18 Facts About Mikhail Zygar

Mikhail Viktorovich Zygar is a Russian born journalist, writer and filmmaker, and the founding editor-in-chief of Russian news channel TV Rain.

Mikhail Zygar is the author of the book All the Kremlin's Men, the history of Putin's Russia, based on interviews with Russian politicians from Putin's inner circle.

Mikhail Zygar became known as a war correspondent of Kommersant, covering wars in Iraq and Lebanon, genocide in Darfur, and revolution in Kyrgyzstan.

In May 2005, Mikhail Zygar was the only international journalist to report from Uzbekistan's Andijan.

In 2010, Mikhail Zygar became the founding editor in chief of TV Rain, the first independent TV-channel in Russia in 10 years.

Mikhail Zygar organised live coverage of all the protest rallies, which were largely ignored by state-owned television.

In December 2015, Mikhail Zygar announced he would be leaving the post of chief editor.

In 2018, Mikhail Zygar has joined the Information and Democracy Commission, which has been created at the initiative of Reporters Without Borders with the intention to "mobilize all those who are committed to defending a free and pluralistic public space, which is essential for democracy".

On 24 February 2022, the day Russia's invasion of Ukraine began, Mikhail Zygar launched an online petition on Facebook condemning the war.

Mikhail Zygar writes a weekly column on Russia and the war for Der Spiegel, and a column for The New York Times.

Mikhail Zygar organized the only interview of Russian independent media with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the start of the war.

On 25 October 2022, Mikhail Zygar came out and announced his marriage to Russian actor Jean-Michel Scherbak in Portugal.

In 2014, CPJ announced that Mikhail Zygar was to receive the International Press Freedom Award.

Mikhail Zygar was the seventh Russian to be honored.

Mikhail Zygar is far from adopting the insulted tone of the Russian establishment in his assessment.

Mikhail Zygar is more interested in tracing Russian leadership's slide into the aggressive worldview that has eventually led to the war in Eastern Ukraine and military intervention in Syria.

In 2016, Mikhail Zygar founded the creative studio Future History specialising in educational digital ventures.

Mikhail Zygar participated in the 2018 TED conference in Vancouver talking about his historical digital ventures and the storytelling techniques he uses in his work.