Member of State Media Poses as BBC Journalist

A Russian state media journalist created a false identity as a BBC journalist in order to access a meeting in Dusseldorf with anti-war figure Tatyana Lazareva.

REN TV journalist Airat Shiryaev created a fake email and forged a press pass as "Mark Nazarov." But his plan was discovered by event organizers and his accreditation was flagged.

Reporters were quickly able to determine Shiryaev's identity and true media affiliation. "Don't ask stupid questions, so as not to get stupid answers," Shiryaev wrote online in response to a message from BBC journalists. "And I don't want to talk to you. Especially to such comrades as you. Change your job, come to Moscow, maybe I'll tell you how my photo ended up on the BBC press card. And now I suggest you disappear into the sunset and not interfere with my work."

Lazareva, the object of Shiryaev's interview plot, is a well-known Russian television presenter who left Russia after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and has been classified as a "foreign agent" by the Russian government.