US citizenship and the Order of Friendship of the sister of the editor-in-chief of RT Alice Simonyan

Margarita Simonyan“Ooooh, the Russian Air Force Service, which “the editors demand blood”, will not calm down and is now sculpting another “investigation” about my family. This time about my younger sister and some of her “PR firm” – such fast in December 2018 appeared in the telegram channel Margarita Simonyanhead of the RT channel.

The journalist said that eight people had already called her with a story about how they were “overwhelmed” by the Air Force, demanding information about her sister’s work. And she emphasized: she doesn’t have any business – she leads her projects on her own. For example, Alice covered the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait or the World Cup.

Soon the work of the Air Force went sideways to the corporation itself. Roskomnadzor started checking Russian-language edition (then she was still working in Moscow and was not evacuated to Riga). BUT Dmitry Peskov rejected suggestionsthat the check is revenge for the investigation about Sister Simonyan. They say that for many years the BBC has been working “in an engaged form”, and therefore a number of Moscow departments have accumulated questions to it. Putin’s spokesman clarified that we are talking about topics related to Russia and Syria.

As a result, the text about Alice Simonyan was not published. Why is unknown. Either the editors agreed with the authorities (the Roskomnadzor check ended without any consequences), or initially no material was planned: the BBC never confirmed these statements by Simonyan Sr.

American agent in Sochi

“The United States has replaced freedom with slogans about it. I was amazed by this when I went there to study in 1995. I was shocked by the amount of what is impossible in America, ”- this is how Margarita Simonyan spoke a year ago about the country where she lived for a whole year, in the program Vladimir Solovyov.

In the tenth grade, Margarita found herself in an American family in the city of Bristol – to improve her English through the Future Leaders Exchange program. The English journalist really pulled up. But now she will not be able to apply it in the USA: sanctions have been imposed against the editor-in-chief of RT, including a ban on entry into this country.

Simonyan herself reacted in January on plans to include her on the restrictive list: “I do not and have never had a business, bank accounts and any financial interests in the United States or anywhere outside of Rodnenka. I don’t earn enough to not know where else to send money, or to know what offshore is.”

Simonyan did not lie: she really does not have and did not have American interests, including citizenship.

But her sister Alice, as the Interlocutor found out, had American interests. The editors have at their disposal a passport database of residents of the Krasnodar Territory. It states that in 2000, Simonyan Jr. applied for a passport. And in the “citizenship” column in her application form, it was indicated: “United States.” The date of birth completely coincides with the data of the sister of the editor-in-chief of RT Margarita Simonyan.

Perhaps there was an error in the information system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs? But “Interlocutor” has another Krasnodar passport database, dated already in 2012, when Alisa Simonyan worked in the organizing committee for the preparation of the Olympics in Sochi. And again, her citizenship is by no means Russia, but the United States. By today’s standards, this could easily be recognized as a foreign agent. But Alice avoided this and, apparently, simply withdrew from American citizenship. When this happened is unknown, but in the extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, her citizenship is now indicated by the Russian Federation. The same data is contained in Alisa Simonyan’s accreditation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

From VGTRK to Rotenberg

Alisa Simonyan is the younger sister of the editor-in-chief of the propaganda RT. There is almost 1.5 years difference between them: Margarita was born in April 1980, Alice – in August 1981.

They spent most of their lives side by side. Childhood spent in Krasnodar. According to the Sobesednik, the Simonyan family lived in a 69-meter apartment on 70th Anniversary of October Street. As follows from the data of Rosreestr, this living space still belongs to Simonyan’s parents – Zinaida and Simon.

It is well known that Margarita Simonyan began her career at the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. For example, in 2004, she covered the terrorist attack in Beslan. As the Interlocutor found out, her sister also worked in a state holding, moreover, in the same years. True, the younger sister was paid less. If Margarita’s annual earnings were almost 1 million rubles. (big money at that time), then Alice earned about 300 thousand, follows from the base of the Federal Tax Service.

Without your home, but under the roof

Judging by the Yandex.Food database, Alisa Simonyan regularly orders various dishes to a house located in the Prince’s Lake cottage settlement, in New Riga. Only from November to December last year, she spent more than 90 thousand rubles on food. The fact that it is Alice who lives there is also confirmed by the client base of medical organizations that the Interlocutor has. Simonyan Jr. also indicated her address of residence house in the “Prince’s Lake”. But the 900-meter mansion does not belong to her, but to the editor-in-chief of RT. Simonyan Sr. became the owner in March 2014 – just a few months after her appointment as editor-in-chief of the Rossiya Segodnya MIA.

Alisa Simonyan has an Audi A7 car, follows from the traffic police data (the Interlocutor has it). This foreign car costs from 5 to 6.5 million rubles.

In 2009, Simonyan Jr. got a job at the RIA Novosti news agency – then it was not even out of the question that it would soon be reformatted into the Rossiya Segodnya International News Agency, which will be headed by Margarita Simonovna (this will happen in 2013) .

Alice did not work for RIA Novosti for a very long time. Soon she got a job as the head of the department for working with the media and the population of the ANO Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee and began covering the preparations for the Sochi Olympics. And after the end of the Olympic Games, she became an adviser to the general director for public relations at Stroygazmontazh LLC Arkady Rotenberg. Apparently, her duties included lighting the construction of the Crimean bridge.

In December 2021, Krasnodar deputies voted to award Alisa the Order of Friendship (opposition deputies of the Krasnodar Duma opposed). The explanatory note to the document stated that during the construction of the Crimean bridge, she “skillfully built work with bridge crews and journalists in 24/7 mode.” In addition, “under the direct supervision of Simonyan, during the construction of the Crimean bridge, the participants formed a positive field.” According to the deputies, Simonyan is worthy of encouragement, including for “an active life position, successful work and a great personal contribution to the development of the sphere of information activity.” Simonyan Jr. was awarded the Order of Friendship.