Dmitry Alekseyevich Glukhovsky (, born 12 June 1979) is a Russian author, best known for the science fiction novel ''
Metro 2033'' and its sequels. As a journalist, Dmitry Glukhovsky has worked for
Euronews
Euronews (stylised in lowercase) is a pan-European television news broadcasting, news network, headquartered in Lyon, France. It is a provider of livestreamed news, which can be viewed in Europe and North Africa via satellite, and in most of the ...
,
RT in its early years, and others. Aside from his native Moscow, Glukhovsky has also lived in Israel, Germany, and France. He currently lives abroad due to his wanted status and prison sentence in Russia for his
criticism
Criticism is the construction of a judgement about the negative or positive qualities of someone or something. Criticism can range from impromptu comments to a written detailed response. , ''the act of giving your opinion or judgment about the ...
of the
Russian government
The Russian Government () or fully titled the Government of the Russian Federation () is the highest federal executive governmental body of the Russian Federation. It is accountable to the president of the Russian Federation and controlled by ...
and the
invasion of Ukraine.
Biography
Personal life and activism
Dmitry Glukhovsky was born and raised in Moscow.
His Jewish father Alexei worked as an editor for Gosteleradio, an agency that ran television and radio programming in the USSR, while his Russian mother Larisa worked as a photo editor for
TASS agency. He graduated from a school in
Arbat District, and having already decided to become a writer, conceived the idea for the post-apocalyptic novel ''
Metro 2033'' at the age of 15.
At the age of 17, he left Russia to study in Israel and lived there for four and a half years. While living in Israel, he learned
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
and earned a university degree in Journalism and International Relations at the
Hebrew University
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...
in Jerusalem. He completed this degree in Hebrew, no differently to native-language Israeli students most of whom were five years older than him.
While talking about the experience, he said: "Not that I started feeling myself a Jew, but I definitely started feeling an Israeli."
The writer was married to producer Elena Glukhovskaya, whom he met while working at
Russia Today. The couple have two children. On
vDud, Glukhovsky revealed he and Elena divorced earlier in 2020.
In 2021, Glukhovsky publicly denounced the arrest of Russian opposition activist
Alexei Navalny
Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny (, ; 4 June 197616 February 2024) was a Russian Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, opposition leader, anti-corruption in Russia, corruption activist and political prisoner. He founded the Anti-Corruption Found ...
and demanded his release in an online video. In the wake of the
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 ...
, Glukhovsky has shown support to Ukraine, including a public statement aired on
Arte
Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...
. On 7 June 2022, Glukhovsky revealed he was placed on the Russian federal wanted list; he wrote on his
Telegram
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...
channel that he was accused of discrediting the
Russian Armed Forces
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Russian Ground Forces, Ground Forces, Russian Navy, Navy, and Russi ...
due to a post he made on
Instagram
Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
. After a Moscow district court ordered Glukhovsky's
arrest in absentia, he faces up to 10 or 15 years in prison. The arrest in absentia was issued on 13 May. In October, Glukhovsky was added to the list of
foreign agent
A foreign agent is any person or entity actively carrying out the interests of a foreign principal while located in another host country, generally outside the Diplomatic immunity, protections offered to those working in their official capacity fo ...
s by the
justice ministry
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
. On 7 August 2023, Glukhovsky was handed an 8-year prison sentence.
Career

Glukhovsky began writing ''Metro 2033'' as his first novel at the age of 18, and then published it on his website in 2002, available for all to read for free as an interactive experiment. First published in print form in 2005, the book and its sequels turned into
a multimedia franchise including a video game series. Glukhovsky collaborated with Ukrainian game company
4A Games in the development of ''
Metro 2033''. While he did not write the game's story, it is based on his novel. While ''
Metro: Last Light'' is not based on his novel ''
Metro 2034'', because the developers felt it was less fit for a game than the original book, Glukhovsky helped to write the story and dialogue for the game. He published his extended version of the game's story in novel form as ''
Metro 2035''.
From 2002 to 2007, he worked at the global European media platform
Euronews
Euronews (stylised in lowercase) is a pan-European television news broadcasting, news network, headquartered in Lyon, France. It is a provider of livestreamed news, which can be viewed in Europe and North Africa via satellite, and in most of the ...
in
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
, France, after which he returned to Russia and continued his career at the newly created Russia Today (
RT). Over the course of three years he traveled halfway around the world, was a
Kremlin pool journalist, visited the
Baikonur Cosmodrome
The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian Human spaceflight, crewed spaceflights are l ...
and the exclusion zone of the
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, as well as the
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...
, and covered the
2006 Lebanon War
The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...
as a war correspondent.
He has also worked with the German radio station
Deutsche Welle
(; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...
and the British television channel
Sky News
Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...
. From 2007 to 2009, he worked at
Radio Mayak.
Literature
Filmography
References
External links
Dmitry Glukhovsky's blog*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glukhovsky, Dmitry
1979 births
20th-century Russian male writers
21st-century Russian journalists
21st-century Russian novelists
21st-century Russian short story writers
Fugitives wanted by Russia
Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Social Sciences alumni
Living people
People listed in Russia as media foreign agents
RT (TV network) people
Russian male bloggers
Russian male journalists
Russian male novelists
Russian people of Jewish descent
Russian war correspondents
Writers from Moscow