The Most Famous

JOURNALISTS from Russia

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This page contains a list of the greatest Russian Journalists. The pantheon dataset contains 196 Journalists, 6 of which were born in Russia. This makes Russia the birth place of the 5th most number of Journalists behind France, and Germany.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Russian Journalists of all time. This list of famous Russian Journalists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Russian Journalists.

Photo of Yuri Bezmenov

1. Yuri Bezmenov (1939 - 1993)

With an HPI of 51.71, Yuri Bezmenov is the most famous Russian Journalist.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages on wikipedia.

Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov (Russian: Ю́рий Алекса́ндрович Безме́нов; December 11, 1939 – January 5, 1993; alias: Tomas David Schuman) was a Soviet journalist for Novosti Press Agency (APN). In 1970, as a member of the Soviet mission in New Delhi, India, Bezmenov defected to the West and was re-settled in Canada pursuant to an arrangement between American and Canadian security agencies. After being assigned to a station in India, Bezmenov eventually grew to love the people and the culture of India. At the same time, he began to resent the KGB-sanctioned repression of Soviet dissidents and other intellectuals who dissented from Moscow's policies and he decided to defect to the West. Bezmenov is best remembered for his anti-Marxist, anti-Soviet, and anti-atheist lectures and books published in the 1980s.

Photo of Vladimir Solovyov

2. Vladimir Solovyov (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 50.24, Vladimir Solovyov is the 2nd most famous Russian Journalist.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Vladimir Rudolfovich Solovyov (Russian: Владимир Рудольфович Соловьёв, born 20 October 1963) is a Russian TV presenter and propagandist. He has been an anchor on the television show Evening with Vladimir Solovyov on Russia-1 since 2012. In 1990, Solovyov left for the United States to teach economics. There he actively participated in political life and started doing business. Upon his return to Russia in 1992, he continued to run his business. In 1997 Solovyov became a presenter on the Silver Rain Radio. In 1999, he was invited to the ORT TV channel, where, together with Alexander Gordon, he began to host the program "Process". At the same time he hosted the program "Passion for Solovyov" on TNT channel. From 2001 to 2003 Solovyov hosted the programs "Breakfast with Solovyov", "Night of Nightingale", "Duel" and "Look Who's Here!" on TV-6 and TVS. In June 2003, Solovyov was hired by NTV, where he hosted the talk shows "Orange Juice", "To the Barrier!", and "Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov". Since 2004 Solovyov has published a number of books of artistic and journalistic nature, as well as recorded two music albums. He became a famous interviewer, and in 2005 he received the TEFI award in the relevant category. In the summer of 2010 Solovyov left Silver Rain Radio and moved to Vesti FM radio and Russia-1 TV channel, where he began hosting the talk show "Poyedinok". Revealed by Anonymous International on 9 November 2015, Solovyov, Gazprom, Lukoil, Sergey Naryshkin, Igor Rudensky, Dmitri Pershin (Russian: Димитрий Першин), Tikhon Shevkunov, who is the spiritual mentor of Vladimir Putin, and Alexei Kudrin are well connected through the public relations (PR) or government relations (GR) specialist Alexey Ulyanov (Russian: Алексей Ульянов). In March 2022, YouTube blocked his channel Solovyov Live. Since then, he was assigned the TV channel frequency of the news channel Euronews, which Russia banned after the invasion of Ukraine.

Photo of Vladislav Listyev

3. Vladislav Listyev (1956 - 1995)

With an HPI of 49.01, Vladislav Listyev is the 3rd most famous Russian Journalist.  His biography has been translated into 35 different languages.

Vladislav (Vlad) Nikolayevich Listyev (Russian: Владисла́в Никола́евич Листьев; May 10, 1956 – March 1, 1995) was a Soviet, later Russian journalist and head of the ORT TV Channel (now government-owned Channel One).

Photo of Dmitry Kiselyov

4. Dmitry Kiselyov (b. 1954)

With an HPI of 48.53, Dmitry Kiselyov is the 4th most famous Russian Journalist.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Dmitry Konstantinovich Kiselyov (Russian: Дмитрий Константинович Киселёв; born April 26, 1954) is a Russian TV presenter and propagandist. In 2013, Kiselyov was appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin to head Rossiya Segodnya, a Russian state-controlled media group. He also serves as deputy director of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. His comments have been controversial both in Russia and in the West, especially regarding homosexuality and the Euromaidan, the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014 and his allegation of the US standing on "the side of the terrorist caliphate" ISIS, destroying Syria and bringing down Metrojet Flight 9268. Kiselyov has been on the list of personal sanctions imposed by the EU since 2014. In January 2023, Ukraine imposed economic sanctions on Dmitry for his support of 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Photo of Alexei Venediktov

5. Alexei Venediktov (b. 1955)

With an HPI of 45.04, Alexei Venediktov is the 5th most famous Russian Journalist.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Alexei Alexeyevich Venediktov (Russian: Алексе́й Алексе́евич Венеди́ктов; born 18 December 1955) is a Russian journalist, former editor-in-chief, host and co-owner of the Echo of Moscow radio station, as well as publisher of Diletant history magazine.

Photo of Margarita Simonyan

6. Margarita Simonyan (b. 1980)

With an HPI of 43.98, Margarita Simonyan is the 6th most famous Russian Journalist.  Her biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Margarita Simonovna Simonyan (born 6 April 1980) is a Russian media executive. She is the editor-in-chief of the Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT, as well as the state-owned media group Rossiya Segodnya. Simonyan covered the Second Chechen War in the 2000s while working as a journalist. Subsequently, she worked at Krasnodar television, was VGTRK's own correspondent in Rostov-on-Don, and worked as a special correspondent for the Vesti TV news program. She is a member of the board of directors of Channel One Russia and a member of the Academy of Russian Television. At the age of 25, she was appointed head of Russia Today, now known as RT. In 2022 and 2023, Simonyan was sanctioned by the European Union as "a central figure of the Russian Government propaganda". She was sanctioned by the United Kingdom and Ukraine in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In 2024, she was sanctioned by the United States for alleged interference in the 2024 United States elections.

Photo of Darya Dugina

7. Darya Dugina (1992 - 2022)

With an HPI of 41.26, Darya Dugina is the 7th most famous Russian Journalist.  Her biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Darya Aleksandrovna Dugina (Russian: Да́рья Алекса́ндровна Ду́гина; 15 December 1992 – 20 August 2022), also known under the pen name Daria Platonova (Russian: Дарья Платонова), was a Russian journalist, political scientist, and activist. She was the daughter of Aleksandr Dugin, a supporter of Vladimir Putin and a far-right political philosopher, whose support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine she shared. She was killed in August 2022 in a car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow.

Photo of Ekaterina Andreeva

8. Ekaterina Andreeva (b. 1965)

With an HPI of 41.00, Ekaterina Andreeva is the 8th most famous Russian Journalist.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Ekaterina Sergeevna Andreeva (Russian: Екатери́на Серге́евна Андре́ева; born 27 November 1961 or 1965) is a Russian journalist, propagandist, actress and anchor of Vremya and Novosti, Channel One Russia's main evening news bulletins since 1997.

Photo of Olga Skabeyeva

9. Olga Skabeyeva (b. 1984)

With an HPI of 38.48, Olga Skabeyeva is the 9th most famous Russian Journalist.  Her biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Olga Vladimirovna Skabeyeva (Russian: Ольга Владимировна Скабеева; born 11 December 1984) is a Russian television presenter, political commentator, and propagandist. Skabeyeva received the nickname "Iron Doll of Putin TV" due to her criticism of the Russian opposition.

Photo of Zhanna Nemtsova

10. Zhanna Nemtsova (b. 1984)

With an HPI of 37.31, Zhanna Nemtsova is the 10th most famous Russian Journalist.  Her biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Zhanna Borisovna Nemtsova (Russian: Жа́нна Бори́совна Немцо́ва; born 26 March 1984) is a Russian journalist and social activist. She is the daughter of Boris Nemtsov.

People

Pantheon has 11 people classified as Russian journalists born between 1939 and 1992. Of these 11, 6 (54.55%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Russian journalists include Dmitry Kiselyov, Alexei Venediktov, and Margarita Simonyan. The most famous deceased Russian journalists include Yuri Bezmenov, Vladimir Solovyov, and Vladislav Listyev. As of April 2024, 5 new Russian journalists have been added to Pantheon including Alexei Venediktov, Darya Dugina, and Ekaterina Andreeva.

Living Russian Journalists

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Deceased Russian Journalists

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Newly Added Russian Journalists (2024)

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Overlapping Lives

Which Journalists were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 4 most globally memorable Journalists since 1700.