Anton Vyacheslavovich Krasovsky (Kuznetsov-Krasovsky) (; born 18 July 1975) is a Russian television presenter, journalist and activist. He was a presenter and director of Russian-language broadcasting on the Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT from 2020 until his suspension in October 2022, after comments he made caused a backlash. Previously, he came to prominence for his defense of gay rights in Russia, including his criticism of the
Russian gay propaganda law
For the Purpose of Protecting Children from Information Advocating a Denial of Traditional Family Values, commonly known as the Russian anti-LGBT law or as the Russian anti-gay law, is a law of Russia. It was Unanimity, unanimously passed by the ...
.
Life and career
Krasovsky was born on 18 July 1975 in
Podolsk
Podolsk ( rus, Подольск, p=pɐˈdolʲsk) is an industrial city, center of Podolsk Urban Okrug, Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Pakhra River (a tributary of the Moskva River). Population:
History
The first mentions of the vill ...
and studied at the
Maxim Gorky Literature Institute
The Maxim Gorky Literature Institute () is an institution of higher education in Moscow, Russia. It is located at 25 Tverskoy Boulevard in central Moscow.
History
The institute was founded in 1933 on the initiative of Maxim Gorky, a writer, foun ...
. In 2011 Krasovsky participated in the presidential campaign of
Mikhail Prokhorov
Mikhail Dmitrievich Prokhorov (; born 3 May 1965) is a Russian-Israeli oligarch and politician. He was also an owner of the Brooklyn Nets.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Prokhorov obtained Russian state-owned metals assets at prices ...
. He also worked as a journalist and editor at the pro-
Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...
NTV NTV may refer to:
Television
* NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh
* NTV (India), Telugu regional channel
* NTV (Kenya)
* NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia
* NTV (Newport Televisio ...
channel. He previously worked at ''
Kommersant
(, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia certified July 2013 circulation of the daily ...
'', ''
Yandex
Yandex LLC ( rus, Яндекс, r=Yandeks, p=ˈjandəks) is a Russian technology company that provides Internet-related products and services including a web browser, search engine, cloud computing, web mapping, online food ordering, streaming ...
'', ''
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
( rus, Независимая газета, p=nʲɪzɐˈvʲisʲɪməjə ɡɐˈzʲetə, t=Independent Newspaper) is a Russian daily newspaper.
History and profile
Soviet Union
was established by the Moscow Soviet in August 1990. Its first ed ...
'' and ''
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ' ...
''.
Krasovsky later began work at another pro-Kremlin channel, Kontr TV, started by himself and
Sergey Minaev
Sergey Sergeevich Minaev (Russian: Серге́й Серге́евич Мина́ев, born January 25, 1975) is a Russian writer, TV and radio host, screenwriter, blogger, and entrepreneur.
Minaev's debut novel "Dukhless. The Tale of an Unreal ...
in December 2012. On 25 January 2013, during a discussion of a proposed national ban on "homosexual propaganda", Krasovsky revealed his homosexuality, stating on-air, "I'm gay and I'm as much a human-being as
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
and
Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of govern ...
Medvedev Medvedev () and female Medvedeva (), from Russian (), meaning the animal "bear", are Slavic surnames. Notable bearers of the name include:
Medvedev
(male form):
*Alexander Medvedev (born 1955), Russian business manager
*Aleksei Medvedev (disambigu ...
." () His statement was not made available online or was deleted soon afterwards, and on 28 January Krasovsky resigned from the channel and denounced the working environment there. According to other sources, he was fired the same day. His face was soon censored from the show website and removed from the TV show's archives.
Krasovsky stated that he came out because he had had enough of feeling like a hypocrite. He later referred to the channel's entire output as "propaganda." In May, following the murder of Vlad Tornovy reportedly because he was thought to be gay, Krasovsky published an article in ''The Guardian'' denouncing homophobia in Russia. He wrote:
Krasovsky spoke out in August 2013 against the boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia that some gay rights activists proposed. He said: "If you want to boycott Olympic games in Russia, you're trying to boycott 7 million gay people in Russia. You want to boycott me." He is interviewed about his experiences in the 2014 documentary film '' Campaign of Hate: Russia and Gay Propaganda''.
In July 2016, Krasovsky and the head of the outpatient department of the Moscow Regional AIDS Center Elena Orlova-Morozova established The Foundation in support of people who live with HIV — AIDS.Center.
Since 2021 Krasovsky has presented a program on Russia Today called ''The Antonyms''.
In October 2022, Krasovsky, who is openly gay, supported the approval of a law banning "
LGBT propaganda
"Gay agenda" or "homosexual agenda" is a pejorative term for the normalization of non-heterosexual sexual orientations.
The term has been used to disparage advocacy for LGBTQ rights, rooted in the belief that LGBTQ activists seek to recruit het ...
" in Russia. Previously, in 2013, Krasovsky spoke out against such laws and urged gay people to fight for their rights.
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
Krasovsky was a prominent supporter and pro-war commentator during the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
. Prior to the invasion, amid a rise in bellicose rhetoric in Russian state media, Krasovsky referred to Ukrainians as "animals", described Ukraine as "our Russian land", and warned that Russia would invade if Ukraine was close to joining NATO.
After the Vinnytsia missile strikes in July 2022, which killed 23 people, including 3 children, Krasovsky said that "Vinnytsia is not enough", and voiced his hope for a "final solution. A real, military one".
In August 2022, he said that "there should not be any Ukrainians at all" and therefore, that the
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language, spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the first language, first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians.
Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet, a variant of t ...
should be banned.
On 10 October 2022, in the aftermath of missile strikes across Ukraine which caused 14 deaths, Krasovsky shared a video of him dancing on a balcony in a cap with the letter '' Z'', stating: "To say that I am happy is to say nothing at all. I'm just dancing on the balcony in Russian Army pajamas." In another post on Telegram, Krasovsky stated that the attack was "not enough".
Suspension from RT
In late October 2022, during a broadcast, Krasovsky said that Ukrainian children who had in the past criticised the Soviet Union as occupiers of Ukraine should have been thrown into river to make them drown there or been burned alive in their cottages. When Krasovsky said Ukraine "should not exist at all", his interviewee objected as this would mean incorporating many people who did not wish to live under Russian rule, to which Krasovsky said Russia should "shoot" these people. The comments sparked outrage both outside and inside Russia, and Ukrainian foreign minister
Dmytro Kuleba
Dmytro Ivanovych Kuleba ( ; born 19 April 1981) is a Ukrainian politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was concurrently a member of the National Defense and Security Council of Ukraine.
The youngest foreign affai ...
called on countries to ban RT for what he described as incitement of genocide. RT's editor-in-chief,
Margarita Simonyan
Margarita Simonovna Simonyan (born 6 April 1980) is a Russian media executive. She is the editor-in-chief of the Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT,
That same day, Krasovsky apologized:
On the evening of the same day, Krasovsky recorded a four-minute video apology stating that "every baby's tear is my pain, my worst nightmare".
Personal life
On 25 January 2013 he
came out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...
as a gay man.
In December 2017, Krasovsky revealed that he has been HIV positive since 2011.
Sanctions
In late February, following the start of the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
, Krasovsky was sanctioned by the European Union; the government of the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...