Alexander Nevzorov

Nevzorov started working for the Leningrad television in 1985.[1] From December 1987 to 1993, he hosted the program 600 Seconds on the Leningrad TV channel, aired then all over the Soviet Union.[2][3][4] On December 12, 1990, Nevzorov was shot and wounded in Leningrad during a meeting with someone who pretended to have sensitive documents to offer.[2][5] In late 1991 his program was taken off the air twice and later gradually lost its popularity.[6][7] During the August putsch Nevzorov supported the State Committee on the State of Emergency, the organ of the coupists.[8] Nevzorov formed the Nashi movement (not to be confused with the later pro-Putin youth movement of the same name). The broadcast was finally closed down in the aftermath of Yeltsin's victory in his confrontation with the Russian Supreme Soviet (Nevzorov had supported the anti-Yeltsin side).[6]

Nevzorov worked as a reporter in the Yugoslav Wars and the Transnistria War in 1992–1993.[7] In 1994 he was a vocal supporter of the initiation of the First Chechen War.[2] In 1997 he wrote and directed the TV film Chistilishche ("Purgatory") about the Chechen war, co-produced with Boris Berezovsky and released in March 1998.[9]

In the 1993 campaign he was elected deputy in the State Duma of the Russian Federation for the first time, and after that was re-elected as an independent deputy three times, serving until the 2007 elections when the single constituency seats were abolished.[6]

Nevzorov as a deputy of the State Duma in 1993

He served as an adviser on film, TV and radio to Vladimir Yakovlev during the latter's tenure as the Governor (mayor) of Saint Petersburg.[10]

In 1999 Nevzorov collaborated with the ORT TV channel and often appeared as a political commentator on Sergey Dorenko's Saturday night news show.[11]

Later he abandoned political journalism and devoted himself to horse-riding.[12] He founded a horsemanship school, Nevzorov Haute Ecole, and wrote the book The Horse: Crucified and Risen. He continues to make occasional excursions in politics. He directed two documentaries, produced several journal articles and publications,[13] and maintains a blog where he expresses his views of fervent atheism and bitter criticism towards the current Russian government.

Nevzorov was recognized as a saint by the Russian Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.[14]

On 22 March 2022, Nevzorov was charged under Russia's "false information" law after he published information that Russian forces had shelled a maternity hospital in Mariupol.[15] Under a new law passed on 4 March, he could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. Nevzorov said that Vladimir Putin's "regime is not going to spare anyone, and that any attempts to comprehend the criminal war [in Ukraine] will end in prison."[16]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexander Nevzorov.

• Official website
• Alexander Nevzorov at IMDb
• A Onetime Star of Soviet TV Warns of the ‘Plague’ of Nationalism. The New York Times. July 19, 2019.