October 10, 2024

Member of State Media Poses as BBC Journalist


Member of State Media Poses as BBC Journalist
News unfit to print? The Russian Life files

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. 

 

You Might Also Like

The Foreign Agents List
  • June 01, 2024

The Foreign Agents List

The popular NPR podcast This American Life offers an excellent piece by Masha Gessen on what it feels like to be added to the Foreign Agents list.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

Fearful Majesty
July 01, 2014

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

Woe From Wit (bilingual)
June 20, 2017

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955