Sokolyanskaya previously worked for the state-run Moscow 24 channel, legitimizing the annexation of Crimea and talking about “militias” in eastern Ukraine.
Ksenia Sokolyanskaya, a former host of this channel and formerly the host of the show “Evening with Ksenia Sokolyanskaya” on Moskva 24, was appointed as the creative director of Current Time. Detector Media learned this from two sources who wished to remain anonymous for career and ethical reasons.
Current Time is a joint project between Radio Liberty and Voice of America that operates in the Russian language. Its office is located in Prague, and it broadcasts to several countries in the region, including Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, and Georgia.
On March 29, the same day that Ilya Klishin’s appointment as the head of the Current Time online team was announced, Ksenia Sokolyanskaya’s promotion to the creative director was revealed to the staff. However, following opposition from the Ukrainian, Belarusian, and some of the Russian editorial staff, as well as public scrutiny by Detector Media, Klishin’s appointment did not go through. Klishin is also a former propagandist.
When contacted by Detector Media for comment, Victoria Benner, the communications director of Radio Liberty, denied that the appointment of the head of the internet team had been confirmed. In a subsequent comment, Benner stated that Radio Liberty does not provide commentary on individual personnel matters and that they are still searching for a candidate for the position that Klishin was supposed to fill.
Ksenia Sokolyanskaya worked at Moscow 24 until at least the autumn of 2017. Moscow 24 is owned by the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK), which is a Russian state media holding company that includes propaganda channels such as Russia 1 and Russia 24. At Moscow 24, Sokolyanskaya hosted a program called “Evening with Ksenia Sokolyanskaya”, which has the same name as her later show at Current Time.
In 2014, Sokolyanskaya was employed by a state-run Russian channel and thus was involved in promoting the various narratives of Russian propaganda at the time.
For instance, she contributed to the dissemination of information in preparation for the annexation of Crimea. On February 28, 2014, she mentioned in her program that “the Moscow government will continue to provide assistance to Sevastopol, despite the events taking place in Ukraine”. Her show also aired a report that justified the “referendum” in Crimea and presented a misleading image of unanimous support for the annexation. Additionally, Sokolyanskaya talked about Russian posters promoting Crimea with slogans such as “We do not abandon our own”, which were similar to those used by Russia to justify the full-scale invasion in 2022. She also informed the audience about the “Crimea, try to take it away” candy.
Sokolyanskaya did not mention in any of her publications on Crimea that its annexation violated Ukraine’s territorial integrity, was not recognized by the international community, and that Russia was the occupier, despite the fact that these facts were later recognized by UN resolutions. On the contrary, when speaking about the beginning of the annexation on April 11, 2014, Sokolyanskaya explicitly denied Russian involvement by stating, “Let me remind you that the self-defense fighters of the peninsula without any identification marks on their uniforms were called the ‘polite people’ on the Internet”. It was only six days later when Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that the “polite people” were, in fact, Russian troops.
Likewise, “Evening with Ksenia Sokolyanskaya” played a role in a propaganda campaign to support Russia’s aggression in eastern Ukraine. On April 8, 2014, the program aired a story narrated by Sokolyanskaya, which stated that Ukraine had never been a unified state and highlighted the supposed historical connection between eastern Ukraine and Russia. These historical myths were similar to those spread by Vladimir Putin to justify the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Putin also propagated myths about Nazism in Ukraine and claimed that Lenin created Ukraine. These same narratives were promoted on “Evening with Ksenia Sokolyanskaya” on April 22, 2014. In a report on April 10, 2014, the program quoted a man who stated, “You don’t negotiate with fascists. We drove them away in those years, our grandfathers and fathers did. We have no right to remain passive”. With such rhetoric, Russia appealed to public sentiment and attempted to justify its war against Ukraine.
On April 9, 2014, Sokolyanska discussed “mercenary units” on her program, another falsehood that Russia continues to perpetuate to this day. At the time, she stated: “There is information that the Greystone security service fighters are supposed to suppress the protests of the residents of the southeast of the country”. As with all other Russian propaganda, Sokolyanska attempted to depict Russian aggression as an internal civil war in Ukraine.
This same tendency can also be observed in Sokolyanska’s vocabulary in her report on June 16, 2014, in which she referred to the Ukrainian army as “security forces”, the Russian army as “militias”, and the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine as the DPR and LPR. Furthermore, she added, without any balancing comments from the official Ukrainian authorities, that the Ukrainian army fired on civilians. This was not the only piece in which she made similar accusations.
In a report on April 24, 2014, which covered Ukraine’s liberation of the city of Sloviansk from the Russian invaders, “Evening with Ksenia Sokolyanska” portrayed the situation as if it were Ukrainian aggression that was being countered by local “self-defense”, despite the fact that the Russian takeover of the city was led by a Russian citizen and now blogger Igor Girkin.
Sokolyanska’s case is not the first one for the US Agency for Global Media, which includes Voice of America and Radio Liberty. Another colleague of hers, Ilya Klishin, was set to be appointed head of the online team for Current Time despite publishing articles like “How Russia can keep Crimea after Putin”.
A personnel scandal also occurred in the Russian service of Voice of America, where they hired Harry Knyagnitsky, an NTV propagandist who used to film reports about “militias”. Following an appeal from Ukrainian media professionals and outrage from Voice of America staff, Knyagnitsky was placed on paid leave. However, a decision on his future has yet to be made.
