Kiselyov: Sanctions Show Russia is True Defender of Free Expression (Izvestia, Russsia)

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Dmitry Kiselyov, one of the most influential people in Russia's state media

and a popular TV host, is reviled by liberals and the LGBT community, but

clearly has the ear of Vladimir Putin. Here he answers critics, and asserts

that Russia has taken America's place as a beacon of free expression.

Kiselyov: Russia Has Taken West's Place as Beacon of Free Expression (Izvestia, Russsia)

"The West simply doesn't like seeing Russia on the upswing. That's the heart of the matter. There is a clear upward trajectory, even if the economy is not as solid as we would like. ... All Western news agencies impose their own point of view. Take Reuters or the Associated Press. Both are in fact propaganda agencies. They shape the dominant narrative and talk of what their audiences ought to think. ... If there is a television program that supports Russia's progress and helps it recover from the injuries incurred in the 20th century, the West imposes sanction on its host. Yes - they have labeled me a homophobe and anti-Semite who wants to see America burn, etc. It isn't very sophisticated." -- Russian media chief Dmitry Kiselyov

An interview with Rossiya Segodnya chief Dmitry Kiselyov

Translated By Igor Medvedev

April 14, 2014

Russia - Izvestia - Original Article (Russian)

Margarita Simonyan Simonovna, the hard charging editor-in-chief of the Russia Today television network, is just as unapologetic as Mr. Kiselyov in defending state-funded media. Do they have a point when they argue that Western corporate media is just as prone to error and propaganda - if not more so?

BBC NEWS VIDEO: Dmitry Kiselyov: Russia's chief spin doctor, Apr. 1, 00:0o:35

Dmitry Kiselyov, director general of the Rossiya Segodnya news agency and host of TV program Vesti Nedeli (News of the Week), is the only journalist in the world to be targeted by political sanctions. The European Union included the prominent TV journalist on a list of Russians barred from traveling, owning property, or banking in the E.U. The World Press Freedom Committee, a leading organization on the rights of journalists, has come to his defense.

In this interview with Izvestia, Kiselev says that the imposition of sanctions against him are not just a threat to the voice of one journalist, but journalists around the world. He also says that Russia and the West have switched roles, with our country now the chief defender of democratic principles and free speech.

IZVESTIA: You are the only journalist to be targeted by sanctions. Does that make you the Yuri Gagarin of modern journalism? Did you expect this?

DMITRY KISELYOV: This applies to all journalists. In my memory, this is the first time international sanctions have been imposed against a journalist. I'm just a journalist X [an ordinary journalist]. It is telling that Europe has initiated such sanctions, which reflect a blatant disregard for the freedom of speech said to be so dear to E.U. officials, and which create a dangerous and disturbing precedent. In fact, this is a betrayal of European values. If this precedent is normalized, and if the journalistic community in Europe, America, or any other country, fails to respond, it would mean that journalists consider this legitimate. To say that we no longer need freedom of speech or believe it is a core value, represents a major turning point in Western civilization. Moreover, the E.U. is not alone. It has the backing of the Norwegian Storting [Parliament].

IZVESTIA: Even Norway, which is so dear to you, given that you have a degree in Scandinavian philology, has supported these sanctions …

DMITRY KISELYOV: Yes, I studied the subject at Leningrad State University and broadcast in Norwegian for ten years at Moscow Radio. So a man who is wholly a friend to Norway is being targeted by Norwegian sanctions which seek to restrict freedom of speech. Incredible! While I believe they aren't fully aware of what they're doing, it does represent a turning point in Western civilization.

I'm accused of disseminating propaganda - of being a propagandist. The word “propaganda” in Greek means dissemination of information, ideas, and concepts. It is interesting how in the West the word is used as an insult. ... But propaganda, unlike freedom of speech, is not a an official category under international law and the constitutions of all countries. Whereas these sanctions are formalized. Although illegitimate in character, these are state, interstate, supranational bureaucratic sanctions that are legal in the sense that they were passed into law. They are directed at freedom of speech.

IZVESTIA: It was an odd formulation by the European Union that you are prohibited entry as a Russian citizen. Does that mean that as a journalist, you are free to visit E.U. countries?

DMITRY KISELYOV: I don't know how that works. Nowhere has this been officially announced. If we proceed under the assumption that I can only visit Europe on a business trip, that means the E.U. is backpedalling because it realizes the barbarity of restricting the work of journalists. Europe has put itself in an awkward position and will have to explain what motivated its own decisions. But if we assume that I can travel to the E.U. in a professional capacity, even though E.U. officials have called what I do propaganda, Europe has put itself in a ridiculous, paradoxical position: If I can come and go for the purposes of work, but not take a vacation, does that mean that they don't want me to interrupt my propaganda by taking a vacation? Doesn't that seem schizophrenic to you?

IZVESTIA: If it's so obvious that the chain of logic has been broken here, then what do you think is the meaning of these sanctions?

DMITRY KISELYOV: I don't get the meaning. This is ludicrous, simply absurd. These sanctions don't affect me as a person, yet their purpose is aimed at changing my behavior. They threaten to seize my property and bank accounts, but I don't have any in the West. These sanctions target not only my freedom of speech - but freedom of speech in general. I'm just a symbol, or rather an example.

IZVESTIA: The imposition of sanctions has become something of a trend, with the United States and European Union regularly imposing them. You're the only journalist they have gone after. Do you find that perplexing?

DMITRY KISELYOV: It's a strange story. They say I am the chief propagandist. This us either madness or an ignorance of the realities on their part.

IZVESTIA: If the United States and E.U. don't in fact understand the reality, and yet the list includes powerful statesmen, perhaps someone advised them on who the candidates for blacklisting should be - which included you?

DMITRY KISELYOV: I know who exactly advised them. Sergei Parkhomenko and Alexei Navalny created these lists. They don't hide it. But if Europe is going to rely on the opinions of a vanishing minority in Russia, it will find it difficult to form informed decisions in this world, especially when it comes to Russia. There are many issues in the world that will be difficult to resolve without Russia's participation, including on questions of war and peace in different regions.

Such behavior on the part of the West borders on schizophrenia. There's that word again. Schizophrenia is when consciousness is split into two parallel worlds, drawing in secondary signs and secondary factors. When we follow the opinions of insignificant people, and even cultivate and inflate their opinions, we are entering a hall of crooked mirrors.

In my opinion, the great powers that form the backbone of the E.U. cannot afford this, because their status demands a certain level of responsibility. Otherwise they get themselves into absurd situations that eventually harm their own nationals. What does freedom of expression in European countries mean, now that they have imposed sanctions on a journalist? Will they legalize taboos or put limits on the work of journalists? If they adopt a such a position toward a foreign journalist, why not apply the same standards within the E.U.?

IZVESTIA: A journalist who works for state media is automatically branded a "propagandist." Your show's ratings are high and everyone has an opinion about you. Are you the leading propagandist?

DMITRY KISELYOV: Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, on Dec. 9 by executive order, appointed me director general of a new international information agency, Rossiya Segodnya. Sanctions against me and the agency have been imposed during a period of reorganization, when Rossiya Segodnya hasn't yet had the capacity to do propaganda. We hadn't introduced any new brands, while our main product, the English, French and Spanish news wires, appeared only on April 1, after the sanctions were announced.

So could one say that the sanctions are preventive? Are they meant to discourage me from producing propaganda? The fact is that all Western news agencies impose their own point of view. Take Reuters or the Associated Press. Both are in fact propaganda agencies. They shape the dominant narrative and talk of what their audiences ought to think. They interpret history, the present and future, and try to lay out a system of values, ideological positions, and a political agenda.

IZVESTIA: Will your agency will also have a dominant political theme?

DMITRY KISELYOV: Of course, but we haven't had time to develop one. All news agencies do this, and each has a leader engaged in legitimate professional activities. Perhaps it makes sense to sanction them as well. After all, they are engaged in propaganda. ... In today's world, information - how it is gathered, analyzed, interpreted and processed, its formats ranging from social media to feature films, pushes a system of values, views on good and evil, and shapes attitudes on different events. It turns out that E.U. countries are allowed to have such agencies, but by no means may Moscow. Russia, of course, wants to compete in the field of international information, because information warfare has become a standard practice in the modern world. Today, the bombers are sent in after the information campaign. For instance, America lost the war in Syria and achieved nothing. They also lost the information war over Crimea and achieved nothing. In the past, an attack was preceded by artillery fire; now that has been replaced with information.

IZVESTIA: So the sanctions were targeted at you specifically, and weren't related to the nascent agency you lead?

DMITRY KISELYOV: I am absolutely certain that the main irritant here was Vesti Nedeli (News of the Week). It is an important news and analysis program on which I offer my weekly take on events, it is popular and well-known. People love it. This was confirmed last year by an analysis TV channel data by the Public Opinion Foundation. We came in first in a number of categories. Vesti Nedeli is an influential program. It promotes, or rather propagandizes - I'm not afraid to use this word, healthy values, healthy patriotism. I'm sure the sanctions are related to Vesti Nedeli.

IZVESTIA: Other countries certainly have similar news programs, but no sanctions are imposed on their hosts. Can it be something you said, specifically, to provoke this?

DMITRY KISELYOV: Notable pundits are, as a rule, people of advanced age like me - I will soon be 60 - with extensive experience and impressive backgrounds, and a long record in journalism. These professionals have a perfect right to express their own opinions on these programs, and they do. After watching them for many years, the public tends to listen to them. People follow their evolution and form a stable opinion. People trust them - and public trust in this case is a sociologically measureable characteristic. The higher the public trust, the greater freedom these pundits have, and the greater their responsibility. In any case, all of the world's leading powers have such people, and there are only a few dozen. They aren't mass produced. All of them are engaged in the same process of presenting and interpreting news, and they all emphasize national interests in the process. So, some countries can have them, while others cannot? Is that what the E.U. thinks?

Dmitry Kiselyov on a sting ray hunt in Crimea.

IZVESTIA: Meaning that other countries are held to a different standard. Can it be that they were annoyed by your statement about burning or burying the hearts of gay people killed in traffic accidents?

DMITRY KISELYOV: But this is a complete betrayal of freedom of speech. As for gays, I have a very clear position. Gay culture certainly has a right to exist in Russia, and it does de facto exist. Yet it is a minority culture, and that is all it will ever be. A minority culture should not be imposed on the majority, especially not through aggressive propaganda. I don't believe that this non-traditional sexual orientation is a disease. I'm not even saying it is outside physiological norms. But it is certainly outside accepted social practices, and for me this is a strongly held belief. Each country has the right to define its own social norms. We have a social norm - the traditional family. The Russian government is obliged to encourage this social norm, because it is crucial to society. A family means children. Russia is experiencing a demographic crisis. To support the spread of gay culture in Russia is the equivalent of self-elimination. That is what they propose. But do we have to agree?

IZVESTIA: Do you thinks this is being imposed on use?

DMITRY KISELYOV: Yes - and it is something absolutely alien to us. The examples are legion. For instance, my line about burning the hearts of gays is now being used as a hostile meme. Alright, let the critics continue their attacks. I won't take back on what I said, but let me clarify what I meant.

One needs to understand the context. I was being deliberately provocative. It was a controlled flame that I used to ignite a discussion. I was after a dramatic conflict of opinion; it was part of the script. The discussion focused on plans to introduce fines for promoting non-traditional sexual relations among adolescents - in effect for molestation. One has to understand that since gay people cannot reproduce among themselves, they have to recruit new members into their ranks. Gay pride parades are aimed at luring new members - everyone marching in bright feathers and laughing to show how much fun it is to be gay. However, the reality of being gay is very different.

Studies show that the average life expectancy of gay people is much lower. According to statistics, they encounter more violence in their relationships. They are more likely to seek psychological help and are more prone to suicide. The gay community is recognized as greatly at risk of AIDS and hepatitis. Since even modern methods cannot confirm with 100 percent accuracy that donated blood or organs are HIV free, gays are prohibited from donating under U.S., Canadian, and E.U. law. In the U.S., there is a lifetime ban on anyone who has had sex with a gay man since 1977. In other countries a moratorium on donating has been imposed on people who have had homosexual contact. The rationale is provided on the Web sites of such venerable institutions as the FDA, which is the U.S. equivalent of the Rospotrebnadzor.

At this point, Dmitry Kiselev opened a book by Sigmund Freud entitled to a bookmarked page, and read out a highlighted line: “A person's final sexual attitude is not decided until after puberty…”

DMITRY KISELYOV: This statement is grounds for banning homosexual propaganda among minors, because their identity is still being formed. I don't deny that some may be predisposed to homosexuality. We are talking about how to save the others.

IZVESTIA: Do you think Russia should also ban sexual minorities from donating [blood and organs]?

DMITRY KISELYOV: In Russia, donations by gays are not prohibited. Why not borrow from U.S. policy in this case? The bodies of gay people who die in car accidents are buried and cremated, including their presumably healthy hearts. They aren't even considered as suitable material for prolonging someone else's life. Yes - different countries require different quarantine periods according to the last homosexual encounter. But gays may have upwards of 1,500 partners throughout their lives, so 500 would surprise no one. Such data comes from respected American and European studies. Homosexuals have a different lifestyle, a different pace. So they are de facto banned from donating. In Russia, the state is responsible for ensuring that HIV is not transmitted through blood donations. The risk is about the same as dying in a plane crash. I don't think it's right. I would rather Russia look to other countries that have studied the problem in greater depth than we have. Gay hearts are turned to ash in these countries because they cannot be used to prolong lives. I support that policy. But not, as they claim, cutting the hearts out of live people and setting them alight.

IZVESTIA: Do you have any gay friends? How would you characterize your relationship with them?

DMITRY KISELYOV: I do have gay colleagues. Most are peaceful, quiet people who keep to themselves. They don't flaunt their sexual orientation. They have never been hostile toward me personally. And I am not a homophobe. The West simply doesn't like seeing Russia on the upswing. That's the heart of the matter. There is a clear upward trajectory, even if the economy is not as solid as we would like. But the economy is cyclical. Every recession is followed by an upturn. If there is a television program that supports Russia's progress and helps it recover from the injuries incurred in the 20th century, the West imposes sanction on its host. Yes - they have labeled me a homophobe and anti-Semite who wants to see America burn, etc. It isn't very sophisticated.

IZVESTIA: So who do you think it trying to draw the Iron Curtain now? Which side?

DMITRY KISELYOV: We have swapped roles. Russia is the one promoting freedom of speech, not the West. There has been a great tectonic, civilizational shift. In Russia you can say anything. There is a range of TV channels, the Internet is not blocked, and there are newspapers and radio stations to suit every taste. Books are never banned and anything can be published. Everything not explicitly forbidden by the Constitution. There are all kinds of Russians with a wide range of views. Some even use the word "patriotism" as an insult.

For instance, Ksenia Larina from the Echo of Moscow radio station said the term made her “throw up worms and cherry pits.” But no one questions her right to say these things. Keep it up, Ksenia. The E.U.'s selective imposition of sanctions starkly reveal what Europe supports and what it doesn't. For example, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina [of Pussy Riot] have been received at the European Parliament where they called for the sanctions list to be expanded. Their blasphemous dancing in a major Russian cathedral is seen as good and productive behavior, while the personal freedom of speech of a journalist like Dmitry Kiselev, host of a very popular news show, is considered a bad thing that should be discouraged. “Vomiting worms” is good, but telling people what our reporters saw in Kiev and providing examples of fascism in Ukraine is bad. That is quite a surprising value system, isn't it? Yet this has been good for Russia. We can see clearly now who supports what.

IZVESTIA: Russia's Foreign Ministry says it isn't planning to deny entry to Western journalists. So we are not mirroring their policies.

DMITRY KISELYOV: Of course not. Russia is morally above that. We have been through periods when freedom of speech was violated in the Soviet Union. During the Stalinist period, for example. We have lived through the Iron Curtain. Now, strange as it may seem, we have switched roles. That is, Russia has become a beacon of free speech. One may ridicule everything like Ksenia Larina, and do so on the air without fear of sanctions from the government - or the European Union, for that matter. Because we can fully exercise and even abuse freedom of speech in a way that hurts the government and the country. That is why E.U. sanctions don't actually harm me or anyone else in Russia. They have harmed Europe's own values. The E.U. has declared that freedom of speech is no longer valued there. That's what this is about.

IZVESTIA: Are you planning to visit Europe in the near future?

DMITRY KISELYOV: After Europe imposed sanctions against me, I recieved a call from Japan, and an invitation to visit. I was flattered. But actually, I had been planning to travel to northern Norway, driving from Murmansk with my kids. We booked a fishing cottage in Gjesvaer, the northernmost Viking village in Norway, home to just 150 people. I wanted to show them how the sun never sets, the bird colonies, northern fishing and seals. We even paid in advance. But now the landlord, Bjorn Jensen, and his wonderful family, have been but in a difficult position by the sanctions. They may have trouble renting out the place now, as reservations are usually made up to a year in advance. Perhaps they will still be able to find new tenants, but it is an unnecessary headache. The whole this is completely absurd. It's a pity my children will not get to see Norway - but now they can see Japan.

Like Valdimir Putin, Dmitry Kiselyov is something of a biker.

IZVESTIA: The United States has not sanctioned you. What do you think that means?

DMITRY KISELYOV: No, the Americans have not. They would rather let the Europeans do their dirty work. It is all part of their policy to destroy Europe, same as the wiretapping of Angela Merkel's phone and industrial espionage, because Europe is America's rival, and everyone knows it.

IZVESTIA: What is journalism in your view? Is it propaganda? Some claim that journalism is dead.

DMITRY KISELYOV: Journalism is more than just a profession. It's an entire environment within society. It's an environment for circulating information, ideas, values, perceptions of good and evil, and it cannot die. Particularly professional journalism. Don't confuse bloggers who tap away at their keyboards in the comfort of their own homes with professional journalists. Professional journalists operate within accepted ethical norms. They don't lie and always check the facts. Mistakes? There may be mistakes. How you feel about them is what matters. For example, on the Dec. 8 Vesti Nedeli program, I mixed up the Ukrainian presidential building with the Ukrainian government building. So I mistakenly gave the impression that the first act of violence perpetrated by militants involving bloodshed and broken helmets occurred during an assault on the administration, whereas in fact it was during an assault on the Government House on Nov. 26. Now, in hindsight, we know this was the work of Right Sector (Kiselev holds up a damaged Berkut helmet).

On the very next program, aired on Dec. 15, I apologized for the confusion, correctly laid out the course of events, and arrived at the same conclusion: that the Berkut police unit didn't start the violence. Anyone can make a mistake. Last week, speaking at a U.S.-E.U. summit in Brussels, Barack Obama said that Kosovo became an independent nation after holding a referendum. In reality, Kosovo never held a referendum on independence. I still haven't heard Obama apologize for the error. It's about how you deal with your mistakes: you either recognize them or not. That's why professional editors and professional media are more trusted. Their role will only expand. After all the injuries Russia suffered in the 20th century - reprisals, war, terror, the destruction of the church, the collapse of our county, and the catastrophic annihilation of our nation - there is an atmosphere of suspicion and a lack of values. They must be restored. A vacuum of values is called an anomie. For a man, this condition is considered a prelude to suicide. As for us, we are living in a social anomie, out of which we are just beginning to crawl. However, we are being told not to crawl.

IZVESTIA: So is Ukraine, using your words, now in an anomie?

DMITRY KISELYOV: Yes. Or the vacuum is has been filled with something poisonous. The mission of a journalist is to promote healthy values. This can also be done by the church, the family, and education, but professional journalism bears enormous responsibility. After all, a professional editorial office always has a goal. State media is bound to have a constructive rather than a destructive purpose. That's why journalism as a profession is in demand. I'm talking about normal journalism, the creative and meaningful type of journalism where society isn't undermined for sport.

IZVESTIA: Can I infer from what you said that, for example, the television channel Dozhd is a case of unprofessional journalism?

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DMITRY KISELYOV: It shows. Yes - they don't really seem to position themselves as journalists. What journalism is there? What are you talking about? It isn't a hospital, but a make-believe game of hospital. Their work is openly biased and destroys values. I'm not in favor of shutting Dozhd down. There must be niches for different people. Everyone is entitled to have one. But we aren't losing when it comes to news, because 88 percent of the people still get their news from the main TV channels which are generally associated with the state. Take Izvestia, an independent newspaper which in the people's minds is still associated with the state, with the normal values supported by the state and society, and is thus regarded as more trustworthy. We aren't losing. If we were losing the information war, we wouldn't be a nation. There would be no social peace. We would be going down the same path as Ukraine. We can't afford to lose - and we are winning the competition fairly.

IZVESTIA: Have you devised a strategy for Rossiya Segodnya? The Kremlin has in the past collaborated with American PR firm Ketchum. In your opinion, is it appropriate for Western experts to be in charge of promoting Russia's image?

DMITRY KISELYOV: I don't know if we have such a contract or not. I suppose we do. First, I cannot evaluate the effectiveness of the contract, but let's assume that it's effective. We live in a global world, and Russia shouldn't isolate itself. We're not in favor of autarky, are we? Many foreign journalists work for Russian channels. They understand that the dominance of the so-called Anglo-Saxon perspective in media is detrimental to their countries. Openly totalitarian states will emerge unless there is a counterweight, like Russia, to represent alternative views.

I have colleagues who worked at the BBC for 25 years and now want to come to work with us because they can no longer endure all this anti-Russia nonsense, hatred and censorship. I get calls from Paris telling me that there is a stop list for people banned from French television - people who used to be frequent guests in the past and were prominent cultural figures in France.

IZVESTIA: Can you put them on the air?

DMITRY KISELYOV: Certainly. Western journalists often admit to me that they work under real censorship. So it's quite normal that people want to work with Russia, which they see as an alternative and a source of balance and parity - not just nuclear parity, but information parity. That's their way of defending their freedom. Total self-reliance and isolation is not an effective strategy for a country. Russia doesn't aspire to this. We are an open country. For example, Russia says it's ready to switch to visa-free travel with the E.U. tomorrow, but the E.U. isn't willing to reciprocate. We have switched roles. In the past, Soviet people required exit visas. That was how the USSR shielded itself. Now we realize that we live in the greatest country in the world.

IZVESTIA: And all other countries envy us?

DMITRY KISELYOV: That may be the case! Yes, we have many issues and problems, we aren't hiding them - e show them. But even under these conditions, even during a recession, our country is trending upward.

IZVESTIA: Are you going to hire employees for your agency based on certain criteria, or is just about anyone able to work for you?

DMITRY KISELYOV: Everyone unwilling to work with me has already quit. I already said that if someone is going to engage in subversive activities, that doesn't suit my plans.

IZVESTIA: Some believe the former editor-in-chief of RIA Novosti, Svetlana Myronyuk, paid for being excessively liberal.

DMITRY KISELYOV: The issue is not Svetlana Myronyuk, but our liberalism in general. There is liberalism and then there is subversion. Western liberals don't condemn their country or their people. But when I read a newspaper (I think it was Moskovskiye Novosti) with the headline They Knew Not What They Fought For, about Russian soldiers who fought in the first Chechen war, that 's what I call subversive activity! Even if a soldier said he didn't know what he fought for, that is evidence of psychological trauma, what they call post traumatic stress disorder. It makes it seem as if our society, and particularly Moskovskiye Novosti, has abandoned him. Instead of giving his life meaning, it takes diminishes all that he has left. The article could have been given a different headline, such as Hard Times for Heroes, and then could have explained why the soldier said he doesn't know what he fought for. I'm not in favor of covering up facts, but I'm also against people who take to the Internet to rub salt in wounds, speculate, and diminish a soldier's genuine accomplishments on the battlefield. These soldiers need our support. The newspaper should have explained that PTSD is common, that soldiers often need psychological help, and that their relatives and friends should be more attentive and think about what they can do for them.

IZVESTIA: So in your opinion, is it fair to say that Ksenia Larina is too liberal?

DMITRY KISELYOV: She doesn't tolerate other people's views, particularly mine. I put up with her and I don't think she should be sanctioned for her views. While they, Parkhomenko, Navalny and the like, don't tolerate other points of view and make lists. What kind of liberals are they? They are absolutely totalitarian creatures. Absolutely. That makes me a liberal, because I tolerate them. I say let's hear them out, let's take a look at what they have to say. No one should be shut down. But there is no need to turn everything on its head, especially when a media outlet is funded by the government.

IZVESTIA: In 2003, you organized the Koktebel Jazz festival. Will it continue?

DMITRY KISELYOV: Yes, we are going to hold the 12th festival this year.

IZVESTIA: As far as I know, your partners in the festival are from Ukraine. How are arrangements for the festival going?

DMITRY KISELYOV: The Culture Ministry of has announced its support of the festival. The situation with the organizers from Kiev is difficult, because the Verkhovna Rada [Ukraine's parliament] introduced a bill that makes visiting Crimea a criminal offense punishable by three to five years in prison, and if done by prior agreement and by a group of people, the prison term is even longer. Just doing business in Crimea, even from a desk in Kiev, is also subject to criminal prosecution. There's only been a first reading of the bill. I'm not sure whether it will pass after the second reading, but in that case, my friends won't be able to organize the festival in Koktebel. I organized the first three when I lived in Kiev, but then I stepped back from running things, retaining only the title of founder. This festival has become the largest jazz festival in the former Soviet space. People come all the way from Japan, Canada, Hungary, and Norway to attend. A traditional throat singer from Tuva came once, because this type of singing is popular among jazz musicians. Someone asked him what he thinks about when he sings like that. He said he remembers his father who burned to death in a tank during the Great Patriotic War.

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IZVESTIA: Given that Russians and Ukrainians, and people of other ethnicities, fought fascism together, it is painful to see what's happening in Kiev.

DMITRY KISELYOV: We won. We are proud of it. People who deprive themselves of this heroic past live in negativity. They turn into a nation of losers. They only remember the famine and the fact that their land was once occupied.

IZVESTIA: Many people say "we defend freedom," but aren't people supposed to defend their families and countries first?

DMITRY KISELYOV: Of course. When we are asked to abandon the family by accepting non-traditional values, we are essentially being asked to allow our country to be destroyed.

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