevich’s citizenship is the same, Russian. And a citizen of Russia advises her enemies to steal, steal, and illegally detain fellow citizens!
You know, I won't be surprised if Evgeny Kiselev strangles himself in a tight embrace! It was his body language that signaled to me ...
Evgeny Kiselev is a well-known journalist and TV presenter. Viewers know him as the host of the programs "Morning", "90 minutes", "Results". He was one of the founders of the NTV television company, the general director of the TV-6 Moscow channel and the TVS channel, and the chief editor of the Moskovskie Novosti newspaper. Kiselyov also works on some Ukrainian channels.Childhood and family of Evgeny Kiselev
The hometown of Evgeny Kiselev is Moscow. His parents are engineers. Eugene studied at a school with in-depth study of the English language. His favorite subjects were geography, economics, history, literature. He could not decide in any way what profession to choose, but he understood that he should choose a humanitarian university.Father suggested that Eugene, when he was in the ninth grade, enroll in the School of Young Orientalists, operating at Moscow State University. Kiselyov started going there and realized that this was exactly what he needed. There you could study your favorite subjects - geography, history, and literature. In addition, several foreign languages \u200b\u200bwere offered for study. Eugene literally fell in love with his future profession. He was attracted by the romance of Eastern countries, the exoticism of future travels.
Kiselev entered the Institute of Asian and African Countries, where he studied to be a historian-orientalist. He graduated from the university with honors, becoming a specialist in the Persian language. Many graduates of his institute later worked in various journalistic organizations. Evgeniy was sent to Iran for internship. He stayed there from 1977 to 1978. This was followed by military service in Afghanistan, namely in the group of military advisers. Kiselev was an officer-translator.
Evgeny Kiselev: teacher and journalist
After serving for some time, Evgeny taught Persian at the Institute of the Higher School of the KGB. His journalistic career began in the editorial office of broadcasting to the eastern countries - Afghanistan and Iran. He worked in programs such as "Time", "International Panorama", "Before and After Midnight", "Look". In those years, they wrote about him in the press, as about a journalist who showed Israel to viewers from a completely new side. Kiselev tried himself as the host of the programs "Morning", "90 minutes" and "Vesti" on Russian television.At the beginning of 1992, Evgeny Alekseevich became one of the founders of the NTV television company, which for the first time began broadcasting on the Petersburg channel, offering viewers the Itogi program. In 2000, he took over as CEO of the channel. A year later, Kiselev, together with some of the NTV employees, continued to work at TV-6 Moscow, where some time later he became the general director. However, this channel also ceased to exist. In January 2002, the journalist took over as editor-in-chief of the formed TVS channel.
In the summer of 2003, Evgeny Alekseevich was offered to become editor-in-chief of the Moscow News newspaper. Two years later, he was already the CEO of this publication, but he held this position for a very short time. The reason was that all shares of the Moscow News company were sold, and Vadim Rabinovich became the new owner.
Evgeny Kiselev's work on Ukrainian television
In the summer of 2008, Yevgeny Kiselyov began working on the Ukrainian TV channel, taking the position of the chief editor-consultant. On the channel, Evgeny Alekseevich conducted an author's program, which was called "Upstairs". A little later, he also began to host the program "Big Politics with Yevgeny Kiselyov" on another Ukrainian channel - on the Inter channel.The journalist left the TV channel and the post of editor-in-chief in 2009, which was a complete surprise for the leadership of this channel. His author's program also ceased to exist.
In 2013, Evgeny Alekseevich became the head of information broadcasting on the Inter channel. National Information Systems is a company headed by Kiselev in the same year 2013. This company produces a number of programs for Inter: "Details", "News", "Details of the week". The host of "Details of the Week" is Yevgeny Kiselyov himself.
Evgeny Kiselev's awards
Evgeny Kiselev was named one of the most famous and richest people in Russia in 1998 by Kommersant. Evgeny Alekseevich published the book “Without Putin” in 2009. Its co-author is Mikhail Kasyanov.Kiselev is also known as a television documentary. He is the author of such documentaries as "The President of All Russia", "Tehran-99", "The Mysterious General Secretary", "Spartacus", "Modern History", "Pope", etc.
Personal life of Evgeny Kiselev
Evgeny Kiselev is married to his former classmate. His wife is Maria Shakhova. She is the producer of the program "Fazenda", which was previously called "Summer Residents". For the program "Summer Residents" Shakhova received the prestigious Teffi-2002 award. The Kiselevs have an adult son, Alexei. He is married and has a son, George. Alexey is a businessman who, together with his wife, created his own clothing brand. 
According to Evgeny Kiselyov, he rarely rests, while he just loves to walk, read or watch TV. Kiselyov prefers memoir literature. His favorite sport is tennis. He considers himself a connoisseur of good cuisine.
Answers of journalist Evgeny Kiselev to your questions
Question 1
Anatoly, employee, Moscow:
Dear E. Kiselev! I read Your New Time regularly. I confess that I have no sympathy for the modern government of Ukraine. You are promoting it. Question: why don't you write about the shelling of Donbass by the Ukrainian Armed Forces? Can't you or basically don't want to? After all, it is clear that both sides are shooting and, moreover, decently. Soon the recognized losses of the Armed Forces (more than 600 people) for this year will exceed the losses for 2014. On the other hand, people are also dying, you do not notice it. What's the matter? Where is the position of the NTV journalist of the 90s?
Answer
You have Anatoly, somehow everything was piled up at once - and your antipathy to the government of Ukraine (by the way, what do you mean by the word "government" - the cabinet of ministers, parliament or the presidential administration?), And shootings in Donbass, and NTV of the 90s, and the excellent Ukrainian magazine Novoye Vremya ... By the way, it is not "mine", I do not work there on the staff, only sometimes I write columns for them. But much more often they take and reprint my comments from the site "Echo of Moscow". So I’ll tell you: no one denies that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are suffering losses, that the shootings have become more frequent, that people on both sides are dying. But always, in any situation, you need to talk about the main thing. And the main thing is that Ukraine is not the first to start. With almost undisguised Russian interference, a separatist uprising against the central government began in the Donbas. If it were not for the "polite little green men" and the creatures of a different order who did not come to replace them - "vacationers", if not for Russian money, if not for the money bought for this money, on Putin's advice, in the nearest supermarket, tanks, "Grads", Buki, there would be no war in Donbass, no shootings, no casualties from all sides. Ukraine is forced to defend itself. This is the root of the problem, which should not be blurted out by talking about the fact that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are also shooting. They shoot at them, they answer. This is the point. It is categorically wrong to put a sign of moral equality between the actions of the separatists and the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This is my position.
Question 2
Evgeny, engineer, Moscow:
In a recent video interview given to one of the Ukrainian TV channels and posted on the Echo of Moscow website, you are a Russian citizen, when asked about the current football championship, you said: "... I will go to root for England." It was before the England - Russia match. This is WHAT in general, is this HOW ???
Yevgeny Kiselev: Ukraine has to defend itself. This is the root of the problem, which should not be chatted up.Answer
It's very simple. Since childhood, I hate pseudo-patriotic hysterics on sports grounds. Especially now, when any victory of Russian athletes - deserved or accidental - is noisily presented as evidence of the almost civilizational superiority of Putin's Russia over "Geyrop" and "Pindostan". This also disgusts me, as well as the annual courage about the next anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, when people who have nothing to do with this victory, neither blood nor gunpowder, who did not know the horrors of war, wrap themselves in St. George's ribbons and threaten: “We can repeat! " I was rooting for England, for Slovakia, I will be rooting for Wales, so that they all take turns clearing the brains of the hurray-patriots at least a little. So that they understand that the Russian football team is mediocre, there are no world-class stars in it, it's not for nothing that no Russian footballer plays for any of the prestigious European clubs anymore. If there were a good team, there would be no capricious moods, densely mixed with leavened patriotism, to the accompaniment of football hooliganism - I would cheer for it, as once. Do you want Russia to win football championships? Direct the billions spent on the war in Donbass, on the security forces, on noble bureaucrats, on digging up Moscow streets, on supporting Assad, on financing the ultra-right in Europe, on the Black Sea palaces and Roldugin offshores - and you will have football victories on the development of football.
In general, I am rooting for outstanding athletes and beautiful teams - once I was rooting for the Moscow Torpedo, because the brilliant Eduard Streltsov played there. I was rooting back in 1974 for the Dutch national team, because the great Cruyff played for it, and the Dutch played the best, although they lost in the final to the Germans. I was rooting for the French when Zidane and his comrades shone there. I was rooting for the German national team at the last World Cup, because it showed, in my opinion, the most beautiful football.
I love tennis, because it is a sport of bright individuals, where the tenth thing, under what flag a player is playing - he plays for himself. I was rooting for outstanding skaters, regardless of whose colors they represented. And in chess I rooted against Karpov for Kasparov, because the whole Soviet sports bureaucracy was on Karpov's side, and only his enchanting talent was on Kasparov's side.
The first shoots of spontaneous dissidence in my soul began to sprout in the late 60s, when I was wildly irritated by the manner of the late Nikolai Ozerov to conduct hockey reports - they say, we are the nicest in the world, all blush and whiter. No doubt, that team was very good. But I was looking at the screen and clearly saw that the national team of Czechoslovakia was playing no worse. And when, after the next volley of Ozero's pathetic lamentations: “The overwhelming advantage of ours! Czechoslovak hockey players are pinned to the goal, fighting off with their last bit of strength! " - another puck flew into the gates of the Soviet national team, I was sincerely glad that justice was triumphant. By the way, at first I did not understand why the Czechoslovak national team was fighting so fiercely against the Soviet team, and only after becoming a little older, I realized that it was defending national pride, crushed in Prague by the tracks of Soviet tanks. And when I realized that all my sympathies were, of course, on the side of the Prague Spring, I was rooting only for the Czechs.
Yevgeny Kiselev: Sport has swept the same madness as the whole countryBut at the same time, he rejoiced at the victories for Dynamo Kiev and Tbilisi in European competitions, grieved over the failure of the football team at the 1986 World Cup, when it was very good and deserved a much higher place, and the last time - for the Russian national team at the championship Europe in 2008 when she reached the semi-finals. But then the sport swept over the same madness as the whole country. The authorities openly politicize sports, use sports victories as a tool to inflate hurray-patriotic sentiments. To such an extent that it suits a special operation to replace urine samples. Therefore, I am ill against.
Question 3
Anton, translator, Moscow:
Dear Eugene, is it true that you have already applied for Ukrainian citizenship a long time ago? Has your application been approved? Then after all, in the event of your persecution in Russia, Ukraine will protect you as its citizen?
Answer
No that's not true. I have not submitted and am not going to apply for obtaining Ukrainian citizenship. Under Ukrainian law, this would imply a renunciation of Russian citizenship. I don't want to do this. I do not intend to please Putin's "propagandons", to give them another reason to throw a tantrum: look, what a traitor he is, he even renounced citizenship! And not from the lordly Putin's shoulder, I have Russian citizenship, like some Gerard Depardieu, to humiliate him back to Putin.
Yevgeny Kiselev: I do not have Russian citizenship from the lordly Putin's shoulderQuestion 4
Jacob, entrepreneur, Israel, Jerusalem:
Hello, Mr. Kiselev, if you had the opportunity to participate in a debate with your namesake propagandist Dmitry, what would you tell him. 3 main theses, if not difficult, thanks in advance.
Answer
Well, to begin with, he is not even my namesake. I have been using this formula for a long time - since the time when people in Kiev began to ask me: are we relatives, for an hour? Secondly, I don’t sit down to play with thimblers, and he is an ideological thimbler. Third, debate is a verbal duel. In the good old days, a self-respecting person with a slave did not fight in a duel. And he is Putin's propaganda slave. So there will be no duels.
Question 5
alda:
Eugene! How do you see the future of Russia? In our country, they do not elect, but appoint the president's successors. Who do you think will be Putin's successor?
Answer
In my opinion, Putin does not think at all about giving up power and appointing someone as a successor. He is clearly going to the presidency of Russia for life, like some Turkmenbashi.
Question 6
vlad_thinker:
Hello. In your opinion, is it possible for Russia to return to the tracks of civilized development without experiencing another catastrophe / revolution / etc.? Best regards, Vladislav.
Answer
I'm afraid, Vladislav, I won't be able to give you any hope. I clearly see how every year of Putin's illegitimate third term as president of the country, the window of opportunity for Russia's peaceful return to the tracks you are talking about is narrowing. Both domestic and foreign policies of Putin are increasingly subordinated to one goal - to stay in power at any cost, as long as possible. Sooner or later, this will lead to one or another catastrophic scenario. It may be the indignation of the masses - if the economy becomes very bad, and an attempted coup - no matter who conspires, representatives of the more liberal part of the ruling class, or, conversely, supporters of a much tougher course. A conspiracy can even be drawn up by Putin himself with his inner circle - in the spirit of the "government of national salvation", which will receive unlimited powers. It also doesn't matter if the coup attempt is successful or not. It is almost certain that the conspirators will not be able to take control of the entire vast territory of Russia. Somewhere real power will remain in the hands of local kings, who will immediately be tempted to get out of the Kremlin's control. As a result, one or another power scenario will still be launched. This can only be prevented by some kind of pact of the elites on renunciation of mutual destruction in the event of a change of government. In other words, if a politician appears who can convince those in power to voluntarily relinquish power in exchange for guarantees of freedom, security, and preservation of capital. As it was in Spain, for example, after the death of the dictator Franco.
E. Kiselev: Savchenko is ready to learn a new profession of parliamentarianQuestion 7
maklak:
Dear Eugene! Why is Russian emigration of the "new wave" not consolidated? Doesn't “care” about the future of Russia. For example, it does not create foreign parallel structures: the Government in exile, the Russian Foreign Parliament, the Emigrant Constitutional Court, etc. Thanks for the answer.
Answer
You know, it seems to me that the oppositional Russian political and public figures who have been forced to emigrate are quite adequate people, soberly assessing their capabilities. In the history of different countries, governments in exile were usually created when these countries were captured by foreign states as a result of war. Then the legitimate authorities continued to operate in exile, as during the Second World War the governments of Nazi-occupied France, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Norway worked in London. In Russia now - a completely different situation. Attempts to create the structures you are talking about will be perceived as clownery, they will make the Russian opposition laugh. This does not mean, however, that the “emigration of the new wave” should sit idly by. Probably, she needs to consolidate her activities, but do it smartly, without false pathos, quietly and effectively. How exactly - I don't know, I am not involved in politics. For now, anyway. I'm just a critical journalist, columnist, commentator - nothing more.
Yevgeny Kiselev: It is wrong to put a sign of moral equality between the actions of the separatists and the actions of the Armed Forces of UkraineQuestion 8
Alexey, engineer, Novosibirsk:
Dear Evgeny Alekseevich. It seems to me that the main reason for the resignation of Luzhkov Yu.M. was to appropriate his idea of \u200b\u200bthe return of the Crimea. After all, if the bearer of this idea remained the mayor of Moscow, the greatness of the president would not have been so enchanting. And what do you think?
Answer
I think this is pure conspiracy theories. A few months before the fall of the Yanukovych regime, Putin had no plans of conquest with regard to Crimea. It is enough to trace the numerous statements made by Putin himself, Lavrov, and some Russian TV propagandists, now glorifying the annexation. If Yanukovych managed to stay in power with Russian support, no annexation would have happened.
Question 9
ilayz:
How do you feel about the decision of P. Poroshenko, who banned entry to a number of Russian journalists? Is it emotions and even revenge, or is there logic and common sense in this decision? Thanks.
Answer
This is not revenge or emotion. A so-called "hybrid" war is being waged against Ukraine, an important part of which is a propaganda, psychological war. It is conducted, first of all, by the Russian state mass media, more precisely - by the mass agitation and propaganda (I call them the SMAP for short). The list you are talking about mainly includes not journalists, but the leaders of these SMAPs - in fact, high-ranking government officials. I do not agree with everything in this list - for example, with the inclusion of the owner and editor-in-chief of Moskovsky Komsomolets Pavel Gusev. Or, for example, as far as I know, the head of the Rossiya channel, Anton Zlatopolsky, is not at all involved in the channel's information and propaganda policy - it is entirely under the personal control of Oleg Dobrodeev, head of the VGTRK. The general director of Channel One, Konstantin Ernst, it seems to me, on the contrary, is trying - as much as possible - not to be the “first student” (if you remember the catch phrase from “Dragon” by Eugene Schwartz).
Of course, someone will say: what's the point in Poroshenko's decision? After all, these people, even in a bad dream, are not going to come to Ukraine. But the logic of the decision of the President of Ukraine, even if it is in some way faulty, is obvious - this is a political signal to international public opinion: he personally names people whom he considers responsible for inciting anti-Ukrainian sentiments.
In the West, I will not hide, this is perceived ambiguously. Especially in America. Not so long ago, when I was in the United States, some American interlocutors told me: we have the First Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees practically unlimited freedom of speech. This norm is perhaps the most sacred of all constitutional norms in America, and we cannot in any way support any sanctions against media workers. I answered this with a question: can you imagine that - with all due respect to the First Amendment - in 1941 in the United States, after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the outbreak of the war with Japan, Japanese propaganda radio stations, broadcasting in English? The interlocutors fell silent ...
Yevgeny Kiselev: Attempts to create such structures will make the Russian opposition ridiculousQuestion 10
Elena, pensioner, Yekaterinburg:
Politicians and political scientists assess Nadezhda Savchenko with her incompetence, inability to negotiate and high popularity as a destabilizing factor in the political situation in Ukraine. Your opinion?
Answer
I strongly disagree with such assessments. It seems to me that someone wants to discredit Savchenko in a banal way. I do not exclude another version: all these conversations are an attempt to present the case in such a way that Putin's forced decision to release Savchenko in exchange for two Russian “vacationers” is not an obvious defeat, but almost a victory, part of a certain congenial plan to destabilize the political situation in Ukraine ...
According to my information, Nadezhda Savchenko is fully aware of the limits of her current competence in certain issues. She is ready to seriously and patiently learn a new profession of parliamentarian. She perfectly understands that various political forces will try to use her in their own interests, "capitalize" her undoubted popularity, and therefore keeps her distance from all well-wishers, behaves emphatically loyal and disciplined in relation to her party, Batkivshchyna, and its parliamentary faction and its leader, Yulia Tymoshenko. Those who know Nadezhda say that she has the gift of being good at understanding people. And this quality for a politician is sometimes more important than many others. So I would not be in a hurry to make predictions. I would not be surprised if, in the end, she doesn't like politics at all, and she does something else in life.
Yeltsin's biggest mistake is Putin
- Evgeny Alekseevich, good evening. I'm glad we're meeting. Frankly, I treat you with great respect.
Good evening. I pay you in return, Dmitry.
- Thanks. How many years have you been in Kiev?
Soon it's nine.
- Do you feel like an emigrant?
My Ukrainian history is striped. At first, I strongly objected when they called me an emigrant. I said: "No, I am a labor migrant." Then I could do journalism in Russia, the country was then a little different. Moreover, remember the spring of 2008, many hoped for the so-called Medvedev thaw.
- Naive people.
Yes. Dmitry Anatolyevich spoke beautiful words that freedom is better than lack of freedom and blah-blah-blah. Many of my colleagues believed that now are the best times for people in our profession. And at that moment I was made an interesting offer. Then the now defunct TV channel was launched, and I was invited to Kiev to be the editor-in-chief of this channel. So it was really a labor migration. Then times in Russia began to change, I began to feel more and more uncomfortable there. And at some point I made a completely conscious decision and just stopped going there. And then the FSB opened a criminal case against me, and entering Russia would mean that I would be arrested at the border and sent to places not so remote - since then I am an emigrant in the full sense of the word.
- I am absolutely sure that you are an absolutely Moscow person. Tell me, do you miss Moscow?
You know not. I miss my friends, whom I, unfortunately, can now only see somewhere in third countries, as they say. Some of them have not yet lost their riskiness and recklessness and sometimes come to Kiev, where we sometimes meet. I also miss my favorite places. Remember the anecdote about two friends: a family man and a bachelor, where the first persuades the second to marry, arguing that in old age there will be someone to give a glass of water to. The bachelor got married, and at the moment of departure to another world he calls that very friend and says to him in a whisper: "But I don't want to drink ..." Somehow ...
- Is Kiev already your city?
Absolutely!
- Do you feel him as yours?
I'm terribly comfortable here. I love him. I feel myself to be from Kiev.
For me, the new free Russia is a country of opportunities, one of the personifications of which were you and your program on NTV. It was a wonderful TV channel, with the advent of which everyone was waiting for Sunday to listen to you. It was a fresh breeze, of course.
That was 16 years ago!
- Yes, but it's in memory.
I left NTV, or rather, I was forced to leave, in April 2001. As a matter of fact, one of these days it is being performed ...
-… exactly 16 years old.
Yes, but that was in the past. Why did the Lord punish Lot's wife and turn her into a pillar of salt? For turning back. You can't live looking behind your back. We must look ahead.
However, it was a past that you are not ashamed of and that you can be proud of. You knew Yeltsin well and interviewed him several times. Please tell me, under Yeltsin, could Russia unleash a war with Ukraine?
No. Of course not.
- Ruled out?
Ruled out. Boris Nikolaevich was a person, let's say, contradictory. And for something I am infinitely grateful to him. 10 years have passed since he passed away. But I can say that he was an amazing person in many ways. Former nomenclaturer ...
-… a member of the Politburo.
Who became a spontaneous democrat. As a Christian convert, he believed in many values. I like to remember the episode when in 1999 he publicly lectured the then Prime Minister Primakov. "Evgeny Maksimovich," he said, "they are complaining about you here. You cannot build normal relations with the press! Take an example from me! This "panimaish" replaced all strong expressions for him, because he never swore. No one heard a single bad word from him, indecent, obscene. "Evgeny Maksimovich, you are not sure, - Yeltsin was indignant, - journalists kicked me this way and that, and often completely unfair, but I clenched my teeth and endured! Because freedom of the press is the greatest value, and we must protect it! "But, on the other hand, Yeltsin made a terrible mistake.
- With Chechnya.
No, not with Chechnya, with Putin.
- This error is even worse.
In my opinion, this is the situation when you can say: "This is worse than a crime - this is a mistake."
The Russian creative intelligentsia is different. Should separate the person and the artist
I am quoting you: "This is not my Russia, this is some other distraught country with which I do not associate myself," you said.
I was not talking about Russia, but about the Putin regime.
- What happened to the Russian intelligentsia? Tell me why the Ukrainian question threw her on the chaff?
I would not have cut all the Russian intelligentsia with the same brush. You know, even at the time that is now 100 years old, in the cult year of 1917 there was a rebellious intelligentsia, but there was also a rock-solid intelligentsia, which held certain value positions. Reread Bunin's "Cursed Days", remember other representatives of Russia. There were those who sincerely believed in the Bolsheviks. All sorts of "smenovekhovtsy" (supporters of the social and political movement "Change of Vekhi", which arose among the Russian emigration.Smenovekhovtsy hoped for the degeneration of Soviet power, called on the intelligentsia to unite with the new bourgeoisie and cooperate with the Soviet government. - "GORDON") ... And there were those who said: "As long as there is at least one Bolshevik left in Russia, my leg will not be there!"
- We loved Tabakov and Zakharov so much. We admired people who seemed to personify ...
-… they are actors! Zakharov is a restless person. I treat Mark Anatolyevich with deep respect as an artist. He made such brilliant films that are of enormous importance to this day.
- And after these films, he signs letters against Ukraine.
Let's separate the artist and the person.
-… no, something is not divided.
I understand...
- ... it hurts and does not split.
Cultural history teaches us this. Take the great Russian writers. Pushkin was a womanizer, as you know. They say about Lermontov that he was a man with an ambiguous sexual orientation. Nekrasov, who wrote poetry, rooting with all his heart for the people ...
-… and for Russian women.
Yes, and his "Reflections at the front door," and so on. And in life he was a rich man, a reveler, a gambler. He arranged feasts for his influential guests from St. Petersburg. Dostoevsky was an anti-Semite. And further down the list.
- (Ironically). But what a writer.
A sloppy writer, really. Often he wrote only in order to receive another fee in a thick literary magazine. He didn't have time to edit the text. If you ask unbiased literary critics, real Dostoevsky scholars, they will say: "Well, listen ..." (shrugs)... We remembered Bunin, right?
- Bunin is brilliant.
If you believe what Valentin Kataev (Ukrainian, Odessa) wrote in his book "The Grass of Oblivion", Bunin said: "Sometimes I want to take and rewrite some of Tolstoy's novels, how to work on the text. Then it will be great literature." ...
- Are you entering Russia today?
No. I can, of course, go to Russia, but ...
- Do you have any hostages in Moscow, in Russia?
Certainly.
- Relatives?
Sure.
- And you understand that they are really hostages?
I understand perfectly.
- Taras Chornovil, that you could be in the place of the murdered Pavel Sheremet. What did he mean?
I don't know, I have to ask him that.
- But do you know about this statement of his?
No, this is the first time I've heard from you.
You interviewed almost all top officials in Russia and Ukraine. Who impressed you the most?
Depends on how you look at it (laughs).
- A vivid impression, unforgettable.
I would not like to talk about negative impressions ...
-… and these are also bright, and also impressions.
Yes, but these are people living now, and I don't want to upset them, as well as their fans. I would rather speak about those who do not. Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin was an amazing person!
- Awesome.
In Ukraine, he was more familiar as the Russian ambassador. He stayed with him for so long that many of my colleagues, beginning Ukrainian journalists, do not even know that he was once the prime minister of Russia. It was a long time ago, but one of my Ukrainian interlocutors was very surprised when he learned that Chernomyrdin was not only prime minister, but also created Gazprom.
- He was the Minister of the Gas Industry of the Soviet Union since 1985.
And a member of the CPSU. Chernomyrdin is one of the "red directors" who have become spontaneous market leaders. It was he who, in the late 80s, convinced the Soviet leadership ...
- ... send people to Austria to study.
Yes, and make a concern out of this Ministry of the Gas Industry.
- That is, Viktor Stepanovich impressed you.
He was a wonderful person and communicated in such an original way! But for this he had to use three or four common, unprintable words. I remember how he said to me: "Eugene, you see how great I talk! When I can talk to you like this, without a camera, with all these words. I grew up on a drilling rig, I'm a gas worker! I'm a driller. Me without these words, as without crutches! " And Yeltsin, of course, was also remembered.
Putin is a professional breeder
- When was the last time you saw Putin, remember?
I saw Putin for the first and last time in my life ...
- ... when was NTV smashed?
Yes. Then we got an appointment with Putin in the Kremlin. They asked for what is called a conversation. This was the first and last personal meeting.
- What is the strength and weakness of Putin, in short?
The strength is that he is a professional breeder.
- Not a scout, but a breeder?
Breeder, opera, who knows how to adapt to the interlocutor, pretend ...
- ... friend ...
- ... and like-minded ...
-… and dilute.
To incline to a frank conversation, to pretend that he thinks the same as you. And as soon as Vladimir Vladimirovich, during that memorable conversation in the Kremlin, felt that my colleagues and I, and there were more than 10 of us there, we are not recruited ...
-… he took Sorokin.
No. With Svetlana Sorokina (Russian journalist, TV and radio host.- "GORDON") there was a separate story, I do not want to go into it. First, he invited Sorokina for a personal conversation, and found out the mood of the public from her ...
- When he felt that you were not being recruited, what did he do?
He became very aggressive. He began to speak harshly, unfriendly.
- What is Putin's weakness?
You know, he has many weaknesses.
- Home?
I think that Putin's current weakness lies in the fact that he is completely out of touch with reality. He lives in a fictional world, sincerely believes that Trump will be his best friend, such an American Berlusconi. Before that, he believed that the Left-Bank Ukraine would fall at his feet. And the "soldiers-liberators" will be greeted in the same way as in 1939 - the Red Army on the territory of Western Ukraine.
- You have met with Yanukovych many times.
- What impression did he make on you? ABOUTdescribe it in a few words.
- (Thoughtfully). He was cunning but stupid.
- Wow!
You know, there is such a combination: a person is cunning in a common sense.
- Although cunning is a manifestation of the mind, in general.
Not always. There are people who are cunning, but stupid. And he was also greedy. No! He's stubborn! Yanukovych was extremely stubborn. In a sense, he had a strong enough character, it was no coincidence that they were afraid of him and bowed down to him.
- Did you frighten you?
No, absolutely.
- You played tennis with him, I remember.
Yes. It was during the last real Pinchuk forum, the Yalta Economic Strategy. I asked for an interview. He said: "Okay, come to my dacha." As a result, it turned out that he did not want to give an interview, but wanted to play tennis. Well, why not play? This is also curious. It was interesting for me to see how a person behaves. For example, he did not dispute the points. He seems to gamble, but when he loses, as they say, he does not bazaar. And inveterate tennis players very often begin to arrange a bazaar on the court, proving their case. Yanukovych played stubbornly, clenching his teeth. A healthy man, who is over 60, is clearly overweight, but runs like a young goat, holds a blow. But with all this, he kept a blow on the court, and during the events that unfolded in Ukraine from the end of November 13th to February 14th, he turned out to be weak. And, in the end, he got cold feet and ran away.
Those familiar with the Ukrainian and Russian establishment say that in Ukraine civil society is much stronger than the Russian one, but the level of Ukrainian politicians is much weaker. This is true?
I think this is not true. Civil society is definitely stronger in Ukraine. Although it was also in Russia, it is another matter that it was purposefully destroyed by various repressive laws. Imagine if the law "On Foreign Agents" was introduced in Ukraine today. That is, if you receive any grants from foreign organizations, you are declared a foreign agent. But almost all Ukrainian public, research organizations, all kinds of movements, initiatives ...
-… exist on grants.
Sure. There is even such an offensive word - "grant eater". In Russia, with the help of such laws and various kinds of repression, they tried to bring the leaders of civil non-governmental organizations to trial on trumped-up charges. What was not there! Civil society in Russia has simply been destroyed. As for politicians, they were, but now they are degraded.
We were confident that after the defeat of NTV, the destruction of other independent media will begin.
- Who impressed you from the politicians in Kiev, were they?
There are a lot of bright young politicians in Ukraine. Of course, they still have to grow and grow.
- Can you name the last names?
I don't want to say specific names now, but there are many promising politicians. For example, among the so-called "Eurooptimists" (an inter-factional association in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which includes former journalists, activists and "young politicians". -"GORDON") ... The same Mustafa Nayem, Anna Gopko, Borislav Bereza, Georgy Logvinsky, Alexey Ryabchin, Alena Shkrum.
- During your life, you have repeatedly communicated with the oligarchs, both Russian and Ukrainian. What is the difference?
The Russians are more cunning.
- Like this.
Yes! And more sophisticated.
- And more resourceful?
And more resourceful.
- Do you maintain a relationship with Firtash?
You know, I had no relationship with him. For a short time I worked in Dmitry Firtash's group (GDF Media Limited is the largest Ukrainian media group. -"GORDON"). In particular, he headed NIS (National Information Systems), a company that produces news (for the Inter TV channel). This was in 2013 and lasted less than a year. During this particular period, I went to Firtash's meetings two or three times.
- No contacts now?
Absolutely. Since the end of the 13th year, I have never seen him, did not speak, did not meet.
Several years ago, sitting at the dacha of Alexander Vasilyevich Korzhakov near Moscow, we drank. Apparently, this prompted him to revelations, and he told me: "Here is Yevgeny Kiselev. I asked him not to say anything bad about Yeltsin. He did not listen to me. I warned him: if this continues, I will say that you are recruited by the KGB He again did not listen to me, so I said! " Were you recruited by the KGB or not?
You know, I was also recruited by the CIA and the Mossad, and, besides, I was going to dig a tunnel from Bombay to London. I would not like to comment on the statements of this gentleman, the book that he wrote tells everything about him (Former head of the Boris Yeltsin Security Service, Alexander Korzhakov. Author of the book "Boris Yeltsin: From Dawn to Dusk". -"GORDON") ... He was a man whom Yeltsin trusted infinitely.
- He considered him his son.
Yes! And he wrote a disgusting book about him, which, you know, smells like a communal kitchen.
- Let's go.
No, we didn't, you know! The fact is that it was the NTV company in 1994-96 that began to say that a completely unacceptable thing was happening in Russian politics: the law and the constitution were being violated. A person who does not have any formal or informal powers, in fact, is the main bodyguard ...
“… He was president, in fact.
Vice President, I would say.
- Sat on the button. He told me: "I ruled Russia while Yeltsin was drinking."
You see, the former major of the 9th KGB Directorate, the former bodyguard becomes a person more influential than the Prime Minister or the Speaker of Parliament. We were the first to talk about this publicly. That is, to sound the alarm. Of course, they made themselves an enemy.
Last year in Lviv, I met with Alfred Kokh, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, who actually smashed NTV. I told him then bluntly that NTV was the most independent and free TV company. To this he replied that NTV served the interests of Gusinsky, who owed Gazprom a billion dollars and did not want to return it. And the defeat of the TV company was connected not with the suppression of glasnost and freedom of speech, but with the fact that Gusinsky owed a huge sum. Is that so or not?
Listen, well, you are again forcing me to do what the Lord punished Lot's wife for: to live with my head turned back.
- Is it so or not, tell me.
This is not true. I'll explain why. Alfred Reingoldovich Koch is a man of quite liberal convictions, as can be seen from his posts on Facebook, where he fundamentally criticizes the current regime.
- And cleverly criticizes.
Yes. Although evil tongues say that the root cause of his critical attitude was that he was at some point unclaimed, pushed to the sidelines by this regime. I don’t know how it really is, but the fact that he participated, willingly or unwillingly, in the story of the defeat of NTV is his sore spot. And he tries all the time to find an excuse for himself. But then we were sure that after the defeat of NTV, the destruction of other independent media will begin.
- And so it happened.
Yes. As for the credit funds for the development of the NTV channel, it received the loans, mind you, not from Gazprom. And it's not even about NTV, but about the information and media holding "Media-Most", of which the channel was then. This business, like any other, developed on credit funds. They were provided by foreign banks against the guarantees of Gazprom. And then Gazprom withdrew these guarantees without declaring war, at the behest of the Kremlin. That, in fact, is all that happened.
- There are people from the old NTV, to whom you still respect?
Of course, there are many such people.
- Could you name a few names?
The same Svetlana Sorokina that you remembered. She, of course, is a journalist from God and it is a pity that now she is not in demand. Marianna Maksimovskaya, who very worthily hosted the analytical program "Week" on the REN TV channel. The program has been running for over ten years and has received numerous television awards. But Maksimovskaya was forced to close it, because it became obvious: either to close the program, or ...
-… adjust.
She did not want to adapt and simply left television journalism. I can continue the list.
Today's Russian propagandists have learned a lot from the Soviet
- Is today's Russian television propaganda an outstanding phenomenon, in your opinion?
You know...
- But they work brilliantly?
There was Goebbels propaganda, Soviet propaganda. And it would be wrong to paint her as extremely dumb, because in Soviet times there were intelligent people at the head of the media.
- But they, in my opinion, were children compared to the current ones.
The current ones have learned a lot from them. Some...
- ... the same Dobrodeev, Ernst - brainwashing giants.
You know, I would not put an equal sign between Ernst and Dobrodeev (General Director of the First Channel Konstantin Ernst. General Director of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Oleg Dobrodeyev. Previously, one of the founders and general director of NTV.- "GORDON"). They are completely different people. Dobrodeev works with information. He does not hide the fact that he is a manipulator, that he enjoys it. He trudges! From what is professionally engaged in brainwashing. Konstantin Lvovich Ernst is a man of a completely different mix. He is interested in television entertainment genre: movies, serials, programs.
- "Matador".
And in order to do what he loves on television, he plays by the rules of information and propaganda. And, as far as I know, he has specially appointed or, shall we say, people assigned to him ...
- ... the onlookers.
On the one hand, the overseers, and on the other, people who are practically autonomously engaged in this brainwashing story. You know, if there ever is a trial like the Nuremberg one, I will act as a prosecution witness in the Dobrodeev case and, most likely, a defense witness in the case of Konstantin Ernst.
- Like this?
- What do you think of Dmitry Kiselev, Vladimir Soloviev, Andrei Norkin ...
- …and who is it?
- ... Roman Babayan and other TV scoundrels?
And who is it?
- These are scoundrels, I think.
I honestly don't even want to waste our precious interview time talking about these characters right now!
- Is the channel "Rain" over?
Well...
- The way we loved him?
Look, I think we need to show some generosity towards the Rain channel. And in general, to all Russian oppositionists who are forced to live by the imposed rules. In Ukraine, diehard critics of the Russian opposition often find such behavior outrageous.
- And you yourself try to work there ...
Yes, there is also a criminal article.
- For denial. FROMshowing that Crimea is Ukrainian, you can get a term.
It reaches the point of absurdity! When I worked on the NewsONE channel, I interviewed the writer Boris Akunin (Grigory Chkhartishvili). We are old friends: we studied together at the Institute of Asian and African Countries at Moscow State University, he at the Japanese department, and I at the Iranian department. And we spoke to him in a friendly way, and I asked: "Grisha, a security question that I just can't help but ask ..."
-… Whose Crimea?
And he replied: "Of course, not ours! And then someone, and he has a specific name and surname, bursts into an angry post in many, many letters that Akunin is a rotten Russian liberal who could not say directly. But, listen , it was a figure of speech - “not ours.” However, there were people who saw in this a lack of adherence to principles, firmness.
Putin was involved in my dismissal from Inter
- Evgeny Alekseevich, we have a little time left, so I propose to continue in the blitz format.
Let's try.
- Why is Ukraine, in your opinion, not engaging in counter-propaganda the way it should be?
First, there is a feeling that money is a pity.
- And there are no performers, do you have such a feeling?
There are performers.
- But not those.
Yes. Sorry for the funds. Good counter-propaganda costs a lot of money. And they, apparently, are spent on some other needs.
- Is there freedom of speech in Ukraine today?
Certainly!
- You say whatever you want, are you free in your thoughts and statements?
Absolute freedom of speech does not exist even in the most democratic country, because there is such a thing as ...
-… internal censorship.
No, not internal censorship. Any journalist working in any kind of media, especially on television, anywhere in America or Europe, will tell you at least three fantastic stories about how the authorities hacked him on a particular topic for fear of losing advertisers or sinking ratings. I came across this, for example, when I was in America on the CBS channel and discussed with the producers of the famous 60 Minutes program, as it seemed to me, such a vivid history of the NTV television company.
- And they told you ...
And they told me: "You know, a great story, but it will not collect a rating."
- What do you think about the disappearance of Savik Shuster from the Ukrainian TV air?
Has he completely disappeared?
- Yes, there is no channel or Savik.
There is no channel, as I understand it, because from an economic point of view, it turned out to be unsuccessful. As for Savik, I hope that he will appear. That his talents and, by the way, services to Ukrainian journalism and press freedom in Ukraine will not be forgotten.
- For three years you worked on the Inter TV channel.
More.
- More even. What did not work out there? In three words.
A separate topic for conversation, now I would not like to delve into it. Dispersed for many reasons.
You said that Petro Poroshenko told you about the involvement of Vladimir Putin in your dismissal from the Inter TV channel. What does it mean?
This is not only in the words of Pyotr Alekseevich. This was confirmed to me by several other people, including the leader of the Opposition bloc, Yuri Boyko, and one of the current shareholders of Inter, Sergei Lyovochkin. And also one well-known official and one politician. At least five sources.
- Putin said not to be there?
The design was somewhat more complex. There is such Medvedchuk Viktor Vladimirovich, who allegedly asked Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin to put pressure on the shareholders of "Inter" through his channels so that I was not there.
- And Putin put pressure on?
- For quite a long time you disappeared from the Ukrainian television air. You worked on the channel NewsONE, you had great programs. Now you are nowhere to be found. Are you searching or have you already found something?
- I’m watching, I’m leading you to frankness.
I'll explain everything now. The fact is that I didn't leave the NewsONE channel alone. I felt very comfortable in the team of Oleksiy Semenov - the man who launched the 112 Ukraine channel, re-branded NewsONE "a. And we sang together, became friends. Now he invited me to take up a new project. We are talking about restarting the oldest Ukrainian private TV channel. "Tonis".
- When to expect you?
We have already started online. To stop saying that I, Matvey Ganapolsky and other journalists disappeared from the air. Normal broadcasting will begin in late summer - early autumn.
- Do you watch the GORDON program?
To be honest, I watch the GORDON program not live. But whenever I know that you had some interesting interview, I look at the tape.
- What was interesting to you as a professional?
I was interested in a lot, but two things hooked. First, your conversation with Mustafa Nayem. He has some parallels between his fate and the fate of his father, who was a high-ranking official in Afghanistan during the Soviet era.
- Nur Mohammad Taraki was there like that ...
- …and not only...
- ... Babrak Karmal, Najibullah ...
Whoever was there. But what I didn't like in this story was the comparison of Mustafa Nayem's father with a separatist.
- These are the analogies that people later began to draw.
Yes. But this is completely wrong. The people who came to power in Afghanistan in 1978 (as a result of the April Revolution) were idealists, romantics, leftists. They certainly enjoyed the support of the Soviet Union. They were wrong, but they weren't any separators. These were people who, in their own way, understood the happiness of their country. Unfortunately, they were mistaken, for which they paid dearly.
Nadezhda Savchenko's statements on the Jewish question are outrageous!
- What second hooked you, you said?
Me statements of Nadezhda Savchenko on the Jewish question. I strongly dislike anti-Semitism! Not in any of its forms. I think this is an absolutely shameful thing. I do not take back my words that I spoke in support of Savchenko when she was in prison, when she defended herself at this shameful trial. She behaved with dignity, she was a really staunch tin soldier, a real officer. But those statements, absolutely anti-Semitic, which, excuse me, she allowed herself in your conversation, and this was not accidental, you asked, asked one, another, a third, a fourth question. She opened from a very unsightly side.
- Do you consider her anti-Semitic?
I believe that her statements indicate that she is convinced or not ... They do her credit. And for me the topic of Savchenko is closed, unfortunately.
Evgeny Alekseevich, I thank you for the interview and I would like to ask the last question: are you fluent in Persian?
Not perfect already, I haven't used this language for a long time .
- You trained in Iran.
Once upon a time, yes.
- You served in Afghanistan.
- We even taught Persian at the KGB High School of Bad Memory.
- If you are thrown somewhere today, in Afghanistan or Iran, will you survive there? Will you communicate in Persian?
At one time I was taught this language so well that you could wake me up in the middle of the night, hit me on the head with a stick, and I would still start speaking Persian. Now, if I want to, I can read, listen to the radio, I understand television programs. For example, the BBC broadcasts on the Internet in Persian. But I can't speak fluently, as I once did.
- But you won't be lost there?
Any person who has received the volume of knowledge and underwent the training that we, students of the Institute of Asian and African Countries at Moscow State University, will easily speak the language that they once learned after three or four months in the language environment.
- Evgeny Alekseevich, thank you very much.
VIDEO
Video: 112 Ukraine / YouTube
Recorded by Victoria Dobrovolskaya