Tigran Keosayan

Tigran Edmondovich Keosayan (Armenian: Տիգրան էդմոնդի Քեոսայան, Russian: Тигран Эдмондович Кеосаян; born January 4, 1966) is a Russian film director, actor and writer of Armenian origin. He is a winner of International Film Festival's Prize's including TEFI, Kinotavr and Window to Europe 2001.[1] He is a big supporter of Vladimir Putin along with his wife, Margarita Simonyan, on Russian television. [2]

Tigran Keosayan
Tigran Keosayan in 2009
Born
Tigran Edmondovich Keosayan

(1966-01-04) January 4, 1966
Moscow, RSFSR, USSR
CitizenshipRussia
OccupationDirector, writer, actor
Years active1992–present
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1993; div. 2014)​

Margarita Simonyan (since 2012)
Children5

On 28 February 2022, in relation to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Union sanctioned him, imposing an EU-wide travel ban and freezing all his assets.

On 27 April 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan announced its intention to introduce an absolute travel ban on entry into the republic after his statements about the position of the country's authorities regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[3]

Biography

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, 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.[4]

Sanctions

EU

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Keosayan was one of the individuals sanctioned by the European Union.[5][6] The reasons given for the sanctions were that Keosayan has spread anti-Ukrainian propaganda, and used his state-funded TV show to claim that the Ukrainian government was not lawful and repeatedly state that Crimea is part of Russia and that Donbass is not part of Ukraine. He has also publicly accused Ukraine of escalating the conflict. Moreover, he has consistently used his show to portray Ukraine as a weak and corrupt country that is being kept alive solely thanks to Western aid. Keosayan also took part in the "Russian Donbass Basin" forum organized by the authorities of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic in Donetsk with the aim of spreading the "Russian Donbass Basin" doctrine.[7]

Kazakhstan

On 27 April 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan announced its intention to introduce an absolute travel ban on entry into the republic after his statements about the position of the country's authorities regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine,[8] in a video on his YouTube channel, he argued Kazakhstan 'Think seriously' for Ukraine.[9]

Controversy

Racist 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." 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.[10] The segment was widely deemed racist.[11][12]

Filmography

As a film director
  1. Katyka and Shiz (1992)
  2. Cases Funny, Family Matters (1996, TV Series)
  3. Poor Sasha (1997)
  4. The Death Directory (1999, TV series)
  5. Silver Lily of the Valley (2000)
  6. The President and His Granddaughter (2000)
  7. Men's Work (2001, also TV series: 2005)
  8. Hare Over the Abyss (2006)
  9. Rabbit Over the Void (2006)
  10. Mirage (2008)
  11. Yalta-45 (2011, mini-series)
  12. Three Comrades (2012, mini-series)
  13. Sea. Mountains. Exclay (2014, TV series)
  14. Actress (2017, TV series)
  15. The Crimean Bridge. Made with Love! (2018)

As an actor
  1. Joker (1991)
  2. Silver Lily of the Valley (2000)
  3. The Heat (2006)

As a writer
  1. Cases funny, family matters (1996, TV Series)
  2. Silver Lily of the Valley (TV series, 2005).

References
  1. Тигран Кеосаян. Биография и фильмография // russia.tv
  2. "Keosayan – The database "PUTIN'S LIST"". Spisok-putina.org. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  3. "Kazakhstan may punish Russian TV host over 'look at Ukraine' threat". Reuters. 27 April 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  4. ""С Тиграном Кеосаяном"". October 11, 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-10-11.
  5. Nolsoe, Eir; Pop, Valentina (2022-03-04). "Russia sanctions list: What the west imposed over the Ukraine invasion". Financial Times. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  6. Cunningham, Erin; Santamariña, Daniela; Alcantara, Chris (2022-03-15). "Who's in Putin's inner circle and have they been targeted by sanctions?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  7. DURCHFÜHRUNGSVERORDNUNG (EU) 2022/336 DES RATES vom 28. Februar 2022 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)
  8. "Kazakhstan may punish Russian TV host over 'look at Ukraine' threat". Reuters. 27 April 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  9. "Kazakhstan says to ban Russian presenter over Ukraine tirade". Straits Times.
  10. Haroun, Azmi (2020-12-01). "Russian state TV broadcaster features racist segment of an actress in blackface doing a portrayal of Obama". Business Insider. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  11. O'Grady, Siobhán; Dixon, Robyn (2020-11-30). "Pro-Kremlin TV ridicules Obama with blackface skit". The Washington Post. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  12. "Obama Blackface Skit on Kremlin-Funded TV Sparks Outrage". The Moscow Times. 30 November 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
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