Biography

Margarita Simonovna Simonyan is a Russian journalist, editor-in-chief of the RT TV channel and the international news agency Rossiya Segodnya (since December 31, 2013).

Member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation of the third composition (2010-2012). Member of the Public Council under the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the city of Moscow.

From January to March 2012, she was a member of the "People's Headquarters" (in Moscow) of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin.

Education

In the tenth grade, to improve her English, she was sent on an exchange to New Hampshire (USA). After graduating from school No. 36 in Krasnodar with an in-depth study of foreign languages, she graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of the Kuban State University and the V. Pozner School of Television Excellence.

Journalism and creativity

From February 1999 to January 2000, he was a correspondent for the Krasnodar television and radio company.

In January 2000, for a series of military reports, she received the Kuban Union of Journalists Award "For Professional Courage".

In May 2000, she received an award from the II All-Russian competition of regional television and radio companies for a report about Chechen children vacationing in Anapa. Appointed Leading Editor of Information Programs of TRC Krasnodar.

In September 2000, she received a presidential scholarship. In February 2001, she was appointed as a 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 of journalists. In September 2004, she covered the events in Beslan.

Since the founding in 2005 of the first Russian news channel broadcasting around the clock in English, Russia Today (now RT) has been its editor-in-chief. Subsequently, she also became the editor-in-chief of the Arabic-language (Rusiya al-Yaum) and Spanish-language (RT Español) versions of RT.

In 2010, the first book by Margarita Simonyan "To Moscow" was published.

This is a story about a country, about love, and about provincial boys and girls born in the 1980s. We all dreamed of leaving for Moscow for a better life, and none of us knew that we had to be more careful in our desires - they could come true, - Margarita Simonyan, an interview with the Krasnodar Izvestiya newspaper

On November 18, 2010, in Moscow, during a meeting with a group of public and cultural figures - representatives of the Armenian community, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan awarded Margarita Simonyan with the Movses Khorenatsi medal for "significant contribution to the development of journalism and high professionalism"

From April 2011 to February 2012, she hosted the weekly analytical program What's Going On? on the REN TV channel. In June 2011, Simonyan, as the editor-in-chief of the Russia Today TV channel, became a member of the board of directors of Channel One.

In 2012, Margarita Simonyan entered the list of the hundred most influential women in Russia, taking 33rd place in it. The rating was compiled by representatives of three media outlets - Ekho Moskvy, RIA Novosti and Ogonyok.

From October to November 2012, she led a weekly column at the Kommersant FM radio station.

From February 17 to June 23, 2013 (together with Tina Kandelaki) - the host of the political talk show on NTV "Iron Ladies".

On December 31, 2013, Dmitry Kiselev, Director General of the Rossiya Segodnya news agency, appointed Margarita Simonyan as editor-in-chief of the Rossiya Segodnya international news agency, who also remained as head of RT.

Member of the Public Council under the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the city of Moscow.

Sanctions

In August 2014, the Ukrainian National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting published a list of 49 journalists and heads of Russian TV channels who may be banned from entering Ukraine, where Simonyan also ended up. The decision to ban entry, as well as the publication of the list of those who are prohibited from entering the country, is solely within the competence of the SBU. In May 2016, she was included in the sanctions list of Ukraine by President Petro Poroshenko, she was banned from entering Ukraine.

Personal life

Margarita Simonyan has been living in an unregistered marriage since 2005 with journalist and TV producer Andrei Blagodyrenko.

In an interview she gave in early 2012, Simonyan said that, together with members of her family, she was building a two-story restaurant in the Krasnaya Polyana area.

In August 2013, Margarita Simonyan and Tigran Keosayan had a daughter, Maryana, and in September 2014, a son, Bagrat.

Awards

Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree (2014) - "for objectivity in covering events in the Crimea." The Decree itself was not published, according to the Kremlin press service there was a “closed award”

Order of Friendship (June 27, 2007) - for a great contribution to the development of domestic television and many years of fruitful work

Medal of Movses Khorenatsi (Armenia, November 18, 2010) - for a significant contribution to the development of the field of journalism and high professionalism

Order of Friendship (South Ossetia, December 25, 2008) - for objective coverage of events during the armed aggression of Georgia against South Ossetia in August 2008

Filmography

2012 - Term (documentary) - directors Alexey Pivovarov, Pavel Kostomarov and Alexander Rastorguev.

Once Tigran Keosayan wrote on Facebook to Margarita Simonyan: “Hello, Margarita! This is Tigran Keosayan. You have long been sympathetic to me as a journalist and fellow tribeswoman. Now I was driving in a car and listening to you being hounded on the radio, I could not stand it, I decided to support and write.

Margarita Simonyan at first did not believe that it was really Keosayan. She saw him on TV in a cooking show where he cooked scrambled eggs and tomatoes. Margarita answered him, exchanged phone numbers, met, had lunch. We had lunch, apparently, so tasty that I wanted to have lunch again. Yes, and dinner. Gradually acquired common themes, interests, friends, some projects.

« And suddenly it turned out that it was impossible to live without each other - that you need to see each other every day, correspond every minute, hold hands, even when you are not around.”, recalls Simonyan.

« In general, all the most beautiful things in my life literally fall from the sky. And what I work on for a long time and diligently, either does not happen at all, or happens when it is no longer necessary”, adds the journalist. Her career - the position of editor-in-chief of an international television channel and the main news agency of the country - also developed unexpectedly. She never aspired to become a big boss, quite the contrary. I have always wanted to write books, since childhood, for as long as I can remember.

Tigran Keosayan taught Margarita how to write scripts. Now, in traffic jams and at night, she writes scripts for films, serials - sometimes under her own name, sometimes under a pseudonym. So Simonyan relaxes. " Not to mention that they pay very well for this - definitely more than my salary on Russia Today”, specifies the chosen one of Keosayan.

She writes not only for Tigran. Together with him they made three series and just made a movie. Their comedy "Sea. The mountains. Expanded clay "was successfully broadcast on Channel One. This December on NTV - the premiere of the psychological thriller "Actress", another work that they created together with Tigran and Alena Khmelnitskaya.

Margarita wrote the script, Tigran filmed, and Alena played one of the main female roles. For their trio, the whole group watched warily and admiringly - how people manage to maintain good relations.

Margarita was born in Krasnodar, which in the eighties was an abandoned province. The family lived between the station and the market, they had such a hut without any amenities. " My parents are purebred Armenians, while we have an absolutely Russian family. Father was born and raised in Sverdlovsk, and mother - in Sochi Simonyan says. Most of her relatives still live in Adler.

Simonyan never dreamed of television. She was going to write beautiful articles in various magazines. In 1998, Margarita graduated from her first year, and she published a collection of poems, and her television company Krasnodar also took her on an internship. Leaving for Chechnya on the front lines in the bloody and crazy December 1999, when Grozny was just surrounded, for the first time in her life Simonyan deceived her parents.

After Chechnya, Margarita was noticed in Moscow. She became a freelance correspondent for several federal television channels. Her father bought her a tattered Oka, which was already ten years old, and she and the operator drove this car all over the south of Russia, the Crimea, Abkhazia, Kalmykia and Ossetia, getting their reports.

In the third year, when Simonyan was not yet twenty-one years old, the RTR channel - now it is called "Russia" - entrusted her to head his bureau. " I was twenty-two when Dobrodeev, the general director of the Rossiya TV channel, called and asked: “Choose, will you go to New York or Moscow?” I chose, of course, Moscow. I immediately got into the presidential pool - it was a real "dream come true”, recalls Simonyan.

At twenty-five, Margarita was appointed editor-in-chief of Russia Today, which did not exist then: she had to launch the first Russian international round-the-clock news channel in English from scratch. She celebrated her first New Year in this capacity at work.

Simonyan, in general, from early youth actually lived only with work. She never wanted to get married, she put off thinking about children until after thirty. " When novels happened, I immediately honestly told the boyfriend that this was not serious and most likely not for long - I just had no time”, recalls the journalist.

« It seemed to me that a married woman was an unfortunate and downtrodden creature: she was “made happy” with a white veil so that she cleaned, washed, cooked and endured her husband’s betrayals. However, by the age of thirty I already had a long and quite family relationship - with a common life, ficus and plans for the future, but even then I was not going to get married", adds Margarita.

Then a tsunami by the name of Keosayan broke into her "understandable life." " Tigran and I tried many times to stop everything - no one wanted to hurt loved ones. But it didn't work out. The first time we "forever" parted for a whole day, the last - for twenty minutes", says Margarita.

Simonyan lived in a small cozy house, bought with a mortgage, in a wonderful village, which had only one drawback - it was located sixty-three kilometers from the Moscow Ring Road. " When Tigran arrived for the first time, he asked why I didn't have curtains.. Margarita remembers. - She answered: “Because I haven’t saved up for the ones I want.". Keosayan was shocked. In his view, the head of the largest international media outlet could not have such problems. It was in this house without curtains that he moved to live with her.

« Why do you say that you live near Moscow? You live near Volokolamsk!" - Tigran joked, making his way to Margarita's house in his luxurious Maserati. Of course, he left the mansion in Barvikha to Alena and their common children. Having already moved to Simonyan, he went there every morning before work to have breakfast with his youngest daughter Ksyusha, and only then went to Mosfilm. Margarita categorically supported this. She even insisted if he was tired and wanted to sleep longer.

Tigran stopped going to Barvikha every morning only when Alena got a new common-law husband, Sasha. To avoid embarrassment. Ksyusha spends the weekend with them, she is friends with Margarita's children. Tigran took from his house only portraits and books of his father. And after the divorce, Alena remains a true friend and family person, and a loving father to her daughters.

« When I found out that I was pregnant, I was in shock, sobbed for three months. Motherhood happened despite precautions, but there was an almost one hundred percent threat of miscarriage. The doctors said: “If you want to endure, lie down for preservation, we will inject hormones Simonyan says.

Margarita decided that she would not fight either for her pregnancy or against it: as God pleases, it will happen. As a result, Maryasha took root. Five months after the first birth, Simonyan became pregnant with Bagrat. This time I didn't worry, I was happy. " Pregnancy was very easy for me, both times I felt better than not pregnant: I slept little, worked hard and cheerfully, not a day of toxicosis, I gave birth the first time in two and a half hours, the second in one and a half. However, motherhood is still the most difficult thing I have ever done.", admitted Margarita.

She spent a month with Maryasha Simonyan on maternity leave, but she still sorted everything out by phone and mail. I did not sit with Bagrat at all. Having been discharged from the maternity hospital, the journalist took her son home and went to work - she was just undergoing an audit by the Accounts Chamber.

In general, the well-known journalist is also an anxious mother, but she tries not to show this to her children. Several times a day, be sure to call grandmothers at home. Although he knows the schedule of his children every minute, and they have Spartan one: swimming, languages, yoga, drawing by the hour, Mariasha dances, Bagrat has Thai boxing. And their food is Spartan, they still have not tried sweets and cakes, so they are absolutely indifferent to sweets and nibble celery with pleasure. Any cakes can lie on the table - children do not reach for them, because they do not perceive them as food, rather as decoration. They eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, cereals, meat, seafood.

Tigran is a much more strict parent than Margarita. Raises children immediately as adults, especially the only son. And he is three years old, he still does not understand when dad says that “we must apologize for throwing an apple on the floor”, looks at dad with surprised eyes and smiles. However, with his daughters, Tigran is also, in Margarita's opinion, strict. But he also fools around with them, sings funny songs that he himself comes up with, tells fables.

Simonyan says that she is a fan of preschool education and got it from Tatyana Yumasheva, Yeltsin's daughter. Maryasha and Bagrat speak five languages: Russian, Armenian, English, French and Chinese. Every day teachers come to them - native speakers. For children, it's just a game, they don't even know they're learning. They sculpt, draw, walk, sing, watch cartoons - it all just happens in different languages.

« I would not want my children to study abroad. For selfish reasons. They will already have mastered the languages ​​by the first grade, and I am not ready to live with them in different countries so that they grow up as carriers of a culture that is alien to me. I am not a person of the world, I am very attached to my native places and I want my children to be nearby too. We have seen many families where parents are perplexed why their child grew up as a stranger, incomprehensible, some kind of arrogant English aristocrat or no less arrogant Swiss socialist. And the heir at the age of twelve was sent to London to college - how was he supposed to grow up?", says Margarita.

Tigran did not object to his eldest daughter when she wanted to study at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, but he suffered terribly all these years. In the end, she and Alena were already very angry with themselves for sending their daughter to the other side of the world with their own hands. Luckily for them, she didn't stay there. Graduated and returned. Now the clever and beautiful Sasha is working with her father, she was the second director on his new film, the plot of which takes place against the backdrop of the construction of the Crimean bridge.

The summer before last, at Ksyusha's birthday party - she turned six - Margarita met Alena. A few days before the holiday, Tigran said: Alena invites us to come all together. -Of course, take the children and go with them. - You did not understand. She wants to see you too».
Margarita thought that Tigran, in his directorial distraction, had misunderstood something. I asked him for Alenin’s number, wrote to her: “ Alena, hello! Tigran said that you are waiting for us all together. This is true? I do not want to put anyone in an awkward position, especially at a children's party". Alena replied: C'mon! Come! There won't be any problems. Let's have a great time».

There were forty guests. It was just wonderful. Margarita and Alena both took a glass when the children had already been taken away, and sat together until the morning. Tigran could not stand it, fell asleep on the lawn, periodically woke up and whined: “ Girls, is that enough? Oh please! I want to go home!»

At the celebration, Margarita and Alena took a joint photo and posted it on the Internet with the caption “High relations”. " She is charming, very kind, smart, open - not to mention that she is a phenomenal beauty. We have nothing to share: Alena is happy, I am happy, Tigran is happy. And thank God", admits Margarita.

Margarita and Tigran do not hang out and rarely go to premieres or events. And they almost don’t go to visit - they host friends at home. On Sundays, tables of fifteen courses are often rolled up, Margarita loves this very much. She, of course, is helped by her mothers and their au pair. Maryasha is also helping to cook. I learned how to cut cucumbers with a small children's knife, I'm terribly proud of it.

« Looking at my children, I am convinced that people are born with a certain set of traits. Mariana is as ambitious as I was. At four years old, she sobs for half a day if she fails to read a word or recite a rhyme by heart. And the three-year-old son is not worried at all. Here they sit down at the table, Maryasha shouts: “I am the first, because I was born first! - Okay, I'm second.", Bagrat smiles.

On the first of January, Keosayan and Simonyan always have an “open door khash”. All night Margarita with her mother and mother-in-law cooks this famous Armenian anti-hangover dish from boiled beef hooves. To be honest, khash is mostly brewed by itself, but they keep an eye on it. All friends know that they can come to them without special invitation, starting at one in the afternoon. So it was in the house of Margarita's parents, so it was in the house of Tigran's parents, now it's the same with them.

Tigran, of course, pampers his wife, accustoms her to expensive things and five-star hotels. When they met, Margarita was already over thirty, she had long been a big boss with a good salary, but everything scattered into mortgages, loans, numerous relatives.

« I will never forget his first gift. I liked the bag of a well-known brand, not prohibitively expensive, but still wastefully expensive for me. Passing by the boutique, I admired her in the window. Once Tigran caught my eye: - Do you like this bag?", says the journalist.

Tigran bought it on the sly and gave it to his wife. " So I, as a child, slept with her for several days - I laid her on a pillow, I could not tear my eyes away. I still wear it”, recalls Margarita.

Keosayan and Simonyan have not yet registered a relationship, they simply do not get around to it. " Recently joked about this topic at home tells Margarita "Caravan of stories" - we decided that we would probably get married when the children grow up so that we could sit down at a common table with our parents, drink homemade wine from grapes planted by my grandfather, have a bite of dolma according to the recipe of Tigran’s mother and say: “What good fellows you are, ancestors, what once decided on all this!»

Margarita Simonyan is a well-known Russian journalist who is the editor-in-chief of the Russia Today TV channel and the Sputnik news agency. This woman began her career from the bottom, she was an ordinary correspondent for a provincial television studio. Now she occupies one of the leading places in domestic television journalism. Forbes magazine names Margarita one of the hundred most influential women in the world.

Childhood and youth

Margarita Simonyan was born in Krasnodar on April 6, 1980. Her parents raised two daughters, Margarita has a younger sister, Alice. This family did not have much wealth, Simon, the father of the girls, was engaged in the repair of electrical equipment, he was famous in the city as the best refrigerator repairman. Mom, Zinaida, sold flowers at the local market. Margarita's parents, Armenians by nationality, spared nothing for their children. Girls always had beautiful dresses, good toys

A family with young children lived in very difficult living conditions. They were waiting for an apartment, but for now they had to live in an old house on Gogol Street. One could only dream of improvement, there were no conditions for a normal life in the house, there was no running water, sewerage, there was no gas. Water had to be carried in buckets up rickety stairs.

But the biggest horror for the girls was the huge rats darting around the corners. It was at this time that Margarita had a strong desire to succeed in life, so that she would never experience such problems again.

The girl was almost 10 years old when their family received a good apartment in the new district of Krasnodar.

Rita from early childhood was an incredibly capable child. Already in kindergarten, she knew how to read fluently. The teacher encouraged the girl, she gave her the opportunity to entertain other children, read fairy tales to them. Margarita studied at a language special school, her father insisted on this, dreaming of a good education for her daughter. Training was easy for her, the girl was an excellent student. She was often sent to the Olympics to defend the honor of the school.

In the 9th grade, a talented girl was very lucky. Under the exchange program, she was sent to study in the United States. Margarita ended up in a wonderful family, which she still remembers with great gratitude. She really liked America, there was a period when she wanted to stay in this country forever. But all this turned out to be a temporary passion for a foreign country, love for the motherland turned out to be much stronger.

Margarita graduated from school with a gold medal, entered the journalism faculty of KSU to study. This is not Simonyan's only education, she also studied in Moscow, at the New School of Theater Arts.

Journalism

Margarita has always been a very active, active person. She truly deserved her first job. It was the position of a correspondent for the Krasnodar television and radio channel, which the girl had long dreamed of. In addition to studying at the university, Margarita wrote poetry. In 1998, she published a collection of her poems, and the TV channel undertook to shoot a story about a young poetess. TV people could not ignore the fact that a real talent appeared in their city, because Simonyan's poems were talked about at all corners.

When Margarita talked with the film crew, she voiced her old dream - she admitted that she would like to work as a journalist on the TV channel. The girl was offered an internship. So in 1999, she began working on the Krasnodar TV channel.

Margarita is a very brave woman. She was only 19 years old when she went to Chechnya to film a series of reports there. In this hot spot, a short, fragile girl, whose height is only 160 cm, showed all the strength of her character. So that her parents would not worry about her, Margarita did not inform them where she was going. Only after returning from where the war was blazing, the girl told her family about a business trip to Chechnya.

A series of reports that she filmed there glorified the young journalist and brought her well-deserved awards. She was awarded "For professional courage", the first prize of the All-Russian competition of regional television and radio companies and the Russian Order of Friendship.

Margarita Simonyan received the position of editor-in-chief of the Krasnodar channel

The girl's career took off, a year after she got a job, she becomes the editor-in-chief of the Krasnodar TV channel. In 2001, the girl was offered another position, she became a correspondent for the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company in the city of Rostov-on-Don. Simonyan continues to travel to hot spots. During this period, Margarita visited Abkhazia, filming a story about a clash between militants and the state army. All these events took place in the Kodori Gorge.

Talented and fearless journalists are needed everywhere. In 2002, she was invited to the capital, offering the position of correspondent for the Vesti program. There was a moment when Margarita was part of the presidential pool of journalists, accompanied by Vladimir Putin. The tragedy in Beslan required her participation on the scene, in September 2004 she covered a hostage situation at a high school. This event had a very strong influence on the outlook of the young journalist. She highly discourages her young colleagues from starting their careers as war correspondents.

Margarita Simonyan Editor-in-Chief, Russia Today

The creation of the TV channel Russia Today (2005) has become an important project of domestic television. Broadcasting here was to be conducted in English in order to inform about the position of Russia, which it takes in relation to international events. Simonyan became the editor-in-chief of the new project. And this appointment raised a lot of questions.

The founders of RIA Novosti approved Margarita for the position, based on the following considerations. They needed an editor-in-chief who did not see Soviet news. At the same time, he was obliged to have his own ideas of how Russian news, which is shown to foreigners, should look like. Margarita was ideally suited for the high position of editor-in-chief of the new project. After some time, her duties also included curating the Arabic-language, Spanish-language version of the channel.

On the REN-TV channel, since 2011, Simonyan has been leading the news project “What's going on?”. This is a very interesting program during which the journalist covers the most significant events of the week. She works with those news about which the audience was not sufficiently informed through federal channels. News is always interesting to learn firsthand, from the words of eyewitnesses. "What's happening?" was built in this way, the presenter attracted direct participants in the events, spectators to the conversation.

In 2013, Margarita became the co-host of the Iron Ladies program, which was broadcast on NTV. In tandem with her, she asked live questions to famous politicians and businessmen. These were topical issues that worried the audience, and of course, they were not always convenient for the guests of the program. As a result, the channel's management decided to close the TV show. It did not last even a year on the channel. In the same year, Margarita was appointed to the post of editor-in-chief of the international news agency Rossiya Segodnya.

Writing activity

Simonyan dreamed of becoming a writer at an early age. This woman tries to realize all her dreams. Margarita was only 18 years old when the first collection of her poems was published. Thanks to this book, Margarita got her first job. The work schedule of this bright, active journalist and editor leaves very little free time. Despite this, Margarita wrote the book "To Moscow" (2010). It took her 10 years to create the novel, this is a story about the generation of the 90s, about people with a difficult fate, their unfulfilled dreams. A year after the release of the novel, Simonyan received an award for the best book of a journalist.

In the Russian Pioneer magazine for 2012, you can find an excerpt from Simonyan's new story called The Train. For the same magazine, Margarita writes culinary articles. In addition, Simonyan constantly argues with foreign media. It was she who exposed the fake pictures related to the "injury" of the boy Omran. With the help of fake frames, the enemies tried to prove how aggressively Russia is behaving on Syrian territory. Omran Daknish's father told how it really was in an interview with RT.

Margarita was invited many times to visit the program with Vladimir Solovyov. At the beginning of last year, she was a participant in an interesting interview, reflecting on freedom of speech in Western countries and in the Russian Federation. In collaboration with the journalist, she participated in the creation of the film “Crimean Bridge. Made with love!". The film was released at the end of 2018. Star actors were filmed here - Sergey Nikonenko, Yuri Stoyanov, Artem Tkachenko, Alexei Demidov.

Not so long ago, Margarita interviewed the suspects in the Skripal case - Ruslan Boshirov, Alexander Petrov. She commented on her vision of the outcome of this conversation on the Ekho Moskvy radio. The journalist got the impression that no one should be trusted in this matter - neither Western intelligence services, nor even Russian citizens who were suspected of being poisoned.

Personal life

Margarita is not inclined to advertise her personal life. Sometimes she talks about her, but very briefly. So, in 2012, it was from the words of Simonyan that it became known that she had a common-law spouse, journalist Andrei Blagodyrenko. This union was long enough, it lasted 6 years, and Margarita at that time did not worry at all about an official marriage, a beautiful wedding. She very reasonably approaches such issues, believing that the main thing is warm feelings, and not the surroundings.

Her family at that time was engaged in the opening of the restaurant "Zharko!" in Sochi. Around the same period, a well-known journalist began to appear more and more often in the company of Tigran Keosayan. A bright, charismatic man at that time was not free, his official wife was Alena Khmelnitskaya. The romance of Margarita and Tigran began on his initiative. At first it was virtual, Tigran supported the girl by writing her a warm message on Facebook, who at that time was going through a difficult period in her professional life.

Simonyan Margarita Simonovna

Simonyan Margarita Simonovna- 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.

Biography

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. 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.

Awards. Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree (2014) - "for objectivity in covering events in the Crimea." The decree was not published, according to the Kremlin press service there was a "closed award". Order of Alexander Nevsky (2019). Order of Friendship (June 27, 2007) - for a great contribution to the development of domestic television and many years of fruitful work. Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation (2010). Medal "For strengthening the military community" (Ministry of Defense of Russia, March 9, 2005). Medal of Movses Khorenatsi (Armenia, November 18, 2010) - for a significant contribution to the development of the field of journalism and high professionalism. Order of Friendship (South Ossetia, December 25, 2008) - for objective coverage of events during the armed aggression of Georgia against South Ossetia in August 2008.

Education

• She studied at the special school No. 36 of the city of Krasnodar with in-depth study of foreign languages.

• 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."

• At the age of 19, she graduated from the Vladimir Pozner School of Television Excellence.

• Then she graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of the Kuban State University.

• She also studied at the Internews School of Television Manana Aslamazyan.

Labor activity

• After graduation, she worked as a correspondent for the Krasnodar television and radio company.

• In 2001, she was appointed the chief editor of 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 (Rusiya al-Yaum) and Spanish (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 on the NTV channel.

Relations/Partners

Often Alisa Simonyan worked not only as an individual entrepreneur. So, for the 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. The curator of this information platform, and in particular Nezygar, in the Kremlin is considered to be the same Aleksey Gromov. 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 Russia Today TV channel 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”. “As if I stole it all,” exclaimed Margarita Simonovna. The phrase “as if I stole it all” instantly spread among the people. “Stolen,” was the softest answer to the editor-in-chief of RT.

The career of Margarita Simonovna Simonyan is a good example of how important it is in our country not only to be in the right place at the right time, but also to serve the higher authorities in time. Such skills are often more important than talent and long hard years of professional self-development. The "wunderkind" of domestic journalism - Margarita Simonyan managed to head the Russia Today media holding at the age of twenty-five. At the same time, close relatives of Margarita Simonovna 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 a Russian journalist, editor-in-chief of Russia Today TV channel, Rossiya Segodnya international news agency and Sputnik news agency.

Having started her career as an ordinary correspondent for a provincial television studio, she managed to take one of the leading places in Russian television journalism. Today, Simonyan is among the top 100 most influential women in the world according to Forbes.

Childhood and youth

Margarita Simonyan was born on April 6, 1980 in the Russian city of Krasnodar. The girl, along with her sister Alice, grew up in a poor family. Father Simon, an Armenian by nationality, made a living repairing refrigerators, and his mother Zinaida sold flowers in the market.

As the journalist later wrote from the pages of LiveJournal and "Instagram", together with their parents, the girls lived in an old house on Gogol Street, where rats constantly ran, there was no gas, water supply and sewerage. Difficult living conditions only increased the girl's desire to escape poverty and achieve comfortable living conditions. When Margarita was about 10 years old, the Simonyan family was given an apartment in a new microdistrict of the city.

In kindergarten, the future journalist quickly learned to read, so their teacher often left Rita with a book to entertain other children: the girl read fairy tales aloud. Later, Simonyan went to a Krasnodar school specializing in the study of foreign languages, where she studied for one five, went to olympiads. In the 9th grade, Simonyan had a chance to go to study abroad on an exchange program. The girl came to the USA: she lived in a family, to which she still treats with warmth and gratitude, and studied in the 12th grade of the school. At one time I wanted to stay in a distant country, but love for the motherland forced me to return to Russia.

Margarita Simonyan in her youth

After graduating from school with a gold medal, Margarita entered the Kuban State University at the Faculty of Journalism. The girl also studied at the new "School of theatrical skill" under the guidance of a Russian TV presenter and journalist in Moscow.

Journalism and career

In 1999, Simonyan began working as a correspondent for the Krasnodar television and radio channel. She managed to get this job thanks to a collection of poems of her own composition, which Margarita published a year earlier. The TV channel decided to shoot a story about a talented girl. Speaking with the film crew, Simonyan mentioned that she wanted to work as a journalist, and she was offered an internship on a TV channel. The choice of the first place of work determined the future professional biography of Margarita.

Margarita Simonyan has been working on television for a long time

At the age of 19, the girl went to shoot a story in Chechnya. A miniature figure (her height was 160 cm) did not prevent her from showing masculinity and firmness of character. Margarita told her parents that she was going to the war zone only upon her return, after 10 days. A series of reports in one of the hot spots of the world brought fame to Margarita Simonyan and a number of journalistic awards: "For professional courage", the first prize of the All-Russian competition of regional television and radio companies and the Russian Order of Friendship.

In 2000, Simonyan became the chief editor of the Krasnodar TV channel, and a year later, a correspondent for the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company in Rostov-on-Don. She continued her career as a military journalist, visiting Abkhazia, covering the clash between militants and the state army in the Kodori Gorge.

In 2002, Margarita Simonyan was invited to Moscow as a correspondent for the TV program Vesti. The journalist accompanied the President of Russia, being among the presidential pool of journalists. In September 2004, she traveled to Beslan to cover the school hostage-taking. The tragedy affected the worldview and views of Margarita, in an interview she does not advise young journalists to start a career as war correspondents.

In 2005, the Russia Today TV channel was created, which broadcast in English and was designed to reflect Russia's position on international events. Margarita Simonyan was appointed editor-in-chief of the Russia Today TV channel.

The appointment of such a young person to such a position, the founders of RIA Novosti argued with the position that the project should have been led by a person who had not seen Soviet news, who had his own ideas about how Russian news should be shown to foreign viewers. Later, Margarita also began to oversee the Arabic and Spanish versions of the channel.

In 2011, the girl became the TV presenter of the news project "What's going on?" on the REN-TV channel. During the program, she discussed the most significant events of the week, which for some reason were not adequately covered on federal channels. Margarita communicated with direct participants in the events and spectators.

In 2013, Simonyan became the TV presenter of the political show "Iron Ladies" on the NTV channel. Together with a colleague on the air, the journalist asked not always convenient, but relevant questions to well-known political figures and businessmen. In the same year, the channel's management decided to close the show.

At the end of 2013, Margarita Simonyan was appointed to the position of editor-in-chief of the international news agency Rossiya Segodnya.

Margarita from early childhood dreamed of becoming a writer and doing print journalism. At the age of 18 she published a collection of her own poems. In 2010 she published the book "To Moscow". Due to active journalism and editorial activities, the writing of the book took about 10 years. This novel tells about the generation of the 90s and hard destinies, unfulfilled dreams. In 2011, thanks to the novel, Simonyan won the award for the best book of a journalist.

In 2012, on the pages of the Russian Pioneer magazine, Margarita published an excerpt from her new story The Train. The girl also writes culinary articles for this magazine.

Personal life

Little is known about Simonyan's personal life. In an interview in 2012, she mentioned that she had been in a civil marriage with journalist Andrei Blagodyrenko for 6 years. The woman claimed that official marriage and wedding preparations did not attract her at all, she was quite satisfied with this state of affairs.

Back in an interview in 2012, Simonyan said that, together with family members, she was opening the Zharko! restaurant. resort in Sochi. At the same time, the girl was increasingly noticed in the company of the famous director and actor, who at that time was still officially married to.

According to the information that later appeared in the article "Komsomolskaya Pravda", the romance between the journalist and the director began at the initiative of Tigran. He wrote the girl a message on the social network Facebook, where he expressed support to Margarita: at that time there was harassment against her on the radio. Initially, Simonyan did not pay attention to the letter, because she did not believe that the famous director would be interested in her person. But the correspondence ended with a joint dinner at a restaurant. Soon, a relationship began between the journalist and the cinematographer, which grew into a civil marriage.

In September 2014, Margarita's son Bagrat was born. At the same time, on the page of one of the social networks, Keosayan confirmed that he had become a father. Later it turned out that this was the second child of the couple - in August 2013, Margarita gave birth to her husband's daughter Maryana. As the journalist said in an interview, she gratefully recalls the time when she was pregnant. Each time, Margarita experienced a surge of strength and never suffered from toxicosis, despite the fact that she survived the threat of miscarriage with Maryana.

Pregnant Margarita Simonyan

Simonyan is committed to early childhood education. In a playful way, linguists are engaged with Maryana and Bagrat, therefore, at such an early age, the kids speak five languages ​​- Russian, Armenian, English, French and Chinese.

It is interesting that between the former wife of Tigran Keosayan, Alena Khmelnitskaya and Margarita Simonyan, friendly relations were established. The women became best friends, and even together with the director created a project - the psychological thriller "Actress". In the creation of the film, which was successfully broadcast on the NTV channel, Margarita participated as a screenwriter.

Margarita Simonyan now

Margarita supports the policy of the existing political system in Russia. In 2018, she became a confidant of Vladimir Putin during the presidential election campaign. At the same time, the journalist published a post on Telegram about her friend's refusal of US citizenship. According to the editor-in-chief of RT, the girl supported the opposition and immigrated to the United States in 2013, but after 4 years she decided to regain her Russian citizenship. The TV journalist duplicated the information in