Tigran Keosayan

{{Short description|Russian director, writer and actor (born 1966)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Tigran Keosayan

| native_name = {{nobold|Тигран Кеосаян}}

| image = Tigran Keosayan 21 April 2009.jpg

| alt = Tigran Keosayan

| caption = Tigran Keosayan in 2009

| birth_name = Tigran Edmondovich Keosayan

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1966|01|04|df=y}}

| birth_place = Moscow, RSFSR, USSR

| years_active = 1992–present

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Alyona Khmelnitskaya|1993|2014|end=divorced}}
{{marriage|Margarita Simonyan
|2022}}

}}

| children = 5

| occupation = Director, writer, actor

}}

Tigran Edmondovich Keosayan ({{langx|hy|Տիգրան էդմոնդի Քեոսայան}}, {{langx|ru|Тигран Эдмондович Кеосаян}}; born 4 January 1966) is a Russian film director, actor and television presenter. He is a winner of film festival prizes including TEFI, Kinotavr and {{Ill|Window to Europe Film Festival|ru|Окно в Европу (кинофестиваль)}} 2001.[https://russia.tv/person/show/person_id/14 Тигран Кеосаян. Биография и фильмография] // russia.tv

Described{{By whom|date=December 2022}} as a pro-Kremlin television presenter, the European Union, United Kingdom and Armenia{{cite web|date=10 October 2022|title=Zatulin and Simonyan banned from Armenia|url=https://jam-news.net/zatulin-and-simonyan-banned-from-armenia/|website=jam-news.net|access-date=}} imposed sanctions on Keosayan as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Biography

File:Vladimir Putin's meeting with the NTV television company (2018-10-12) 09.jpg and Tatyana Mitkova, October 2018]]

Keosayan is the son of Armenian-Russian film director and composer Edmond Keosayan and actress Laura Gevorkyan. He studied at the all-Union (now all-Russian) state Institute of Cinematography (VGIK).

Keosayan is the director of Russian films including Katyka and Shiz (1992), Poor Sasha (1997), Lily of the Valley Silvery (2005), Hare Over the Abyss (2006), The Twelve Chairs musical (2003), a large number of clips for Mikhail Shufutinsky, Igor Sarukhanov, and Irina Allegrova. He is co-operated with Fyodor Bondarchuk, Alexander Zbruev and others.

Keosayan is an anchorman of the daily (from Monday to Thursday) analytical talk show With Tigran Keosayan on the Russian private TV channel REN-TV.{{cite web|url=http://www.ren-tv.com/telecasting/talk-shows/64-s-tigranom-keosayanom|title="С Тиграном Кеосаяном"|date=11 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091011040539/http://www.ren-tv.com/telecasting/talk-shows/64-s-tigranom-keosayanom|archive-date=11 October 2009}}

Personal life

Keosayan is married to Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of the Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT,{{Cite web |title=Russian News, English Accent |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-news-english-accent-11-12-2005/ |access-date=18 March 2022 |website=www.cbsnews.com |date=11 December 2005 |language=en-US}}{{cite news|last=Ioffe|first=Julia|title=What is Russia Today?|url=https://www.cjr.org/feature/what_is_russia_today.php?page=all&print=true|newspaper=Columbia Journalism Review|date=September–October 2010}}[http://www.newsxchange.org/about-nx12/executive-team/margarita-simonyan.html Margarita Simonyan biography] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621180236/http://www.newsxchange.org/about-nx12/executive-team/margarita-simonyan.html |date=21 June 2012 }}, NewsExchange.org, accessed 20 September 2012. as well as the state-owned media group Rossiya Segodnya.{{cite news|title=RT editor Simonyan to head Kremlin-backed news agency|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25560434|access-date=31 December 2013|work=BBC News|date=31 December 2013}}

Keosayan suffers from a long-standing heart condition and suffered heart attacks in 2008 and 2010. In January 2025, Margarita Simonyan said that Keosayan temporarily underwent clinical death and is in a coma.{{cite news|title=RT Chief Simonyan Says Husband in Coma After Undergoing 'Clinical Death' |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/01/09/rt-chief-simonyan-says-husband-in-coma-after-undergoing-clinical-death-a87538 |access-date=9 January 2025 |work=The Moscow Times |date=9 January 2025}}

= Sanctions =

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Keosayan was one of the individuals sanctioned by the European Union.{{Cite news|last1=Nolsoe|first1=Eir|last2=Pop|first2=Valentina|date=4 March 2022|title=Russia sanctions list: What the west imposed over the Ukraine invasion|newspaper=Financial Times|url=https://www.ft.com/content/6f3ce193-ab7d-4449-ac1b-751d49b1aaf8|url-access=limited|access-date=16 March 2022}}{{Cite news|last1=Cunningham|first1=Erin|last2=Santamariña|first2=Daniela|last3=Alcantara|first3=Chris|date=15 March 2022|title=Who's in Putin's inner circle and have they been targeted by sanctions?|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/03/15/putin-inner-circle-russia/|url-access=limited|access-date=16 March 2022}} The reasons given for the sanctions were that Keosayan has spread anti-Ukrainian propaganda.[https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/PDF/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2022.058.01.0001.01.DEU DURCHFÜHRUNGSVERORDNUNG (EU) 2022/336 Durchführungsverordnung (EU) 2022/336 des Rates] zur Durchführung der Verordnung (EU) Nr. 269/2014 über restriktive Maßnahmen angesichts von Handlungen, die die territoriale Unversehrtheit, Souveränität und Unabhängigkeit der Ukraine untergraben oder bedrohen, PDF, (German)

Keosayan was included in the list of Russians under personal sanctions by the United Kingdom in March 2022.{{cite web|url=https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/news/2022/03/15/913567-velikobritaniya-vvela-novie-personalnie-sanktsii-protiv-rossiyan|title=Великобритания ввела новые персональные санкции против 350 россиян|website=Vedomosti|date=15 March 2022}}

On 24 June 2022, Kazakhstan reported that Keosayan was denied entry. On 10 October, Armenian authorities declared Keosayan and his wife Margarita Simonyan persona non grata as a "agents from different countries with Armenian surnames" who allow themselves a disrespectful attitude towards Armenia.

Controversy

= Blackface segment about Barack Obama =

On 30 November 2020, Keosayan's TV show "International Sawmill", for which Keosayan and his wife Margarita Simonyan are co-writers, aired a segment featuring Keosayan, and an actress in blackface posing as former United States President Barack Obama. In the segment, Keosayan, referring to Obama's book A Promised Land, asks the actress: "Do you consider this book your achievement?", to which the actress in blackface replies: "Of course."{{Cite news|last1=Haroun|first1=Azmi|date=1 December 2020|title=Russian state TV broadcaster features racist segment of an actress in blackface doing a portrayal of Obama|newspaper=Business Insider|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/kremlin-tv-station-broadcasts-actress-in-blackface-impersonating-obama-2020-11?international=true&r=US&IR=T|url-access=|access-date=17 March 2022}}

Keosayan then asks: "Because none of your relatives have written books?", after which the actress answers: "Because none of my relatives that came before me could write." Keosayan then states "you should have a rap musician, not the president". In the segment, the actress wears a bandana and gold chains and behaves in a way regarded as stereotypical to rappers. The segment was widely deemed as being racist.{{Cite news|last1=O'Grady|first1=Siobhán|last2=Dixon|first2=Robyn|author-link2=Robyn Dixon (journalist)|date=30 November 2020|title=Pro-Kremlin TV ridicules Obama with blackface skit|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/11/30/obama-blackface-russia-kremlin-tv/|url-access=limited|access-date=13 January 2022}}{{cite web|date=30 November 2020|title=Obama Blackface Skit on Kremlin-Funded TV Sparks Outrage|url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/11/30/obama-blackface-skit-on-kremlin-funded-tv-sparks-outrage-a72176|website=The Moscow Times|access-date=13 January 2022}}