Tsargrad TV (Russian: Царьград ТВ) is a Russian television channel owned by Konstantin Malofeev. It was named after Tsargrad, the old Slavic name for Constantinople. It is known for its pro-Kremlin and Russian Orthodox stances.
As of 2024, the Media and Journalism Research Center evaluated Tsargrad TV to be "State Controlled Media" under its State Media Matrix.
History
Konstantin Malofeev hired former Fox News news director John "Jack" Hanick (Russian: Джек Хэник born 1950), who, with producer Roger Ailes, co-founded Fox News, was its news director from 1996 to 2011 and moved to Moscow in 2013 to help Malofeev launch the channel. From at least 2013 until 2018, Hanick supported Malofeev in several schemes. Beginning in the fall of 2014, Hanick worked for Ilya Kuzmenkov (Russian: Илья Кузьменков), who was the general director and editor-in-chief of the channel. The channel started broadcasting on 12 April 2015 with Andrei Afanasiev (Russian: Андрей Афанасьев, born 1988 or 1989), who graduated from both MGIMO and Complutense University of Madrid and was a former RT employee from 2010 to 2014, as the news anchor. Aleksandr Dugin was named chief editor the same year. He has since been replaced by Elena Sharoykina. It is known for being conservative, mixing Russian Orthodox Christianity with Soviet nationalism, and supporting president Vladimir Putin.
Vladimir Putin gives carte blanche to Tsargrad TV which according to Malofeev is the Russian equivalent to Fox News.
In January 2017, KGB and Foreign Intelligence Service (Russia) Lieutenant General Leonid Reshetnikov headed the supervisory board of Tsargrad TV. Since 2017, the deputy editor in chief is Mikhail Borisovich Smolin..
Tsargrad TV Analytical Group is a very strong supporter of the United States alternative truth (Russian: альтернативная правда) or alt-right movement and provides support for Richard Spencer, Peter Schweizer, Milo Yiannopoulos, Breitbart News, Steve Bannon, Charles Bausman, whose wife Kristina Bausman is from Mednogorsk, Jordan Peterson and Alex Jones who appears frequently on Tsargrad TV and prominently supports Alexander Dugin.
On 12 February 2020, Dmitry Skuratov, who is the son of Yuri Skuratov, became the general director of Tsargrad TV and Daria Tokareva (Russian: Дарья Токарева) became the editor-in-chief after Elena Sharoykina (Russian: Елена Шаройкина) left those positions for another position at Tsargrad TV.
Through Tsargrad TV and Malofeev, the pro Russia former Greek defense minister Panos Kammenos is very close to Hanick and Reshetnikov.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsargrad TV strongly supported the anti vaccination movement with Tsargrad TV host Alexandra Mashkova-Blagikh (Russian: Александра Владимировна Машкова-Благих) as an outspoken critic of COVID-19 vaccines.{{efn|Alexandra Mashkova-Blagikh (Russian: Александра Владимировна Машкова-Благих; born 1980, Ufa) calls herself almost the main Russian anti-vaxxer because of her concern about the violation of civil rights and is a strong supporter of CitizenGo. Pavel Parfentiev (Russian: Павел Парфентьев) is another representative of CitizenGo in Russia. A 24 September 2016 article in El País linked the Mexican movement El Yunque to the 2013 founded anti-vaxxer movement CitizenGo and HazteOir which are headquartered in Spain and are close to the United States based Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society.
In 2020, YouTube blocked its channel, citing U.S. sanctions against Malofeev.
In March 2022, Hanick was the first person criminally indicted by the United States Department of Justice for violating United States sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War for allegedly providing assistance to Malofeev in order to unfreeze some of Malofeev's assets.
In August 2023, the website of the Russian TV channel Tsargrad, which is linked to Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, was blocked in Kazakhstan. The TV channel was sanctioned by the EU in December 2023.
Notes
References
External links
- Official website
