12 September 2024, 10:58 GMT
Updated 6 hours ago
The famous Russian journalist, historian and public figure Nikolai Svanidze died in Moscow, he was 69 years old. In one of his last big interviews, in March 2024, immediately after the funeral of politician Alexei Navalny, Svanidze said that Navalny’s death in prison can be considered a symbolic end to the destruction of civil society in Russia.
Svanidze’s professional biography as a journalist began in 1991 and in itself can serve as a clear illustration of the modern history of Russia.
Under President Boris Yeltsin, Svanidze received a professional award as the best presenter of a news program and the Order for Personal Courage for his coverage of the 1993 coup.
During the first and second terms of President Vladimir Putin, Svanidze began to make large historical programs and films.
Svanidze wrote a book about President Dmitry Medvedev.
During Putin’s third and fourth terms, Svanidze focused on public and human rights work and became a consistent critic of the authorities.
Photo copyrightMikhail Metzel/TASS
Photo caption: Nikolai Svanidze at a meeting of the Human Rights Council, 2016
Svanidze’s death was reported by Moskovsky Komsomolets journalist and member of the Presidential Council for Human Rights Eva Merkacheva. According to her information, Svanidze died on the evening of September 11 in his apartment in Moscow.
Nikolai Svanidze had been seriously ill for the past few years. He was diagnosed with cerebral ischemia, and in the winter of 2023, Svanidze suffered from severe pneumonia, was hospitalized with pulmonary edema, and spent some time on a ventilator. The Mash Telegram channel, which is close to the security forces, claims that Svanidze died of pneumonia. According to the channel, the journalist “had been suffering from pneumonia for at least the last two years.”
Nikolai Svanidze was one of the veterans of Russian television, where he joined in 1991. At various times, he hosted the programs “Details”, “Contrasts”, “Mirror”, “Historical Chronicles”, “Senator Club”, “Red Corner”, “Historical Process”. In the late 1990s, Svanidze headed the state-owned VGTRK for some time.
He was not only a television journalist, but also a prominent public figure. From 2005 to 2014, he was a member of the Public Chamber (PC), then became a member of the Presidential Council on Human Rights (HRC), from which he was expelled by decision of Vladimir Putin in November 2022, which Svanidze himself associated with his anti-war position.
In 2014, Svanidze condemned the annexation of Crimea, and on February 24, 2022, the first day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he sharply criticized the war, calling the actions of the Kremlin and the Russian army “unmotivated and unprovoked aggression.”
As a member of the Public Chamber and the Human Rights Council, Svanidze consistently defended political prisoners and participants in protests. As a public observer from the Public Chamber, he witnessed the events on Bolotnaya Square in May 2012 and more than once afterwards. stated Putin during the sessions of the Human Rights Council that participation in protests not coordinated with the authorities is not a crime, and detentions at them in the vast majority of cases are unfounded. As a public figure, Svanidze spoke out against the law on “foreign agents”, the closure of “Memorial” (he was on the register of “foreign agents” in Russia, liquidated by a court decision), and the persecution of political activists.
In December 2022, Svanidze was dismissed from his post as director of the Institute of Mass Media at the Russian State University for the Humanities, which he had held since 2010, but remained in charge of the Department of Journalism at the Faculty of Journalism at the Russian State University for the Humanities. Svanidze called his dismissal from the post of director of the institute expected, and explained his removal from the HRC at the end of 2022 by Putin’s decision by his consistent anti-war position.
Historian in the frame
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Nikolai Svanidze was born in Moscow in 1955. His father was the head of Politizdat, and his mother was a medieval historian and lecturer at Moscow State University.
In 1977, Svanidze graduated from the history department of Moscow State University and became a junior research fellow at the Institute of the USA and Canada of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Nikolai Svanidze came to television in 1991. He started as a voice-over commentator for Vesti, and then became the host of the programs Face to Russia and Contrasts.
In 1994, he was awarded the Order for Personal Courage for his coverage of the events of October 3–4, 1993, the standoff between supporters of President Boris Yeltsin and the Supreme Soviet. Svanidze spent those days on air at VGTRK, despite the fact that after the seizure of Ostankino, there was a danger of storming the television center on 5th Yamskoe Polya Street in Moscow.
In 1995, Svanidze received the professional TEFI award as “Best News Program Host” for the program “Details”, which he hosted together with Sergei Dorenko on RTR. And in 2001, he was awarded the Order of Honor for his contribution to the development of Russian television.
A historian by profession, Svanidze was the author of many documentaries and programs dedicated to various moments in Russian history, from the Civil War to the coups of 1991 and 1993.
From 2003 to 2013, Svanidze worked on the Historical Chronicles series of programs. Each episode of the series was dedicated to one year in the history of Russia in the 20th century. Two episodes were allocated to cover the turning points of 1917, 1941, and 1993. It was planned that the last episode of the series would be dedicated to the year 2000. However, in 2013, when the episodes about 1993 were filmed, the project was closed.
Svanidze later published a multi-volume printed version based on the series. In 2008, Svanidze’s book “Medvedev” about future President Dmitry Medvedev, based on a series of personal interviews, was published.
Svanidze was also regularly invited to appear on television and radio as a professional historian, a specialist in the history of Russia in the 20th century. One of these broadcasts ended in scandal. In 2018, he was invited to discuss Stalin’s role in the Great Patriotic War on Komsomolskaya Pravda radio. Svanidze then, in particular, said that, in his opinion, Joseph Stalin “brought the country to a catastrophic state” even before the war began and that the USSR’s victory in World War II was the merit of the Soviet people, and not Stalin personally. Svanidze’s opponent Maxim Shevchenko called him a demagogue, after which a scuffle broke out between them right on the air, the video of which was widely distributed on social networks.
“A brave and principled man, Nikolai Svanidze, has died,” wrote Shevchenko wrote on his Telegram channel on Thursday. “We had different views on some moments and trends in the history of the 20th century that led to the widely known incident, but we always signed letters in support of modern prisoners together. Being a noble man, Nikolai Karlovich stood up even for those persecuted whose views he disagreed with.”
On integrity as the most important characteristic of Svanidze wrote and his former colleague at VGTRK, and now “war correspondent” Alexander Sladkov: “Nikolay Svanidze left us. He was principled in his relationships with people and subordinates, he knew how to be friends. I worked under him on the “Mirror” program at VGTRK. It was an interesting period.”
Nikolay Svanidze more than once refuted version, according to which, on his father’s side, he is allegedly a distant relative of Stalin’s first wife, Ekaterina Svanidze.
Photo by Oleg Buldakov/TASS
Photo caption: Nikolai Svanidze (right) headed VGTRK in 1997-1998
“The old KGB has taken over the institutions and is effectively running the country”
One of Svanidze’s last major interviews was published in March 2024. weekly “Sobesednik”The conversation took place immediately after the funeral of politician Alexei Navalny.
In an interview, Nikolai Svanidze said that Navalny’s death in prison could be considered a symbolic finale to the destruction of civil society in Russia: “Now the majority is silent, hunted and indifferent… And this is our main problem: we have no civil society. It existed, although immature, but now it has been destroyed. This is probably the most important and most visible result of the last, quarter-century period of our history.”
He called Navalny himself “a world-class and famous politician with a heroic reputation and a martyr’s death.”
When asked whether there are parallels between modern political repressions and Stalin’s repressions, Svanidze replied that the main unifying feature of them is “the total omnipotence of one and the same special service.”
“The old KGB, the successor of the Cheka-OGPU-NKVD, i.e. the secret police, has penetrated every pore of the country, taken over the institutions and is effectively running the country,” Svanidze said at the time.
He was concerned about the fate and safety of political prisoners Vladimir Kara-Murza, Ilya Yashin (on the register of “foreign agents” in Russia) and Alexei Gorinov (in August, Kara-Murza and Yashin were released as part of an international prisoner exchange and taken out of Russia). “They were convicted of the most serious crime – dissent – and are serving sentences that serial maniacs could never dream of,” Svanidze told Sobesednik.
What impact did Nikolai Svanidze have on Russian journalism and media?
Russian Journalist and Historian Nikolai Svanidze Dies at 69
Nikolai Svanidze, a renowned Russian journalist, historian, and public figure, passed away on September 11, 2024, at the age of 69, in his Moscow apartment [1]. According to his friend and journalist Eva Merkacheva, Svanidze had been seriously ill for the past few years, suffering from cerebral ischemia and pneumonia [1].
Svanidze’s professional biography as a journalist began in 1991, and it serves as a clear illustration of modern Russian history. Under President Boris Yeltsin, he received a professional award as the best presenter of a news program and the Order for Personal Courage for his coverage of the 1993 coup. During President Vladimir Putin’s first and second terms, Svanidze began to make large historical programs and films, and even wrote a book about President Dmitry Medvedev.
However, during Putin’s third and fourth terms, Svanidze focused on public and human rights work, becoming a consistent critic of the authorities. He condemned the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and sharply criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, calling it “unmotivated and unprovoked aggression” [2].
As a member of the Public Chamber and the Human Rights Council, Svanidze consistently defended political prisoners and participants in protests, speaking out against the law on “foreign agents” and the persecution of political activists. In December 2022, he was dismissed from his post as director of the Institute of Mass Media at the Russian State University for the Humanities, which he had held since 2010, due to his anti-war position[[[[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai