The beginning director is young Margarita Simonyan. The discussed novel by Margarita Simonyan. Interesting facts about Margarita Simonyan

« Russia Today » appointed a certain Margarita Simonyan 25 years old. Apparently, they want to show foreigners honestly that Russia today is a reserve of Caucasian mafias.

I would like to know why a very young journalist, who until then modestly worked as a special correspondent for the Rossiya TV channel, was appointed head of a new TV channel intended for broadcasting abroad. The professionally unknown journalist did not show herself in any way. True, as part of the Kremlin pool of journalists, the girl covered the visits of Vladimir Putin, but it seems to us that this is not enough for such a rapid career rise, outwardly unjustified.

“Margarita Simonyan never studied anything in particular, she visited the USA on a school exchange. Her higher education, apparently, is part-time, since from the age of 18 she got a job as a correspondent in the Krasnodar television and radio company.

“In February 2001, she was appointed as her own correspondent for the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company in Rostov-on-Don. Then she became a special correspondent for Vesti, in the fall of 2002 she became a member of the presidential pool. In September 2004, she covered the events in Beslan. On March 9, 2005, she received the medal "For Strengthening the Military Commonwealth" from the hands of the Minister of Defense Sergei Ivanov. April 6, 2005 during the coverage of the meeting of the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rakhmonov with Vladimir Putin in Sochi Margarita Simonyan received personal congratulations on her 25th birthday and a bouquet from the Russian President. Single".

And what, does Putin give bouquets to all Kremlin journalists for their birthdays? Margarita herself could not come up with any explanation for her amazing career achievements. Long delved into the Internet, information about her parents and relatives is completely absent(and the public should have been interested in the Armenian child prodigy). Margarita Simonyan is classified no worse than many figures in the presidential entourage, there is as little information about her as about the relatives and ethnic roots of Putin himself.

Since childhoodMargarita Simonovna Simonyan densely smeared with chocolate and marmalade at the Russian expense, hung with posts and medals from a young age. With what joy all these honors are obtuse Armenian correspondence student, it is not clear.

Schoolgirl was sent to America. In Russian-language sources, this episode of her biography is reported indistinctly. On the site RT says that Simonyan spent a year as a student in Bristol, New Hampshire. From the territory of the main enemy, Margot returned ideologically hardened, with the right views:

"a future journalist, in her own words , imbued with "some skepticism about democracy and enduring dislike of American values"»

Simonyan's canine devotion to Chekism is beyond doubt.

Galkovsky writes that the Chekist regime in the Russian Federation and its main propaganda resource broadcasting abroad,RussiaToday , there is no ideology. Not inside, of course. And for broadcasting to the West - there is. The TV channel is primarily aimed at an audience of leftist sympathies. And basicallyRussiaToday conducts anti-American propaganda in the appropriate spirit.

The KGB junta pours money into the TV channel - launched in December 2005 - without saving, these are not stupid pensions in the Russian Federation.

“… at present, the RT network consists from three global news channels broadcasting on English, Spanish and Arabic languages ​​broadcast from Washington DC by RT America, documentary studio and documentary channel RTDoc. RT has 22 offices in 19 countries and regions, with a presence in Washington, New York, London, Berlin, Gaza, Cairo, Baghdad and other key cities, and has over 1000 media workers worldwide.

RT has a global reach of over 630 million people in over 100 countries, or over 28% of all cable subscribers worldwide, and is now available on over 2.7 million numbers."

“In 2009, RT launched a unique project for media professionals: FreeVideo, the first English-language video agency in Russia, which provides users with free online access to broadcast quality RT footage. In 2013 RT addedRUPTLY, a full-service video agency that delivers original news footage from all global hot spots."

By technical equipment and quality of broadcast videoRussiaToday surpasses CNN and BBC . And more importantly, the channel's programs are obviously made by foreign experts. The academics of the shtetl TV of the Russian Federation are not even close to being able to produce anything like this (Russian-language products RT differs adequately shameful level). ActuallyRussiaToday there is a branch of English agitprop, like, formally QatariAl Jazeera .

Well, the racial prodigy Simonyan serves as a decorative editor-in-chief. At the same time heading for RT and Arabic edition Rusiya Al - Yaum ", and Spanish. Maybe Martian. She has nothing special to do, except for the sighting of documents. Therefore, out of boredom, Margot decided to teach the Russian people.

M. Simonyan (05.11.2013) : “My baby and I did not sleep last night, she - because of the colic that upset her, I - because the Russian march that upset me. Then they thought for a long time, she is about the unknown, I am about Russians. Here is the result of my reflections

“If Russia plans to preserve itself as a state of predominantly Russian culture and Christian values, then it has about twenty years left to live as it is now. Because in ... twenty years, with the current dynamics, Russia will be predominantly a state of non-Russians, and not just non-Russians, but Muslims. And this is even with visas. Visas have nothing to do with it - I will write here about our internal Russian inter-ethnic squabbles, not about migrants.”

Immediately I want to ask, is the Muslim Russian Federation something bad? After all, from the point of view of the KGB junta represented by Simonyan, this is definitely GOOD. Is not it so?! And if it’s not good, then you should clearly explain to whom and why.

“The Russians have no other way to preserve the Motherland in its current form, except to give birth more and assimilate more. Do not drive away from yourself, do not frighten, do not cut in the subway, but melt into one common cultural Russian mass, into a single Russian people that does not yet exist, all non-Russians, born and raised on this our land.

Unexpectedly, in the night thoughts, some incomprehensible Russians appear, who, according to Simonyan, owe something to someone (when you need to donate something or work for free, multinational intellectuals always remember the Russians). And it was necessary first to designate the place of these very Russians in the Russian Federation and explain why Simonyan considers himself entitled to tell the Russians how and with whom they should live.

"I'll remind myself - I am not Russian. I don't have a drop of Russian blood in me. None"

« Our history, our culture, our values, our first and main language - all this should be unified, indisputable, monolithic, irreversible, not depending on who is more talented yelling at a rally or podium. Once and forever"

What is your history and culture, exactly? Chekist, probably. And how do we know your valuables, stolen.

Having blurred the primary questions, Simonyan began a bombastic sermon of total assimilation of an indefinite direction.

"Rest matter of technology. How is this done, how many years are needed for this - for education in schools and kindergartens, for - oh horror! - state propaganda of the unity of all of us as one monolithic nation, to the return of compatriots on an ethnic basis, which neither Greece, nor, even more so, Israel, nor even post-war Germany, shy on such topics, are embarrassed to do"

About what monolithic nationin question, native to Simonyan Armenian? Let her first try to persuade her native Armenians to give up their Armenianness ( RT Armenian is sorely lacking!), and we will look at the successes achieved in assimilation. Yes, by the way, to ask, but you yourself, Simonyan, what nationality will you be, huh?

“Personally, Russia within the ring does not suit me. And if - God forbid! - you will have to fight for it someday, well, that means. Means, let's go to war».

Look, they didn’t fight in Karabakh. Armenian patriots gathered to drive Russians to war against Muslims. In the name of the sacred unity of some chimericalChekist nation.

These are all the top showdowns of the Asian mafias of the Multinational Russian Federation. The Armenian geniuses came up with the idea of ​​beckoning the Russians One and Indivisible (all the same Chekist Multinational Russian Federation) and crushing Muslim competitors with Russian hands.

I scold. Gentlemen should better control the zits-chairmen, otherwise they talk a lot. It helps to load them with simple work from morning to evening. Well, there to sign two pounds of swelling per working day.

Margarita Simonovna Simonyan was born on April 6, 1980 in Krasnodar. She graduated from school No. 36 with in-depth study of foreign languages, in the tenth grade she went on an exchange trip to the USA, to New Hampshire. During this trip, the future journalist, in her own words, was imbued with "some skepticism about democracy and a persistent hostility to American values."

When Simonyan was 18 years old, a collection of her youthful poems was published. The local TV channel became interested in him, and a film crew came to the girl's house to film a story about her. During the interview, Simonyan mentioned that she wants to work as a journalist. Soon she was taken on an internship, and already in 1999 Simonyan began working as a correspondent for the Krasnodar television and radio company. At the same time, she also filmed reports for federal channels ("Father bought me Oka, ... and I drove it around the region with a cameraman for a couple of years: I filmed stories and sent them to Moscow").

At the age of 19, Simonyan graduated from the Vladimir Pozner School of Television Excellence in Moscow, and later became a graduate of the Faculty of Journalism of the Kuban State University. Simultaneously with her studies, Simonyan continued to work as a correspondent. In January 2000, for a series of military reports from Chechnya, she received the Kuban Union of Journalists Award "For Professional Courage", and in May of the same year she was awarded the II All-Russian Competition of Regional Television and Radio Companies for a report on the holidays of Chechen children in Anapa.

In the same year, Simonyan was appointed lead editor of the information programs of the Krasnodar TV and Radio Company. In February 2001, the journalist became her own correspondent for the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company in Rostov-on-Don, and in the fall of 2002 she was invited to Moscow. In the future, she, as a special correspondent for Vesti, as part of the presidential pool, accompanied Vladimir Putin on his Russian and foreign trips. As a Vesti correspondent, Simonyan also covered the events in Beslan, where in September 2004 Chechen terrorists seized more than 1,300 hostages in a school building.

In April 2005, Simonyan headed the new TV channel Russia Today (RT), founded by the RIA Novosti agency. The channel broadcast information in English and was intended to create a "positive image of Russia." The initiators of the creation of the channel, former Press Minister Mikhail Lesin and press secretary of the President Alexei Gromov, were called the curators of the media project. The 25-year-old journalist explained her appointment by the leadership's desire to see young people at the head of the project, "who have not seen or do not remember Soviet television, Soviet foreign broadcasting."

In December 2007, Simonyan also became the editor-in-chief of the Rusiya Al-Yaum TV channel, the Arabic version of RT, and in December 2009, Russia Today began broadcasting in Spanish. By 2010, according to Simonyan, the Russia Today channel, despite scarce funding, managed to surpass many Western TV channels in popularity, including France 24, Deutsche Welle, Euronews, Al Jazeera English. The editor-in-chief of Russia Today called the "alternative view of the world" and the channel's attention to topics that are not sufficiently covered by Western media the reason for such success. Without commenting on the work of colleagues and the topic of censorship on state channels, Simonyan noted: "There are many different truths - oddly enough, there are many of them in journalism. What you see depends on where you stand."

In December 2009, Simonyan entered the list of 500 people in the presidential personnel reserve.

Since 2009, Simonyan has regularly published "culinary columns" in the Russian Pioneer magazine. In 2010, she released the novel "To Moscow!", for which in January 2011 she was awarded the title of the winner of the annual award for the best book of a journalist. Simonyan herself defined the genre of the book as "a provincial novel.

Best of the day

In the spring of 2011, Simonyan began hosting the information and analytical program "What's going on?" on Ren-TV (according to the journalist, her author's program is "like a blog, only visualized"). In June of the same year, Simonyan, as the editor-in-chief of the Russia Today TV channel, became a member of the board of directors of Channel One.

In January 2012, Simonyan entered the Moscow branch of the "people's" election headquarters of the candidate for the presidency of Russia, Prime Minister Putin. In the same month, TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak, citing "trusted sources", announced on her Twitter that Simonyan would soon be appointed as the general director of the NTV television company instead of Vladimir Kulistikov. Kulistikov and Simonyan denied this information.

Simonyan was awarded the medal "For Strengthening the Combat Commonwealth" of the Russian Ministry of Defense (March 2005) and the Russian Order of Friendship - "for a great contribution to the development of domestic television and many years of fruitful work" (July 2007), as well as the Order of Friendship of South Ossetia - "for objective coverage of events during Georgia's armed aggression against South Ossetia in August 2008" (December 2008) and an Armenian award - the Movses Khorenatsi medal, which the journalist received in 2010 from President Serzh Sargsyan "for a significant contribution to the development of journalism and high professionalism".

In 2009, Simonyan became a member of the Public Chamber, where, according to media reports, she was instructed to deal with "issues of tolerance, interethnic relations and the Caucasus" (in 2011, she no longer appeared in the list of the updated composition of the Chamber). In 2011, she became a member of the Public Council at the Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate. In addition, Simonyan was mentioned in the press as vice president of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAT), a member of the Academy of Russian Television and the public Olympic Council.

Recognizing that official marriage is not for her, Simonyan, in an interview in 2012, reported that she had been in a civil marriage with journalist and producer Andrei Blagodyrenko for six years. Simonyan called cooking her hobby and jokingly remarked that "she was born a cook and accidentally became a journalist."

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 in the center of attention of the resource, since the Russian society is perplexed 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 captured the leading positions of the Russian state media field and a huge piece of the Russian budget, reports Day.Az with reference to gradator.ru.

Simonyan Margarita Simonovna is a Russian journalist and media manager. Editor-in-chief of the RT TV channel since 2005, of the Rossiya Segodnya international news agency since 2013 and of the Sputnik news agency since 2014.

Simonyan Margarita Simonovna, 04/06/1980 year of birth, a native of Krasnodar.

Relatives. Sister: Simonyan Alisa Simonovna, 08/07/1981 year of birth. She was engaged in PR support for 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 people in Russia."

Husband (civilian): Keosayan Tigran Edmondovich, born on 01/04/1966, 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 does business through the commercial structures of Keosayan, as he does not want to directly show government orders.

Keosayan himself received government money to make patriotic films. According to some reports, Simonyan contributed to this through her connections. The family also owns a restaurant in the Krasnaya Polyana area of ​​Sochi.

Education

She studied at the special school number 36 of the city of Krasnodar.

In the tenth grade, to improve her English, 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 hostility to American values." Of course, Margo is lying, because on this trip she just came to the attention of the US Armenian lobby, which, in turn, is used by US intelligence agencies.

At the age of 19, she graduated from the Vladimir Pozner School of Television Excellence, who was also attracted to the US Armenian lobby. By the way, he recently showed up in Los Angeles with the propaganda 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 graduating from high school, she worked as a correspondent for the Krasnodar television and radio company.

In 2001, she was appointed the chief editor of the information programs of the Krasnodar TV channel, and then as a 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 the editor-in-chief of the Arabic-language ("Rusia 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 chief editor of the Sputnik news agency, affiliated with the Rossiya Segodnya news agency.

Also in the 2010s, at various times, she hosted the analytical program "What's going on?" on the REN TV channel and the political talk show "Iron Ladies" with another host of Armenian origin, Tina Kandelaki, who previously presented herself as a Georgian, on the NTV channel.

Relations/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 produced various television projects.

Despite the fact that Simonyan cheated on Blagodyrenko, and then went to another man, they are now in a relationship. Blagodyrenko was even attached to the Sputnik International Agency, whose editor-in-chief is Simonyan.

Gromov Aleksey Alekseevich, born 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 came up with 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. It is alleged that Gromov and Simonyan have common business interests.

Dobrodeev Oleg Borisovich, born on October 28, 1959, General Director of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK). There are rumors that Simonyan can sit Dobrodeev in jail and, God forbid, head the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company.

Kiselev Dmitry Konstantinovich, born on April 26, 1954, General Director of the Russian international news agency "Russia Today", Deputy General Director of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. Kiselev, as the head of the Rossiya Segodnya MIA, appointed Simonyan as the 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 fact, it enjoyed the support of the influential Armenian diaspora in Krasnodar. In addition, it was rumored that among the distant relatives of Margo was Eduard Shevardnadze himself. The fact that the Simonyan family was not so simple was evidenced by the fact that in 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 hostility to American values." However, at that time, having returned to Russia, she went to learn the basics of journalism precisely to the pro-Western representative of this profession, Vladimir Pozner, who opened his School of Television Excellence, and then studied at the Internews Television School of the liberal journalist Manana Aslamazyan. And besides, Margarita openly expressed a 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 cunningly disguised American fosterling, and the resources she leads actually devalue Russia's image in the world, she also destroyed the leading Russian agency RIA Novosti, replacing it with the scandalous soap Sputnik.

Simonyan received her higher education at the Kuban State University, but she studied at it in absentia, since already in her first year she was employed as a correspondent for the Krasnodar television and radio company. The young girl was clearly "molded" with a career.

A still completely inexperienced student was sent as a war correspondent to Chechnya, where she made several reports, after which she immediately received the Kuban Union of Journalists Award "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 the leading editor of news programs. However, she worked in a new position for no more than six months, since she moved from regional television to the all-federal All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, 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 Profilm production company in the Mother See. 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 graduated from high school was immediately assigned to the so-called presidential pool and began to cover almost all the trips of Vladimir Putin.

In 2004, Simonyan was entrusted with reporting live from Beslan, where Chechen terrorists seized a school with children in the city center. It was Margarita Simonovna, in one of her live broadcasts, who significantly underestimated the number of hostages to 354 people, while their exact figure was 1128 people. In addition, she stated that "terrorists do not put forward demands," while their main point was the "withdrawal of troops from Chechnya."

False information angered local residents, whose relatives ended up in the captured school. The terrorists also saw this broadcast, after which they significantly tightened the conditions for the residents of Beslan captured by them.

Literally six months later, Margarita Simonovna was awarded the then Minister of Defense 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 oversee the Russian media, decided to create a television channel that would form public opinion among Western audiences "in the interests of Russia." The TV 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 such an appointment, and there was reason to be surprised.

The new channel had a large budget by Russian standards and since then has reached broadcast coverage in more than 100 countries and had 22 bureaus in 19 countries and regions, with a presence in Washington, New York, London, Berlin, Gaza, Cairo, Baghdad and other major cities of the world. And all this was supposed to be run by yesterday's graduate of the correspondence department of the journalism faculty of the Kuban State University. Many of Margarita's colleagues expressed their dissatisfaction when the chief editor of Russia Today, favored by the authorities, was presented with state awards.

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 a political talk show. But she did not want to work for a foreign audience, so she knocked on the door of her Russian colleagues. 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 after six months. Television critics said that the program was made "in the spirit of the model of Soviet propaganda."

Then Simonyan tried herself on the radio as the leading weekly column "Point of View" on the frequency of "Kommersant FM", but here they broke up with her just a few issues later. Then there was NTV and the Iron Ladies program jointly with Tina Kandelaki, which also lasted no more than six months. Television critics compared the hosts to "kitchen gossips who are trying to talk about big politics."

In December 2013, on the basis of RIA Novosti, the International Information Agency Rossiya Segodnya was created, headed by journalist Dmitry Kiselev. In the same month, just before the New Year holidays, Kiselev invited Margarita Simonovna to become the editor-in-chief of the new agency. And in November 2014, Simonyan also 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 allegedly had a meeting with representatives of the US Department of Justice, to whom he was supposed to tell about how the "propaganda machine" "Russia Today" works. 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 entitled "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 was really supposed to "leak" information to the American intelligence services about Russian propaganda and whether he managed 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. A hard drive containing internal documents and correspondence from Sputnik employees, which one of the agency's former reporters, Andrew Feinberg, handed over to them, turned out to be in the hands of the bureau's employees.

And in the fall of the same year, the US Department of Justice demanded that RT America register as a "foreign agent." This was a fairly large legislative precedent for the United States, since media in this country had not previously received such requirements. Following Russia Today and Sputnik, other foreign TV channels like Al Jazeera could have received similar status. As a result, on November 10, 2017, the US Department of Justice officially entered T&R Productions LLC, which served the RT America television channel, into the list of foreign agents.

At the same time, to say that the Simonyan TV channel really somehow influenced the political moods of US citizens was a big exaggeration. 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 who had this channel included in their cable TV package. In fact, RT America's daily audience was about 30,000 people.

From time to time, the channel's audience expanded significantly due to major informational occasions related to Russia. One such event happened 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 the former GRU officer, defector Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, were poisoned. After these videos were made public in the media, the Russian authorities announced that the identities of those present on them were established and that they were civilians, one Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.

Margarita Simonovna tried with all her might to prove herself in the role of a tenacious and insightful investigator. However, all the participants in this impromptu interrogation looked more than ridiculous. The presenter obviously did not press 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 interview bar to a talk show for housewives. The “interrogated” looked completely faded, confused in their testimony, and if a more professional journalist had asked them questions, it is not known where these answers would have led them. As a result, the interview turned out to be in the comedy genre and was quickly dismantled into quotes and "memes".

Probably, the same Aleksey Gromov, who by that time had become First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, made sure that the meeting took place on RT. At least, Aleksey Alekseevich did not forget his protégé all these years. It was she, along with her common-law husband Keosayan, who was invited 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 claimed that the funds for the film were allocated by the Ministry of Culture, while others said that the project was personally paid for by Arkady Rotenberg, who was hired to build the bridge. As a result, it turned out that at least 100 million rubles were received without competition from the Cinema Fund. Margarita Simonovna herself acted as the screenwriter of the film, and Keosayan as the director.

The movie was shot at the studio of David Keosayan's brother, and his niece Laura Keosayan and his first wife Alena Khmelnitskaya were in the lead roles. It should be said that the film, understandably, failed at the box office, never paid off, and 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 Alice could also be indebted to Gromov.

Registered as an individual entrepreneur, she received orders for PR of the most important state projects - the Olympics in Sochi, the World Cup and the construction of the Crimean bridge. She also carried out orders for the Skolkovo Foundation, and worked with partners of Alexei Gromov Jr., including Oleg Deripaska.

Often Alisa Simonyan worked not only as an individual entrepreneur.

So, for PR of the Crimean Bridge, she got a job at Arkady Rotenberg's Stroygazmontazh company and, as its employee, supervised the work of the Crimean Bridge information center. True, this center was established by the Prime agency and the Eurasian Communications Center, which were structures of Rossiya Segodnya. Gromov's youngest son Danila also worked in this information center.

Margarita Simonovna herself was engaged in commercial activities through IP. According to her own statements, it was she who started this business, and then attracted her sister as an employee, and only later she "separated".

Sometimes Simonyan had to connect her husband to do business. Some clients were not satisfied with the status of an individual entrepreneur, and then Margarita Simonovna concluded contracts through the Coliseum company, owned by Keosayan.

In 2019, a large interview with Simonyan was published. It is curious that the TV producer poured out his soul in the Telegram blocked by Roskomnadzor, and specifically on the Nezygar channel. Alexei Gromov is considered to be the curator of this information platform, and in particular 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 had been prepared for her. In particular, there were rumors that the journalist decided to sit the head of Russian television, Oleg Dobrodeev. And in this case, information support would really not hurt her. After all, despite her multiple awards and fast-paced career, ordinary viewers did not much like the production talent of Margarita Simonovna.

For many, Simonyan simply irritated. Often, the editor-in-chief of the TV channel "Russia Today" collected a whole scattering of critical comments under her posts on social networks. Once she told about her awkward feelings in those moments when she had to call an ambulance. In particular, the journalists are uncomfortable in front of the medical staff for the "oak staircase", "oak parquet", "English wallpaper and vintage Italian chandelier" in a "nice house" in a "nice village near Moscow". "It's as if I stole it all," exclaimed Margarita Simonovna. The phrase "as if I stole it all" instantly spread among the people. "Stolen" - that was the softest answer to the editor-in-chief of "RT".

The "wunderkind" of domestic journalism - Margarita Simonyan managed to head the media holding "Russia Today" at the age of twenty-five. At the same time, close relatives of Margarita Simonovna are now also showing not hefty abilities, receiving contracts from the state for PR support of the country's largest events and making films with the money of the Cinema Fund. True, an ordinary viewer cannot understand why the state gave such advances to an ordinary journalist.

Margarita Simonyan is such an interesting person that even her enemies bow their heads respectfully in front of this strong, intelligent and very beautiful woman. And she, listening to spiteful critics and envious people, says: “Personally, I have no enemies, my Motherland has them.” And she has in mind not only Armenia, but the entire former USSR, because for her the main thing is not nationality, but human qualities. Margarita Simonyan is one of the most prominent women in the international media, Forbes media source included her in the list of the most influential women in the world. How did a simple Armenian girl “grow up” to several high positions in Russian journalism at once? What interesting things do we know about the “iron lady of television”, who calls herself that and at the same time laughs contagiously?

Brief biography

• Full name: Simonyan, Margarita Simonovna (in the patronymic, the emphasis is on the second syllable);
• Place and date of birth: Krasnodar, USSR; 1980, April 6;
• Nationality: Armenian;
• Height, weight: 160 cm, about 60 kg;
• Marital status: not officially married; is in a civil marriage with Keosayan Tigran;
• Children: son Keosayan Bagrat Tigranovich (born 2014), daughter Keosayan Maryana Tigranovna (born 2013);
• Occupation: journalist, writer, TV commentator, TV presenter, screenwriter, director, actress.

About the childhood and youth of Margarita Simonyan

The biography of the Simonyan family, if viewed over several generations, covers the territory from the former Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) to the Crimean peninsula. Margarita's great-grandmother and great-grandfather fled to the Crimea in pre-revolutionary times, fleeing the Turkish genocide. Sadly, the new homeland prepared a painful blow for the family: the next generation of Simonyanov was repressed in 1944 and exiled to Sverdlovsk, despite the fact that the head of the family went through the entire Great Patriotic War. The father of our heroine, Simon Sarkisovich, was born in Sverdlovsk, his parents decided to move from Sverdlovsk to Krasnodar after the war. In Krasnodar, Simon met his future wife, they got married, they had two daughters - Margarita and Alice.

Oh, these streets of the times of the USSR, bearing the names of great writers! Well, why, if Pushkin Street is necessarily central, with solid "skyscrapers", and when Gogol or Chekhov - slums for the poor? It was on such Gogol street in Krasnodar that Rita's childhood passed: "Italian" courtyards with a large balcony-veranda for many apartments, in a common kitchen - each hostess has a small stove with her own gas bottle. From the water supply - only a drain hatch next to the kitchen, a toilet - a "cesspool" with vacuum cleaners who come once a month. And Rita's mother carried water up shaky stairs in buckets from a pump ... Dad was engaged in repairing electronic equipment, he was especially famous in the city as a master of refrigerators, mom sold flowers in the market.

Despite the fact that there was frankly “no money” in the family (how many thousands a refrigerator master or a flower seller in the USSR could earn!), Parents tried to pamper Rita and her younger sister Alice: the girls always had elegant dresses and good toys. But the living conditions, no matter how hard you try, left much to be desired, and Margarita already made an oath to herself: she would study, then work so that she had a good apartment with gas, hot water, good furniture. When the eldest girl in the Simonyanov family turned ten years old, her parents finally got separate housing in a new microdistrict of the city.

Already in kindergarten, Rita learned to read fluently, and often she arranged “fairy-tale readings” in her group: the teacher seated the rest of the children in a circle, and Margarita read fairy tales with expression. The girl did not go to school (her father insisted on this), but with an in-depth study of English, because in an ordinary school it would be boring for her to study: at the age of seven she not only read fluently, but also knew the basics of mathematics. Rita's father and mother proudly boasted to their neighbors that their daughter brings only “five” in her diary, especially praised her Russian language teachers (the school was not only with additional study of English, but also Russian-speaking).

The year 1995 in the Land of Soviets is the time for the slightly raised "Iron Curtain", which closed several generations of those born in the USSR from the rest of the world. The "Gorbachev Spring" also affected Soviet schools: exchanges of children's delegations began between the Soviet Union and the United States. Rita Simonyan got into one of these delegations - she went to the States to study and live with an American family. Until now, Margarita maintains warm relations with that family from New Hampshire, and in total she stayed in the USA for almost two years and returned to Krasnodar for the final exams of her native school. All exams were passed "excellent", Margarita became the only "medalist" in the class.

Student and first journalistic experience

Rita's parents are full-blooded Armenians, so in the daughters' passports in the column "nationality" they wrote "Armenian". By the way, the journalist’s father and mother spoke different dialects of their native language, but Russian became native for the eldest daughter - she went to a Russian school, and in such schools other languages ​​were taught “in so far as” in Soviet times. But the girl, fluent in Russian and English, without difficulty entered Krasnodar University at the Faculty of Journalism after school.

In her first year at the university, Margarita tried herself in poetry and published a collection of her own poems in a small local publishing house. The collection was instantly sold out, people started talking about a talented girl, and these conversations reached the leadership of the Krasnodar TV channel. Just on the channel they were looking for new, fresh ideas, and they decided to interview the student poetess. The plot about Margarita Simonyan - the first appearance of the future "star" of the media on television - became the start of the entire future career of a young journalist. “Journalists” - because Rita took the opportunity and asked to take her on an internship, and now she is already a presenter and journalist of the Krasnodar television company.

The Krasnodar company was at that time the largest in the south of Russia, but whatever one may say, the channels were not wide, local broadcasting. But Margarita's ambitions and energy were already "going wild", and she applied for a job in a "hot spot", specifically in Chechnya. A fragile nineteen-year-old girl is going to Chechnya for ten days - she did not even tell her parents about it, fearing their fright. Only when they saw their daughter on TV in the news, dad and mom found out that Rita was literally talking about the events in Chechnya under bullets. For a series of these reports, correspondent Simonyan received the award "For Professional Courage" and the Order of Friendship. Upon her return from Chechnya, the girl, without leaving the university, enters the School of Television Excellence, where she studies under the guidance of Vladimir Pozner.

The path to the "top" of Russian and international journalism

The year 2000 for Margarita Simonyan is the post of editor-in-chief of the Krasnodar TV channel. But I still wanted more, and a year later the young woman moved to Rostov-on-Don to work there already in the All-Union State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (as a simple correspondent, mind you). And again she rushes to "hot spots": this time it was Abkhazia, the audience especially remembered the reports from the Kodori Gorge, where the girl participated in the filming of clashes between militants and the Russian army. The activity of the Rostov journalist was noticed "at the top", and she was invited to work in Moscow, in the Vesti program.

Someone will say: “Yes, just lucky!”, But it was certainly not by chance that Vladimir Putin invited Margarita to the group of journalists who accompanied him during his presidential tour of the country in 2002. Two years later, in September 2004, she goes to Beslan: every half an hour in extraordinary news, the girl appears on TV and tells the whole country how the process of releasing the hostages in the town is progressing. She flatly refused the offer to cut out some moments from her reports (several times her voice broke and she began to cry): people should know the truth, it cannot be “smoothed”! Later, answering the question of whether young journalists should start a career in a “problem” area, Margarita categorically said: “No way! It's so hard, so vile ... The psyche can break!

2005: RIA Novosti decided to create a new project called Russia Today. The founders of the project were categorically against the appointment of someone from the "old guard" of journalists as the head. They wanted a person with an “unblurred” look, who had not seen the old news, who was not accustomed to Soviet standards of news broadcasting, to come to this post. Margarita Simonyan was appointed the head of the television channel of the Russia Today project - she, with her uncompromising and at the same time “fresh” work style, was the best fit for the position.

The project "Russia Today" was originally made in English and was supposed to cover "the official Russian position in the light of various political and social situations in the world" - this is a fragment of the company's statutory text. Of course, many venerable media workers applied for the position of editor-in-chief, and everyone was incredibly surprised when a twenty-five-year-old journalist was "put" in the chair of the leadership. Yes, it was precisely a "forced" appointment, but wasn't Margarita with her extensive work experience, with the ability to "digest" a huge amount of information, with excellent knowledge of English - really not worthy? "Russia Today" as the project began to expand rapidly, Arabic and Spanish versions appeared, and again the editor-in-chief - Margarita Simonyan.

photo https://www.instagram.com/_m_simonyan_/

That they just didn’t write impartial, as soon as they didn’t “rinse” her name when she began to establish new orders in the company with an “iron hand”! Allegedly, she fired everyone who was objectionable to her, for ridiculous reasons. A lie of pure water: when Margarita came to the company, no one was fired, then many left, yes, but after the expiration of the first contract (each contract was endorsed by her personally, which is what it is). Not a single employee who left Russia Today at the end of his contract or being fired (there were also such later) was infringed in terms of performance or care payments. And the fact that she established iron discipline in the company (to the point that employees were obliged not to visit social networks during work) is that a minus? "Russia Today" immediately became the "official mouthpiece" of the government, and in such an organization there is no place for freedom of morals and bad discipline.

Despite the almost round-the-clock employment in Russia Today, Margarita tried herself in other projects. On the REN-TV channel, under her leadership, in the spring of 2011, the analytical program “What is happening?” Was launched. The program lasted a little more than six months: too dangerous topics were raised in it, both the presenter and the participants, witnesses of the “acute” events in the country, spoke out too sharply in it. Together with the Georgian Tina Kandelaki, Simonyan opened another project on NTV in 2013 - the political "female" talk show "Iron Ladies", that's where her nickname came from! And simultaneously with the closing of "What's going on?" (a paradox: the program is closed, but trusted!) she is invited to the Board of Directors of Channel One.

Enemies call Margarita the "third," female "hand" of the President of Russia. She is a member of the People's Headquarters of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin in 2012. From the Public Council for the Affairs of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of Moscow, she quickly moves to the Public Council again, but under the Russian Foreign Ministry - an incredibly high rise in a woman's career! Between 2005 and 2018, Simonyan is Putin's most frequently invited correspondent, accompanying him on trips and during interviews. And when her name was made public as registered as a confidant of Vladimir Putin in the last elections, the dissatisfaction of ill-wishers began to openly “go wild”. Well, it really looks like the “third hand” of our president, but this hand is firm and correct.

Dissatisfaction with her uncompromising and rigidity resulted in the fact that in 2014 Margarita Simonyan was officially banned from entering the territory of Ukraine. Also, not everyone is satisfied with her activities as the head of the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, especially after the opening of the French branch in 2018. The international media regulator Ofcom, for example, does not get tired of accusing Rossiya Segodnya and Margarita personally of the fact that "NATO's position on conflict situations in the world is not objectively reflected" (quoted from Ofcom's publication). And she objected publicly with humor: “You might think that, for example, the BBC objectively at least once reflected the Kremlin’s position on these issues…”

According to the latest data from the financial magazine Forbes, Margarita Simonyan is in fifty-second place in the hundred "Most Influential Women in the World." In Russia, in the same ranking, she is in fifteenth place. In addition to the Order of Friendship, the list of her awards includes the personal gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation, the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, the medal of Armenia Movses Khorenatsi. Now Margarita Simonyan, in addition to Rossiya Segodnya, is the editor-in-chief and the “subsidiary” of this MIA project is the Sputnik news agency.

Personal life

At the age of twelve, a determined girl who dreamed of a separate apartment and a good job told her mother that she would never marry! “Mom even choked on her favorite mint tea,” Margarita later recalled this scene. She probably thought so categorically because “I didn’t see absolutely happy families,” again the words of the journalist. And here is another quote from her interview: “I was sure that a white veil forever turns a woman into a downtrodden creature, chained to the kitchen and patiently “digesting” her husband’s betrayals.” Until almost thirty years old, Margarita had no idea to get married, and even more so to have children.

In 2012, the "iron lady" of Russian television suddenly opened the curtain that covered her personal life. It turned out that she had a personal life: “General life, ficus and plans for the future,” and this “ficus” was her colleague, Andrey Blagodyrenko. Common work, similar views (Andrey was also famous in the media for uncompromisingness and rigidity) should have pushed the couple to marriage, but both were in no hurry to formalize the relationship.

And in the same 2012, when it became known about the relationship between Margarita and Andrey, a man burst into her life, “turning everything along with the ficuses.” This is how the woman later described the appearance of Tigran Keosayan in her fate (the words are taken from an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper). The acquaintance took place on Facebook: someone, introducing himself as director Keosayan, wrote to Margarita that he admired her work on TV, he was especially struck by reports from Beslan. “What if it’s a fake, you never know Pedrov in Brazil (to paraphrase the words from a famous comedy)?” Rita thought, but answered the fan.

The mysterious admirer turned out not to be fake, but real: the Facebook correspondence was followed by phone conversations, and the first date was set. “We had lunch, but it was so tasty that I wanted to have dinner. And then it quickly turned into breakfasts, ”- another quote from the interview. “Ficus” named Andrey Blagodyrenko was still relevant, Keosayan had a beautiful wife Alena Khmelnitskaya ... “Tigran and I tried to end the relationship - we didn’t want to hurt loved ones. Specially swore, parted. The first time the parting lasted a day, the last - twenty minutes, ”again the words of Margarita.

Rita and Tigran did not plan to immediately "acquire" offspring, although both were far from young. But "despite all the precautions" (according to the woman), she soon found out that she would be a mother. Here is how she told about her feelings at that time: “I sobbed, as I found out, for three months ... I sobbed the threat of a miscarriage, the doctors insisted on the hospital and hormone treatment.” Trusting God, having gone through a terrible period of toxicosis and several hospitalizations, Margarita gave birth to a daughter, Maryasha. A month of maternity leave, and the woman goes to work, and after another five months - a new pregnancy! When Bagrat was born, the journalist did not sit at home for a day: “I took my son from the hospital to my grandmother and went straight to work: I was just being checked by the Accounts Chamber.”

Now, judging by the pictures on social networks and the behavior of Rita and her civil husband Keosayan, they are absolutely happy. They did not formalize their relationship, and this causes considerable surprise among friends. The couple explains that this phenomenon is normal for Armenians: more than half of their parents' peers, for example, live happily together without stamps in their passports. The children of Margarita and Tigran receive an excellent education from an early age, their parents invited teachers in drawing and foreign languages, music and yoga. Maryana is fond of dancing, Tigran - Thai boxing.

Such a tough, "iron" on TV, Margarita in life is a very educated and "plastic" woman. She managed to make friends with Tigran's ex-wife, Alena Khmelnitskaya. Women meet, organize holidays for children together. On the Internet there is a joint photo of them, signed "High relations", where Margarita and Alena stand embracing like good friends. The current wife of Tigran says this about Alena: “She is phenomenal - kind, smart, and what a beauty! She is happy (there is a new husband, Sasha), I am happy, thank God we have nothing to share.

Interesting facts about Margarita Simonyan

1. She calls her daughter Maryasha "shrimp". The nickname came during pregnancy, when there was a threat of miscarriage, but the child “miraculously stuck like a shrimp and survived,” the doctors said.
2. Margarita is categorically against her children studying abroad. “Foreign languages ​​can be learned here, but you can’t learn culture abroad,” she said.
3. An ethnic full-blooded Armenian, Rita Simonyan visited her historical homeland for the first time during the president's trip to the countries of the former CIS in 2014.
4. Margarita learned from Tigran to write scripts, and she does it very well. They called the first joint picture "Sea, mountains, expanded clay." Another of her works, where the journalist starred in one of the main roles, is the thriller "Actress".
5. Keosayan's ex-wife Alena Khmelnitskaya also starred in this thriller. “The entire film crew watched us warily as we managed to maintain friendly relations,” Simonyan later said.
6. And again about the thriller "Actress" - the plot of the picture was dreamed of by a woman in a nightmare: "I woke up in a cold sweat at midnight and realized that I had to write down a dream, otherwise I would not fall asleep."
7. Rita and Tigran also shot the film “Crimean Bridge, Made with Love” together, and again Margarita is the scriptwriter, and her husband is the director.
8. Being the director of a large agency, earning very well, Margarita almost did not spend money on herself, except that she bought costumes for the broadcast. “Everything flew into mortgages, to help relatives,” she explained.
9. The first expensive handbag was bought for her by… Tigran. She liked the bag of a famous brand, but was prohibitively expensive in her opinion. Keosayan noticed just one look thrown at the shop window when they were walking, and secretly bought it. “I, like a child, laid it on a pillow next to me for several days,” Rita recalls fondly.
10. The first of January in the family "Keosayan - Simonyan" is called "Khash of open doors". All the couple's friends know: they cook this famous "anti-hangover" dish on New Year's Eve, and you can come to them for khash without an invitation.

To date, Margarita Simonyan has managed to achieve success in her work biography and personal life. She gave birth to two children, received a number of government awards, and was recognized as one of the most influential women in Russia and the world. And this is not a complete list of the achievements of the 38-year-old TV journalist, whose childhood was harsh.

Biography

Margarita was born on April 6, 1980. She characterizes the Krasnodar region, where the future journalist spent her childhood, as a ghetto. Living conditions in the old house where the family lived until 1990 were simply terrible. The salary of the father, a graduate of the Polytechnic University, who had to repair refrigerators, and the mother's part-time jobs provided the family with a half-starved existence, but the parents tried to give their daughters a good education.

The eldest, Margarita, turned out to be gifted, and the desire to break out of poverty only gave her strength. She learned to read in kindergarten, was one of the best students in the school with in-depth study of English.

Under the exchange program for high school students, Margarita went to the United States, where she graduated from high school, but returned to Russia to receive higher education. She studied journalism in her native Krasnodar, and studied television skills at the Pozner school in the capital. Her professional career also began in the Kuban.

Margarita Simonyan and Tatiana Navka

A television

The first stage of Margarita Simonyan's work biography was the work of a correspondent for the Krasnodar TV and Radio Company, after some time the young journalist was entrusted with editing the information programs of this company. After being appointed to the VGTRK media holding, Margarita moved to Rostov-on-Don.

At the turn of the millennium, the girl prepared a number of military reports on the Chechen conflict, in 2001 she spoke about the events in the Kodori Gorge. The third flashpoint in her career as a war reporter was Beslan, where hostages were taken in 2004. By that time, Margarita was already a special correspondent for Vesti, she worked in Moscow.

Margarita in the Ekho Moskvy radio studio

At the time of the foundation of the English-language TV channel RT (Russia Today), Margarita was only 25. The creators of the channel did not want to trust him to a person who was used to the format of Soviet news, a fundamentally new approach was needed. They considered the best candidate for the post of editor-in-chief to be a young talented journalist who has already received a number of professional and state awards.

Now Margarita Simonovna combines this position with the duties of editor-in-chief of the Rossiya Segodnya news agency and its subsidiary Sputnik.

The journalist is the editor-in-chief of the RT channel

In 2011-13, Margarita acted as a host:

• analytical news program "What's going on?";
• political talk show Iron Ladies.

Both TV programs were not to the liking of TV reviewers. In their opinion, the program "What's going on?" Simonyan led as in Soviet times, using the same style of propaganda. And for the show "Iron Ladies" they and Tina Kandelaki, who was the co-host, were called "kitchen gossips."

Margarita Simonyan and Tina Kandelaki

In addition to working on TV, Margarita starred in one feature and one documentary film, wrote books, scripts. For Margarita Simonyan, the cinematic round of biography turned out to be closely connected with her personal life, because Tigran Keosayan shot films based on both of her scripts.

Personal life

At the age of 12, Margarita categorically told her parents that she was not going to get married. The fate of a downtrodden, powerless, exhausted housewife did not attract her. Immediately after school, the ambitious girl focused on building a career, there was not enough time for her personal life. The creation of a family was not included in her plans, although short-term novels without obligations were periodically tied up.

The longest and most serious relationship connected her with her colleague Andrey Blagodyrenko. In an interview in 2012, Margarita called Andrei her common-law husband and stressed that they had been together for 6 years.

Margarita often appeared in the company of Tigran, but no one suspected their connection

When Margarita Simonyan became a mother twice, fans interested in the details of her biography and personal life were surprised to learn that Tigran Keosayan was the father of both children of the journalist.

Their joint photos have repeatedly appeared on the network, but many thought that the journalist and the director were connected only by professional relations.

In 2012, Tigran gave Margarita a small role in his film Three Comrades, and in 2013 he made the first film based on her script. The director was hurt by criticism of a pretty woman of Armenian blood, and he wrote to her on Facebook with words of support. The correspondence was followed by a personal meeting, and they soon became very close.

Margarita and ex-wife of Tigran Keosayan Alena Khmelnitskaya

Margarita's first pregnancy turned out to be unplanned, there was a threat of miscarriage, and the woman decided to rely on fate. In August 2013, her daughter Maryana was born, and a year later, a son, who was named Bagrat. Margarita is not going to formalize relations with their father yet, although he has already divorced his first wife, Alena Khmelnitskaya.

Margarita Simonyan has a blog on LiveJournal and a Facebook page, but she practically does not post her own photos there and does not share biography facts, events from her personal life. More interesting information can be gleaned from interviews, publications in the media:

• Margarita got her first job by chance, thanks to a collection of poems published at the age of 18. Local television decided to shoot a story about a young poetess, and she admitted that she dreams of working on TV and received an invitation to an internship;
• on the eve of the Olympics, Margarita, with the support of her husband, opened a restaurant near her grandmother's house in Sochi, now it has fallen into decay due to an unfortunate location;
• the children of Margarita and Tigram already speak five languages;
• with the first wife of Tigran, Margarita developed friendly relations. Khmelnitskaya starred in the film "Actress", filmed by Keosayan according to the script by Simonyan.

Margarita does not publish photos of her children

Margarita Simonyan now

Now Margarita Simonyan continues to lead RT and Rossiya Segodnya, is a member of the public council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, and with the help of her common-law husband and grandmothers, she is raising children. During the 2018 presidential election, she was Putin's confidant.

Margarita Simonyan is part of the team of people close to Putin

One of the latest news is related to the April post of Margarita on Facebook. She called an ambulance to sick children and shared her impressions of a visit to the doctor's house: these are poor people, in front of whom you feel involuntary shame for your wealth. The phrase “As if I stole it all” spread around the Internet and caused a wave of ironic comments, since Simonyan’s jingoistic propaganda activities, which are funded from the budget, are considered by many to be the same theft.

Speech by Margarita Simonyan at the Federation Council

In LiveJournal, fresh posts by the journalist regularly appear, which everyone can read.