Alexey Venediktov: biography, career, awards. Alexey Venediktov: biography, personal life, family, journalism and books Venediktov son

The editor-in-chief of the Ekho Moskvy radio station, a former school teacher and the most shaggy man in the country, Alexei Venediktov, has today become one of the main faces of the opposition to the authorities, a fighter for freedom and a mouthpiece of democracy. He himself is still slightly surprised by this circumstance.

Alexey, you have a rather extravagant image. Where did he come from?

He formed himself. I started working as a postman and studied at the evening. Get up early in the morning, at 6.30 you have to be already at work, not up to the outfits. The beard is also from here: there is no time to shave. Hair has a tousled structure by nature. The last time I wore a tie was to prom. It was terribly uncomfortable, there was a feeling that he was interfering with dancing and kissing. So I switched to plaid shirts. Some of it is professional. I'm more visible at press conferences. Everyone is wearing jackets, and I am in a bright shirt, and I will be chosen sooner to ask a question. In 1997, President Yeltsin's chief of protocol gave me permission to appear at receptions in the Kremlin without a tie, but in a jacket. I had to buy a jacket, and I got married in it. Now in our family it is called "grandfather's jacket" - Yeltsin in the sense. And I told Boris Nikolaich about this when he had already retired in 2000. He replied: you see, without me he would not have married.

Despite your tousled image, you are no stranger to a graceful lifestyle. You are often seen in the company of beautiful ladies in expensive restaurants.

Not a stranger! I love to surround myself with beautiful people and beautiful things. Good wine, good watches, beautiful women...

Has the ability to enjoy these things become dull over the years?

Increased! Over the years, when you realize that time is short, you begin to appreciate. You begin to distinguish the fake from the real.

It's easy to spot a fake watch. But what about women?

You never have to pretend. You are who you are. I understand that in communication I am at first an unpleasant person and when I get to know each other I do not try to seem better. Fake can't stand me. And those people - this applies to both women and friends - who understand that this is superficial, they remain nearby.

How many women does Alexei Venediktov need to be happy?

All! In fact, a lot is needed. But with all polygamy, there must be an older wife. In this sense, the Ottoman sultans did everything right.

What journalistic feat are you proud of?

That's just to be really proud - so only one episode, perhaps. But I'm really proud. It was in Chechnya in 1994. A group of deputies and journalists went to rescue officers of the federal counterintelligence service who were captured by Dudayev. And there was a moment when the deputies came out and said: "You know, the officers refuse to return." We realized that they were intimidated. And then I remembered that I was a school teacher, and the officers were young guys. He asked: "Let me go to them, let's try to talk." I went to them with a tape recorder and said: “You know what, we can’t return without reporting to your mothers. Each of you will now say into the microphone your first name, last name, title and the words: "I refuse to return to my mother." Hit the sick, in general. And fourteen people left with us. For this, I even received an award - a medal of the Security Council. It was insanely scary. These thugs - armed, unshaven - stood, followed our every step ... By the way, here, perhaps, the image of a madman played a role. In the East, it is not customary to kill holy fools.

Were the students afraid of you at school?

I think yes. They didn't like it when I yelled. They liked it better when I was calm, because then it was interesting for both them and me. A certain concordat was concluded between us: what is possible, what is not. I don't like to waste time persuading, and when they did something they shouldn't, I started yelling.

Do you like to yell...

Yes! And I have a good voice, and a bad character. There are two types of corporations. There is the so-called American, where everything is done according to the instructions. If you break something, then money is withdrawn from you or you come to work, and in your cell there is a notice: “Goodbye, thank you.” And there is an Italian, mafia type of corporation-family, when the head of the corporation is dad, who can whip, hug, yell, reward, expel. No paperwork, no reports, no payroll. Here we have such a corporation. "Echo of Moscow" is an absolutely mafia structure. We are working on it. Moreover, we have a huge number of marriages inside us - I found my wife here. And there are many children - now there are three pregnant beauties in the company. This is a consequence of harassment, of course.

Repent, name your biggest journalistic failure.

Interview with Maya Plisetskaya. Mouse and mountain. The mouse is me. She was not in a good mood, answered "yes", "no", "maybe". And this is a live broadcast. It was not necessary to talk about her artistic activity, it was necessary to talk about life. And I prepared myself, I read my memoirs, so I couldn't get off the rails. She froze me with her stare, snow queen. As a result - a failure, it is still a shame. Although they told me: yes, the usual banal interview! Banal interview with Plisetskaya ... Failure!

Can you remember the strangest job you've ever had to do?

At the beginning of Echo of Moscow, when friends called to help them open this radio, everything was very primitive and very cramped. There were calls, and it was not immediately clear who was calling - a listener or just a business call to the editor. They put me under the table, where I picked up the phone, listened to what they were saying into this phone, and showed: there is a call! Then the person was taken to the remote control. Thirty-five years old, an excellent student of public education, his beloved teacher sits under the table and gestures that he should pick up the phone. The work was strange, it did not last long - two weeks.

Have there been moments in your life when you were unimaginably scared?

When the child was born. Because you can’t do anything anymore, you can only wind circles near the maternity hospital. I went to the radio, sat here, everyone was tiptoeing around, and I was shaking. To give birth is someone else's, it is feminine.

Returning to the topic of repentance, let's remember the sins of youth.

What are my sins? Banal Moscow boy, school, institute, then work at school. There is simply no crime scene... Well, sex with students...

Sex with students?! What a boring thing ... Well, tell me something.

What's wrong with that? With high school students, this is a common story at school. When a young teacher or a young teacher comes and the difference is five years ... Well, what are seventeen and twenty-two? Usually the first step is taken by the students. You are a psychological adult, you put up a barrier, but you are seduced. And there is no strength to resist: twenty-two years, hormones. I can’t say that I enjoyed wild success, but novels happened. These were novels that sometimes included sex.

What magical ability would you like to have?

I would like to instantly learn foreign languages. It's a pity that I don't have access to any information. I don't speak English, only French. When I drive, I feel disabled. Everyone is discussing something, and you sit like an idiot. If it were possible, as in The Matrix, to upload!

Why hasn't your radio been shut down yet?

They say that we are a showcase for the West. Such an oasis of freedom of speech. And this is also true. But I know for sure that radio is a source of information for decision makers. For example, they learned about the Kondopoga pogroms from our radio. Before Lavrov's talks with Condoleezza Rice, we interviewed her. We got a call from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and they said: “Guys, quickly decipher it so that we know her public position before the negotiations.” This is the first. Second, we do not wage information wars. Neither against Putin, nor for Putin - we don't care. Only we will not have fascists, the rest is a platform for everyone. No matter how we treat them.

Do you consider yourself a freedom fighter?

No. For me, what I do is just natural. I live like this. And in the eyes of these people, I say the same thing as on the air. What will I squirm? My spine isn't flexible enough to writhe. I'm not a wrestler, I'm just doing my job.

But now other wrestlers have somehow resolved. It turns out that you are a fighter.

You know, when a small alder grows in the forest, it is not visible. But when the oaks are dug up, the alder seems like a giant.

Suppose there is a call from above, they say to you: “You are removing Shenderovich, or your station will be closed.” Your actions.

It depends on what top and depending on what kind of argumentation. Because there were calls when I hired not Shenderovich, but Dorenko. People spoke on behalf of the president. And I said: let the president himself call me and explain. And the callers realized that I would not comply with their decisions. They scared me several times, I said: “Well, close it, it's in your power. What can I do? Just don’t threaten me, it makes me more stubborn.” You can try to negotiate with me. I make compromises, but not in the area of ​​editorial policy. I can be convinced that this is wrong. Recently, for example, I apologized to Valentina Matvienko. When I heard that we were talking about her on the same air, and I realized that this was an unjustified abomination, I apologized. It's very unpleasant, I really don't like to apologize, it's very disgusting. Even when you're wrong. But if you unfairly accused a person, you need to apologize. Be it at least Zhirinovsky. What it is doesn't matter.

It seems that the broad masses are phlegmatic about the loosening of such democratic institutions as a free press, an independent judiciary, freedom of demonstrations, etc. Hence the question: does Russia need democracy at all?

If you ask a taxi driver if Russia needs democracy, he will say no. But when new rules are introduced that allow him to take away his car, where will he run, what will he demand? Freedom of demonstration, election of deputies who will abolish these rules. And a free press that will say: “Look, they are spreading rot on us!” Let me remind you: when Governor Yevdokimov died, and they wanted to imprison the driver, who came out in his defense? Those taxi drivers, folks. And where did they go? They went to us. They went to court. And when in Sochi they begin to take away land for Olympic facilities, those Sochi residents who shouted: “We don’t need democracy!” - where will they run? They will run to the court, they will run to the press, they will run to the deputies. That's what democracy is. Not just slogans. So the common man needs democracy to defend himself.

Drink - campari with ice

Alexei Venediktov is a Russian journalist, editor-in-chief of the Ekho Moskvy radio station, its co-owner. Known for his sharp interviews and articles on the state of affairs in modern Russia. He is considered a liberal, an oppositionist and a Russophobe, but he calls himself a "complete reactionary."

Alexei Venediktov was born in December 1955. He is Jewish by nationality and has Russian citizenship. Two weeks before his birth, a tragedy happened: his father, who graduated from the Higher Naval Diving School in Riga and served as a lieutenant on a submarine of the Northern Fleet, tragically died off the coast of Kamchatka.

Venediktov claims that in childhood he was left to himself. Relatives worked. Mother Eleonora Abramovna Dykhovichnaya worked as a radiologist in a hospital. Grandmother Nina Abramovna Dykhovichnaya - Honored Builder of Russia. Her brainchild is the hotel "Ukraine" in the capital: she, as a design engineer, designed the engineering structure of this building.

Seeing that all the adults in the family are doing what they love, Alexei Venediktov also began to look for his place in the sun. First, he graduated from high school, where he studied French in depth. Then he became a student at the Pedagogical Institute, where he chose the Faculty of History.

In his student years, the guy worked part-time, not wanting to "sit on the neck" of his mother. First, he found himself a position as a laboratory assistant at a university. Then he got a job as a postman who delivered mail to houses where foreigners lived. Thus, the young man got the opportunity to read what was published in foreign publications and compare what was written with what was printed by the Soviet media.

Despite the fact that Alexei's physical data is quite standard - height 170 cm, weight about 70 kg, the young man was not taken into the army, he had too poor eyesight (minus 10).

After graduation in 1978, the young historian went to school. He taught his subject to children for 20 years and excelled in the profession, becoming an excellent student of public education in the Russian Federation.

Career

In 1990, the radio station "Echo of Moscow" appeared in the capital. Its creators were friends of Alexei Venediktov - Sergei Buntman and Sergei Korzun. They invited a teacher-historian to the post of correspondent and newspaper columnist. Soon the aspiring journalist "grew" to a political observer. Knowledge of history and reading foreign press in his student years helped him a lot in his development.

In the mid-1990s, Alexei Venediktov occupied the chair of the director of the Echo information service, and in the winter of 1998 he was elected editor-in-chief of the radio, which was rapidly gaining popularity.

The journalist is proud that in the 1990s he helped 14 Russian soldiers get out of Chechen captivity. For this act, he was awarded the medal of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. As a journalist, Alexei Venediktov visited other hot spots.

The career and creative biography of Alexei Venediktov developed rapidly. Retaining the post of editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy, he headed the Ekho-TV television company. The idea of ​​its creation appeared in the early 2000s, after the closure of the TV-6 channel. At that time, many professional journalists were left without work. They were the backbone of the new television company.

In the same period of time, Alexei Venediktov acquired the Arsenal radio station as a "safety net" in case Ekho Moskvy was closed. He also headed the new radio.

In 2006, Alexey Alekseevich tried himself as a TV presenter: together with him he hosted the program “In the Circle of the World” on the Domashny channel, which had high ratings.

And next year, the media star becomes a member of the board of directors of the Ekho Moskvy radio company, owning 18% of the shares.

A popular journalist is considered an oppositionist. He often criticizes the government, which has repeatedly become a reason for conflicts with its representatives, including the highest echelon. The President identified Alexei Venediktov as an enemy.

Once, in a conversation with him, he said: “The enemies are right in front of you, you fight with them, then you conclude a truce, and everything is clear. The traitor must be destroyed, crushed. You know, Alexey, you are not a traitor. You are the enemy."

Nevertheless, the President of Russia regularly congratulates the journalist on his anniversaries.

However, many people think differently, for example, in St. Petersburg at the Open Dialogues event, where Venediktov had a discussion with on stage, members of the Other Russia party poured whiskey over him, calling this action "Broom under whiskey!". When the young man was taken away by the guards, he shouted that Venediktov had betrayed Russia.

It almost came to a fight during the next meeting of the editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy with fans. A shocking showman appeared at the event, who accused him of venality and showered him with fake dollars.

Alexei Venediktov is a permanent member of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. And he is one of the authors of the declaration "Moscow Charter of Journalists". The journalist also has many awards, including the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, the French Order of the Legion of Honor and the Best Pens of Russia award.

Venediktov is also known as a TV presenter. He has several author's programs in his arsenal, the most rated of which are Without Intermediaries, Echo of the Week, Direct Speech, 48 Minutes and Anarchy.

In the winter of 2014, a Russian journalist visited the Kyiv Maidan. He said that for the Ukrainians who came out to protest, European integration is a dream. And the president stole this cherished dream and betrayed his people, for which he received a popular revolt.

Aleksey Venediktov sided with Ukraine and predicted the annexation of the Crimean peninsula to the Russian Federation. And he also “drew” a similar scenario for several regions of the south-east of Ukraine.

Personal life

He is recognized by his "signature" style: a plaid shirt, a beard and lush curls that make him look like a "dandelion". The journalist is constantly in the spotlight. The personal life of Alexei Venediktov - including.

In 2011, his scandalous interview with Maxim magazine made a lot of noise, in which he admitted that in his youth, when he was a teacher, he had sexual relations with underage high school students. The piquancy of the situation was given by the fact that Venediktov did not consider his actions to be something reprehensible. After all, he himself was older than the girls for some 5-6 years. And they allegedly seduced him themselves.

It is known that the TV star has been legally married since April 1998. His wife Elena Sitnikova is a Muscovite. She is a graduate of Moscow State University: she graduated from the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics, but since 1993 she has been working for Ekho Moskvy.

The couple are raising their only son Alexei, who was born in 2000.

In 2014, their family happiness was shaken, Venediktov had a young and charming assistant -. The girl constantly became the heroine of scandalous stories. She did not choose expressions in her blog, after which some guests refused to come to the radio station. Alexei Venediktov apologized to those who were offended by his colleague's column. But it was clear that her opinion was important to him. They began to talk about the "special" attitude of the boss towards his ward. But both Venediktov and Lesya categorically denied the rumors about the novel. In 2015, Ryabtseva resigned from the post of deputy editor-in-chief of Ekho, explaining this decision by the fact that she plans to create a fundamentally new media outlet with her like-minded people.

Many believe that Venediktov looks like a musician. This similarity is not accidental, they are second cousins.

Alexey Alekseevich is a socially active person, he regularly writes in “

Chief editor and presenter of the radio station "Echo of Moscow". Born December 18, 1955 at Chistye Prudy. After graduating from school at the Kursk railway station, he entered the evening department of the history department of the Moscow Pedagogical Institute (MGPI). Simultaneously with his studies at the university, he worked for 5 years as a postman, having time to read all the newspapers in the morning, and all the magazines in the evening. After graduating from the institute in 1978, he worked as a history teacher at a school, where he worked for the next 20 years.

He has been working at the radio station Ekho Moskvy since August 1990. He started as a newspaper columnist and correspondent, then became a political observer, headed the information service, and, finally, in February 1998, was elected to the post of editor-in-chief of the radio station.

The most vivid memory of my studies at the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute at the Faculty of History is associated with Lyudmila Stanislavovna Ilyinskaya, the legendary teacher of the History of the Ancient East and Antiquity. Right in the first year, we got to her lectures, and my group went to her seminar.
It was known that at the first session it was unrealistic to pass the exam on the first try. At best, when listing all the victories of Tiglath-Pileser the Third and all the defeats of Amenhotep the Fourth, one could count on a weak C grade. However, lo and behold, when the 1973/74 session crept up, the film “300 Spartans” by Rudolf Mate was widely shown in Moscow cinemas. And so Lyudmila Stanislavovna announced that whoever finds 17 historical errors in the film will receive a credit in ancient history.
Our course was friendly, fun and rude. The hall of the cinema "Horizont" was filmed - the whole hall - 323 seats for 10 kopecks - morning show - and with the lights on and with notepads, the course watched and discussed the film. Mistakes were identified together - the sandals were not the same, there were no such musical instruments, weapons of another century - and so on. 97 people, beaming, received a test from Lyudmila Stanislavovna from the first run, presenting 17 mistakes in the film "300 Spatans". But the most important thing in this amazing story is that, of course, she knew about our trip to the cinema, but she withstood her temper and kept her word. It's worth it.

Awards and prizes

• Laureate of the Artyom Borovik Prize
• Winner of the Golden Pen of Russia award (1996)
• Awarded for high professionalism and personal courage when working in hot spots (1997).
• Medal of the Security Council of the Russian Federation (1998)
• Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 2nd class (December 3, 1999) - for services in the field of culture and in connection with the 75th anniversary of radio broadcasting in Russia
• Laureate of the Prize. V. Vysotsky "Own track" (2004)
• Commander of the Order of the Legion of Honor of France (2006)
• Certificate of honor of the Federal Drug Control Service of Russia (December 30, 2010) - for the assistance rendered to the drug control authorities in solving the tasks assigned to them.
• Golden Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2014)

"I'M LOOKING FOR A PROGRAM FORMAT FOR GDP"
- Aleksey Alekseevich, how are the elections held at Echo?
- The editor-in-chief is elected by the assembly of journalists, then he is approved by the board of directors. Until February 29, any 5 journalists and any shareholder who owns or controls a 3% stake in Ekho Moskvy can nominate their candidacy, even Bush, even bin Laden, and with written consent, it is automatically submitted to a meeting of journalists. I was once again nominated, I signed the consent, and the paper went to the election commission. On March 2, I will find out whether I am alone or not alone. Then at the meeting we will speak, answer questions, and the fate will be decided by secret ballot.
- Three years ago you announced who would become the president of the country. How far-sighted you are!
- Yes, in 2005 I named Medvedev, but it was the result of a cold calculation, not a dazzling guess. In both cases, I'm interested in the level of protest voting. Those who vote against Medvedev, that is, for any other candidate. In any case, if I get the same percentage of votes as Dmitry Anatolyevich, I will be satisfied.
- Are you a "father" for your employees?
- Where there! Every day, all 102 people complain to me. I didn’t give someone a salary, unfairly deprived someone of the air, yelled at someone, threatened to kick someone out, didn’t promote someone. I've been the editor-in-chief for ten years. And if someone remained here, not offended by me, it would be strange.
- There are many dissatisfied, but the audience is growing! Seems to have increased by 20%...
- 14 more than inflation. And this is despite the fact that over the past three years, instead of 4 conversational radio stations in Moscow, there have been 12. That is, we now have 8 more competitors! And everyone predicted to me that I would lose 20% of the audience. But we have growth.
- Aren't these 8 new radio companies poaching your people?
- Yes, they left, but not many. Among them is the first editor-in-chief of "Echo" Sergei Korzun. He became the general producer of one of the competitive stations.
- But do you maintain friendly relations at the same time?
- We do not just support, Sergey has kept his program on "Echo of Moscow". He is a great journalist and I don't want to lose him. In general, in this sense, I am a vulture, a jackal with wings: if I see a good journalist on the horizon, I immediately invite him.
- You wanted to lure Posner? Why don't you have it yet?
- Pozner needs to make a special format, but Vladimir Vladimirovich and I cannot find it yet. We sat with him, talked - he agrees, I agree, but not invented ... Pozner is a brand, moreover, with the initials VVP! So far, Posner has agreed to take part in our project on the American elections called "49 Minutes".
- Who else will decorate the broadcast of "Echo" in the near future?
- We are in a state of negotiations with Leonid Parfenov. In principle, Lenya said "yes", but again, we need to come up with a format. Lenya is an absolutely brilliant person. And it doesn't matter that in our past life there were many differences - professional and political. Who didn't I have? Didn't I have them with Dorenko?!
- Have you ever been refused by journalists whom you called to work?
- They refused, there were failures in the negotiation plan. At one time, Tina Kandelaki started absolutely amazing on the "Echo". Tina is a person of very fine organization, with a very difficult fate. And now she's so successful. She is a very good interviewer, she knows how to win over a wide variety of people who come to the studio.
- Well, she's a beautiful woman.
- This is a radio, often you have to talk on the phone. Now Tina is very busy, and I suggested skipping this season. I told her: "No, dear, from time to time it is not good: either you come to the permanent, or we will stop the process." I really appreciate people who made themselves real.
But you also made yourself.
- Well, what are you comparing, I am a Moscow boy from the Pokrovsky Gates, who grew up in this environment, studied with the same boys. My son also studies at Pokrovsky Gates, goes to his unfortunate first grade. I don’t need to conquer Moscow, we are blood from blood Moscow, pokrovskie. And Tina is a man who came to conquer Moscow from a distant imperial province, a state where at that time there was neither electricity nor gas. For her, it's all different. And Parfyonov?! Lenya from Cherepovets, Vologda region.
- Do you have many visitors?
- A lot: both boys and girls - from Rostov, Novgorod, Krasnoyarsk, I have all of Russia here. And even from St. Petersburg - Ksenia Basilashvili, the daughter of Oleg Valeryanovich. We are also not alien to fashion trends.
- You want to lure Ksenia Sobchak as a person with a difficult fate ...
- Yes, we do not have enough St. Petersburg. We even met and discussed formats. The same story. I am absolutely sure that Ksenia is a very deep person. Yes, she has chosen a mask, which I also do not really like, but I assure you that she will soon discard it. You have to work with Ksyusha. From the point of view of the task, the rating, it is successful, it has become a generational symbol that reflects reality. They imitate her, they envy her, they hate her, but no one is indifferent. And in principle, it's time for her to start changing roles.
"I'M GOING TO TALK TO TYMOSHENKO ABOUT PETLIUR"
- "Echo of Moscow" is called "a window for the intelligentsia", do you agree with the definition?
- Call it at least a "window", at least a "balcony door", at least a "window to the world." My task is to provide our listeners with a certain set of services: informational, discussion, analytical, entertaining, educational. In this sense, we are, of course, a supermarket. You don't like Sergey Dorenko? Listen to Ksenia Larina. Don't like Larina? And we have Sergey Buntman for you. We have Evgeny Kiselev, Mikhail Leontiev, but Mr. Prokhanov, and then there is me - my own favorite, we represent a variety of styles and services. And 2.5 million people a day follow our lead.
- "Clients of the radio supermarket" love to listen to Venediktov.
- The listener wants something different and incomprehensible, like the Strugatskys - "they wanted the incomprehensible" ... Each host of "Echo" has his own fan club.
- Are you interested in when and how they listen to you? In traffic jams, at work, in the bath?
- We really love traffic jams, our audience increases in traffic jams. We have two prime times - morning turn - from 8.00 to 11.00 and evening - from 18.00 to 22.00. At this time, "Echo of Moscow", which among 50 radio stations, including music ones, usually holds the 8th position, turns out to be in 1st, 2nd, 3rd places. We set ourselves the task of bypassing the "Mayak" - and bypassed, six months ago.
- Do you feel like a person in your place?
- I'm absolutely in the right place. I like to make designs that bring success. Like to be successful.
- You call "Ekho Moskvy" a "radio station of world significance", but you practically have no bureaus in the West.
- World significance lies elsewhere. According to the level of citation by world agencies and newspapers, Ekho Moskvy occupies the first place. They quote our guests, our news. I keep a close eye on the citation index.
- What are your main topics today?
- The morning began with a meeting with the Prime Minister of Ukraine Tymoshenko. In the evening - a conversation with the President of Georgia Saakashvili, I will take emotions and information from him. And our information service deals with the main topics, I do not interfere there.
- What impression did Tymoshenko make on you?
- Charming. I will follow her to Kyiv, I will do interviews with her. Without modesty I will say that I am one of the best interviewers in the electronic media. I have had a special ability to split a person who owns information that he does not want to give since school days, when even a C student at the blackboard must answer a three, not a deuce. He must be split into what he knew, but forgot, taught, but flew out. The main task is to get out of him what he knows. I think Yulia Vladimirovna and I will come to an agreement and I will go to Kyiv.
- What do you want to "split" it into?
- I want to know about her attitude to our common history, to people like Mazepa, Bandera and Petliura. I want to know what will happen to the border between Russia and Ukraine when the latter enters the European Union and visas will have to be introduced. I want to find out what will happen to Crimea, the schism of the Russian Orthodox Church, to ask what she thinks about the Russian language...
"I LEGALIZED HARRY"
- Alexei Alekseevich, Putin should give you an order for raising demographics. During the 18 years of Echo's existence, your employees seem to have had 18 children...
- Over the past three months, as many as 6 babies have been born - just some kind of demographic boom! Children fly out like bottle caps! I was forced to announce that the pregnancy limit for this year has been exhausted, as there is no one to work. All girls are aware that you can start an intimate life no earlier than May, in order to go on maternity leave no earlier than January. I now have 12 out of 68 employees who are on maternity leave!
- Does your wife Elena also work with you?
- Yes, she is making a program on the "Echo" about the garden and the garden. On the air she is Sitnikova, and according to the documents - Venediktova.
- When Elena married you, were you already the editor-in-chief?
- We got married just in the year of my election, although I proposed to her before that. Therefore, I tease her all the time that she got married out of selfish motives.
- Is this your first marriage?
- Yes, both I and Elena have the first, although I am 14 years older.
- How do you feel if employees have office romances?
- My order on "Echo" legalized harassment (English - harassment) - sexual harassment at work. If you want - seek health! The country needs healthy babies! How to solve the demographic problem if people spend all their time at work?
- Could you reprimand your wife?
- Easily. But it was not necessary, since Elena is even more pedantic and more conscientious than I am. I am convinced that the relatives of the bosses who work at the same enterprise must be holier than the Pope.
- Elena is broadcasting a program about a garden, but you don’t have a dacha ...
- And no car. But her parents have a dacha, at some 70th kilometer, overgrown with burdocks and nettles, well, even with flowers. Our child goes there on vacation in the summer.
- Don't you like nature?
- I am a city boy, a flower on the pavement, and, like Marx, "the idiocy of rural life" is not close to me. I love Moscow, Chistye Prudy, I live in the center, not far from the place where I was born, and I don’t want to live outside the city. I don't feel comfortable there. It's just not my rhythm of life, I'm wrapped in wires, I'm an urbanist to the core. The only thing I agree to is to take a book and close the door, while the mobile is nearby, the computer is turned on, all screens are working.
"THE TRANSMISSIONS I COMPOSE IN PARIS"
- You studied in the evening. And why did it happen?
- I didn’t get half a point, entering the history department of the pedagogical institute, I was offered to go to the evening. He began to study and work at his school as a laboratory assistant, and then for 4 years he was a postman.
- While you were delivering newspapers and magazines, did you have a premonition that life would be connected with the media?
- In the 70s, no one had any premonitions, and what kind of media? What are you talking about? It was just curiosity. Since I was still serving the houses where foreign correspondents lived, the bourgeois press came there. I graduated from a French school and freely read the Le Figaro newspaper and the Paris Match magazine. Therefore, every day I could compare what our and foreign newspapers write in real time. It greatly expanded my horizons.
- How did it happen that you got on the radio?
- My friends Korzun and Buntman created this radio in the summer of 1990 and offered me to work during school holidays. I agreed to bail them out for no more than two weeks, but I enjoyed doing the interview so much...
- Where do you come up with your projects?
- Mostly in Paris. I have several cafes there, absolutely unique, where I spend 15 hours, and there the main programs are invented. The atmosphere is creative, and around the same people who are busy with their work. In Moscow, I am recognizable, people come up, say, either as they love me, or vice versa.
- Do you have any French order?
- Not just some, but the Order of the Legion of Honor. Formally, it was given to strengthen friendship and mutual understanding between the peoples of Russia and France. Informally - for the fact that we promoted French chanson, French literature, culture, gastronomy here. It so happened that all the founders of "Echo" - I, Korzun and Buntman - are francophones.
OUR DOSSIER
Alexei Venediktov was born on December 18, 1955 in Moscow. He graduated from the evening department of the history department of the Moscow Pedagogical Institute. They did not join the army because of poor eyesight, minus 10. He worked as a postman, a history teacher at school. He came to Ekho Moskvy at the age of 35. At first he worked as a correspondent, since 1998 - chief editor. He created dozens of author's programs, now he is leading two of them - "Everything is so" and "48 minutes". Alexei Venediktov's wife Elena Sitnikova graduated from the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics of Moscow State University, has been working at Echo since 1993, their son Lesha is 7 years old.

The editor-in-chief-liberal drags the favorite to meetings with ministers

The editor-in-chief-liberal drags the favorite to meetings with ministers

The editor-in-chief of the radio station "Echo of Moscow" Alexei VENEDIKTOV can be congratulated. Firstly, his dismissal due to a conflict with shareholders, about which there was a lot of gossip, still will not take place. And secondly, the 58-year-old media boss has a charming 23-year-old assistant. With which Alexei Alekseevich practically does not part. Now, apparently, having gained wisdom from her beloved boss, the favorite will teach Russian journalists good manners.

In a short time, the young presenter of the column "Out of the corner of my eye" Olesya Ryabtseva took unprecedented power at the radio station. Here are a few comments on the Facebook page of "Echo ...": "Lesya Ryabtseva shows miracles! In just a week, she yelled or humiliated so many people ... Everything should be decided only by her. And if someone decides without her, then there will be a big scandal and complaints in the AAB vest. But just recently, this girl just came to the editorial office, quietly sat as a producer and was friends with all the people whom she now pours slop on ... "," She thinks that she "caught God by the beard." Which is almost (within the framework of “Echo ...”) it is”, “Yeah, that’s exactly how it was. An irreducible stain has already bellowed on Lexic's jacket.

Lesya is a public person. She actively shares wise thoughts on the Web. At the same time, commenting on closed meetings of high-ranking officials with chief editors, where she personally leads Venediktov! - She happens at all or almost all of my meetings, including closed ones, with people who make decisions, - the chief editor himself said. - You saw her in Vienna during your visit Putin, for some reason everyone showed her on TV - not me, a handsome man, but her. She also attended meetings with Lavrov, with golodets etc. She asked for my permission to write a blog on the site about what she thinks is happening at these meetings. "You can't broadcast our conversations, these are table conversations," I said. She says, “Okay, I want to convey impressions.” And I found it interesting, I must say it's interesting.

However, not everyone shares the opinion of Venediktov. It irritates even patented liberals, the target audience of Ekho Moskvy. “But what is this, excuse me, for ...? - a well-known blogger writes on his Twitter Rustem Adagamov. - Who is this Lesya Ryabtseva and why? What do you have there in Moscow in general going on? Gases?

“Do you know how Putin’s secretaries differ from Venediktor’s secretary? - famous journalist quipped Galina Timchenko. - They are silent and do not blog. What they “think” is not seen by anyone except their girlfriends, as it should be.”

But the editor-in-chief of The New Times magazine spoke sharpest of all. Evgenia Albats: "Irritating these girls, whose only value is what they have between their legs, who believe that this is the criterion of evaluation."

But Venediktov himself is delighted that his assistant infuriates people. Including the guests of the column “Out of the corner of my eye.” - There was no case that the hero did not call me with claims, - Alexey Alekseevich is pleased. - Today is the 12th rubric - I received 11 calls. And there were meetings, and there was an op: “What does she understand! Shut her up!” and so on. I won't shut her up. This is her view, and it seems to me that it is useful for the heroes and you to get acquainted with it. In social networks, Ryabtseva’s talents are questioned: “Do you need your own Sveta from Ivanov?” - listeners write ironically.

Responding to obscene hints, Lesya informed with dignity on her page: they say she has an official young man. And his name is well known at the radio station. To which one of the netizens replied: “Just think! Venediktov has a whole wife working for Echo ... and a 14-year-old son. It does not interfere..."

But Lesya is not up to gossip. She swung at the creation of a code of conduct for journalists on the Internet. After the scandal with the incorrect behavior of an employee of "Echo ..." Alexandra Plusheva on the Web, which almost cost Venediktov the chair of the editor-in-chief, this topic is very relevant for the radio station. But Lesya does not recognize the framework. “The maximum task is to create common rules of conduct for everyone. Each and every journalist. Radio stations, holdings or countries - it doesn't matter. This is a well-known journalist Andrey Malgin wrote on Twitter: “Lesya Ryabtseva, let’s go ...” And indicated the address that the law forbids us to voice. Venediktov reacted harshly: “Malgin is not a man.” Alexey Alekseevich himself is, of course, a gentleman. And that with a demon in the ribs - these are particulars. But he brought up a talented change.