Vladimir Putin: This power couple are paid millions of dollars to spread disinformation in Russia

Margarita Simonyan and her husband Tigran Keosayan are among the main faces, if not the most important, which spread disinformation inside and outside of Russia on behalf of Vladimir Putin.

Simonyan and Keosayan spread disinformation

Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of the state-sponsored Russia Today (RT), is known to be one of the strongest allies of Putin from the Russian media world. Due to her close allegiance and the notoriety of the disinformation she spreads, Simonyan has often been called 'Putin’s mouthpiece'.

Simonyan's husband Tigran Keosayan, another media professional, is specialized in whipping political satire in a late-night TV show most often focused on attacking opponents of Putin.

According to the US Department of State and based on an investigation led by a team of the jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the couple has certainly benefitted greatly from supporting Putin through spreading disinformation on their day-to-day job.

Keosayan alone nets approximately $2 million per year from the Russian state for 35 episodes of his talk show International Sawmill with Tigran Keosayan. And it does not stop here, because Keosayan has been filming the shows at the studios of RT at no cost.

About ten employees of RT, who are on a government payroll, are involved in filming Keosayan's overpriced show.

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In 2018, the power couple wrote and directed the film Crimean Bridge, aiming at building national pride for the bridge which at the time was constructed to link Russia with the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Crimea.

The film was funded by the state organization Cinema Foundation, and while other films were awarded only 10 million rubbles, which is approximately $134,000, Crimean Bridge was the only submission to receive a rare prize of 100 million rubles, or approximately $1.34 million.

The film was a purely Simonyan-Keosayan family affair, the couple involving Keosayan’s brother, two daughters, ex-wife, nephew, and the nephew's wife. The family together netted around 45 million rubbles, close to $610,000, while all other actors combined received only 10 million rubbles.

The movie itself was a box-office bust, film critics and the viewing public negatively reviewed it.

As of 2022, Canada, the UK, and the EU have sanctioned the couple for spreading disinformation about the Ukraine war.

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'World War III is already underway'

Given the situation in Ukraine and heavy Russian losses, recently Simonyan has increasingly defended Putin and tried to excuse why the war is dragging on.

According to Newsweek, Simonyan claimed that Russia has been fighting with the West in Ukraine and claimed that World War III is already underway:

I didn't think it would be easy, but of course, I didn't think we'd have to fight the entire Western world, that it would be World War III.

World War III is already underway.

Sources used:

-USDepartmentofState: ‘Faces of Kremlin Propaganda: Margarita Simonyan’

-Newsweek: ‘World War III Is 'Already Underway,' Russian Journalist Claims’