Mikhail Leontyev is a Russian journalist and publicist, the permanent host of the TV program "However". Today he conducts the author's program "Main Theme" on the radio "Komsomolskaya Pravda", holds the position of press secretary and vice-president of the corporation "Rosneft". He is known for his harsh statements towards colleagues, as well as politicians, including other states.
Childhood and youth
Mikhail Vladimirovich Leontiev was born into an intelligent family on October 12, 1958. Mira Moiseevna, the mother of the future journalist, worked as a teacher at the Moscow Institute. Plekhanov, father Vladimir Yakovlevich was an aircraft designer. By nationality, the newborn turned out to be half Jewish, half Russian.
From childhood, Mikhail Leontyev had a passion for literature - the boy read "drunkenly", he especially liked historical stories and novels. At the age of 5, the parents wanted to enroll the child in figure skating, but he refused. In adolescence, the boy passionately argued with his grandmother, proving to her, an inveterate communist, the shortcomings of Soviet policy. In high school, Mikhail secretly read magazines that were banned in those years.
Journalist Mikhail Leontyev at the presentation of the book "Time to betray" / Dmitry Rozhkov, Wikipedia
After school, the guy entered the Faculty of Economics at the Plekhanov Institute and successfully defended his diploma in 1979. In his youth, the future journalist had to earn money as a loader.
After university, Mikhail Leontyev got a job at a research institute, trying to realize himself in the economy. Patience was enough for several years. In 1985, Mikhail resigned from the Research Institute, from that moment on, life became brighter. The young scientist mastered the carpentry trade, was an ordinary worker at the Literary Institute and a watchman at the dacha. Leontyev also earned his living by tutoring.
Journalism
The biography of Mikhail Vladimirovich is closely related to journalism. In 1987, Leontyev was seriously interested in sociology - Mikhail's first analytical articles were devoted to this topic. After another 2 years, the man devoted himself entirely to journalism. At first he worked as a political correspondent for the Kommersant publication, then headed a department in Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
Leontiev is also a co-owner of two technology companies. One of them is a Skolkovo resident, the alleged main owner of the second - a former official of the Federal Agency for Fishery, accused of fraud in the amount of several hundred million rubles; the business of both is closely related to government orders. Meduza's special correspondents Ivan Golunov and Ilya Zhegulev figured out what kind of company they were and what Leontyev was doing there.
Leontiev and wing aerodynamics
In the spring of 2013, publicist Mikhail Leontyev made a harsh statement. He defended Skolkovo from "raids" by the Investigative Committee of Russia and the Accounts Chamber, which accused the innovation center of inefficiency. In the TV show "However" on Channel One and an article in the magazine of the same name, of which he is the editor-in-chief, Leontyev explained that Skolkovo is the only venture fund in the world that does not "take a project away from a developer."Leontyev is well acquainted with the principles of Skolkovo operation. He is a co-owner of one of the fund's residents, the company "Optimyenga-777", which is engaged in aerodynamic design of wings for aircraft.
It was founded in 2012 by Sergei Peigin, a graduate of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Tomsk State University, and his Israeli partner Boris Epshtein. A year after that, 10% of the enterprise was owned by Mikhail Leontyev, and Optimyenga-777 received about 80 million rubles from Skolkovo as part of a grant for the creation of a software product that can significantly reduce the cost and time of designing an aircraft wing. The company stated that the project was "revolutionary": the wing optimization test problem was solved by their algorithm in 27 hours, and Boeing's programs in 50 days.
| Sergey Peigin
|
UAC Meduza confirmed that Optimenga performed a number of works on mathematical modeling of structures, but noted that such works are being ordered from several companies at once.
“I have known these guys [from Optimeng] since childhood, they are very talented, I tried to help them, but unfortunately there is no business there,” Mikhail Leontyev told Meduza. - Nobody ever likes innovators. These are all tears and groans, no word "business" applies to this story. Many people have tried to help somehow, but you cannot act against the system. The system can only produce a Superjet. "
Leontiev and the fishing fleet
Airplanes are not the only area of interest for Mikhail Leontyev. He also has businesses related to water transport. In April 2013, the journalist co-founded Agro-Marine-LNG, a company that designs ships that run on liquefied natural gas. (The fact that Leontyev has stakes in Optimeng and Agro-Marina-LNG was also reported by the Dozhd TV channel.)The main owner of Agro-Marina is the British company Valser Oil, which, according to the UK commercial register, belongs to two offshore companies registered in the Marshall Islands: Pintox Systems Limited and Syten Group Limited. The directors and owners of these companies were not disclosed. The New Zealand Department of Justice alone has 25 registered companies incorporated by Pintox and Syten; some have been featured in scandals involving money laundering through Moldovan banks.
In April 2017, Valser Oil published a notice that Valery Suraev, an Austrian citizen who was born in Russia in 1960, was included in the list of persons influencing the company's activities. This is a person known in the shipbuilding market: in the 2000s, Suraev headed the department of the fishing fleet, ports and ship repair in the Federal Agency for Fishery. During the audit of the department in 2010, the Accounts Chamber revealed fraud around a billion rubles, which were received in 2005 for the construction of research ships in the Far East. One of the contracts was won by the Scientific and Production Center for Industrial Fishing, Exploration and Monitoring of Marine Bioresources (SPC), registered in Yaroslavl.
“According to the documents, the research ship was built, Suraev signed the acceptance certificate, after which more than 283 million rubles were transferred to the NPC accounts,” sources in the Ministry of Internal Affairs told Izvestia. “Then this money disappeared into the accounts of one-day firms.” During the audit of the Accounts Chamber, it turned out that the skeleton of the ship remained standing on the slipway of the plant in Khabarovsk, among debris and scrap metal. Three more unfinished ships within the framework of the same project never left the stocks of the plant in the Kirov region.
Law enforcement agencies suspected that the real owner of the NPC - Valery Suraev... After the start of the inspection of the Federal Agency for Fishery, he resigned from the civil service and headed this Yaroslavl company. In 2011, as Rosbalt reported, Suraev received a residence permit in Estonia; a year later, a criminal case was opened against him on suspicion of fraud, and the former official was signed not to leave. The Interior Ministry did not respond to Meduza's inquiry about the progress of the investigation.
In 2013, NPC was declared bankrupt - this happened at the suit of the Marine-Invest company, which was owned by Valser Oil, which later established Agro-Marine-LNG. Agro-Marine bought out most of the NPC's property for a million rubles; in addition, the company fully owns the Khabarovsk shipyard.
Mikhail Leontyev knew Valery Suraev long before these events. In the early 2000s, he devoted an entire issue of his author's program on Channel One to the problems of the fishing fleet - and published several of Suraev's columns on these problems in the journal "However".
“He came to me [as a journalist] with [fishing] problems and impressed me. I had ten programs on this topic, - Leontyev recalls. "Suraev and I did a very serious thing together - if we now have some kind of fishing and some prospects for creating Russian vessels in Russia, then the country owes this to Valera Suraev, whom I helped a little."
Another old acquaintance of Leontyev is the general director of Agro-Marine-LNG - this is Vladimir Koloskov, the former first deputy general director of the Rodionov Publishing House, who published the Krestyanka and FHM magazines, which were closed in 2015. Leontyev also worked in the same publishing house - in the late 2000s he headed the magazine "Profile" for two years.
The first three years after the creation of Agro-Marine-LNG did not show itself in any way. At the end of 2016, the company won two tenders from the Krylov State Scientific Center for the development and modernization of fishing vessels using liquefied natural gas. Both contracts were concluded according to the procedure "Purchase from a single supplier" - since their conclusion, according to the documentation, was necessary to prevent accidents and other emergencies of "force majeure".
It took Agro-Marine-LNG only a week to develop projects for two ships - having signed a state contract on November 25, the company handed over the finished project to the customer on December 2. Kommersant explained that such a rush was explained simply: the financing of the work was carried out according to the federal target program "Development of civilian marine technology for 2009-2016" and officials could not postpone the deadline for accepting finished work for the next year. As it turned out a little later, the vessels under the Agro-Marina project will be built on the basis of the hulls of those ships that were not completed by Valery Suraev's companies.
According to a source familiar with the company's activities, Agro-Marine-LNG planned to take part in the construction of ice-class LNG carriers - they are needed to transport liquefied gas along the Northern Sea Route, which Novatek produces in Yamal at the expense of received from the National Wealth Fund.
You need about a dozen gas carriers. The first of them (it was named "Christophe de Margery" in honor of the head of Total, who died in a plane crash in Vnukovo), arrived in Yamal at the end of March 2017 from South Korea - however, it is planned that further gas carriers will be built in Russia, at the Far East shipyard "Zvezda ". This shipyard belongs to Gazprombank and Rosneft, whose press secretary is Mikhail Leontyev. Leontyev himself told Meduza that "there was a project with gas carriers, but I am not in the subject."
Leontyev asserts that "I have never received even a single kopeck from these [companies] in my life." “If someone signed me up as a founder for some purpose, God be their judge. I roughly remember what it was about, but I don’t even remember the names of these companies, ”he said. - How many people have I tried to help? I've tried to help a friend make a film. Every person in life has an attempt to help someone, if he is not a complete bastard. "
[RBC IA, 05/10/2017, "Mikhail Leontyev turned out to be the owner of a stake in technology companies": In an interview with RBC, a Rosneft spokesman called Meduza's publication "about nothing." “There is nothing, there was nothing and, unfortunately, nothing came of it. Zero rubles, zero kopecks, zero result. Zero in total. And this is a pity. I would like there to be something there, ”he said.
According to Leontyev, "all the stupid hints" about his financial interests in the companies mentioned in the article are groundless. “Yes, everything I got from this, I would personally transfer to Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky. Because it is a lot of hemorrhoids, ”he said.
He noted that the activity of the company "Optimyenga-777" continues. “People are working, doing something. Serezha Peigin (owns 27.5% of the company - RBC) is an applied mathematician of a very high world level. He did this in different countries, he really wanted to do it here. They do it really well, ”he said.
“As for the fish, you can see how much I wrote about the keel quotas. A certain amount of time has been spent. Now, by the way, we can say that there is a result, because keel quotas exist. How does this relate to a particular business? None, ”added Leontyev. - Box K.ru] Original of this material
© SDGs, 22.01.2017, Photo: East News, Illustrations: SDGs
Mikhail Leontyev owes 233.5 million rubles to Investbank depositors
Sponsorship of 170 million rubles of Rosneft did not correct the situation with the debt of the magazine "However"
Anastasia GorshkovaAs it became known to the Investigation Management Center (LRC), the publishing group Press Code, which published the magazine "However" by Mikhail Leontyev, owes the depositors of the bankrupt Investbank 233.5 million rubles. There are no signs that this money has been returned: the bailiffs cannot find the publisher even to collect tax arrears. Earlier, the LRC learned that in May 2015, Rosneft allocated 170 million rubles to support its vice president's publication, which is experiencing problems, after which the magazine was closed.
The investor of Leontyev's media startup was Converse Group father and son Antonov... The expenses for the first year of the project, according to Leontyev, should have amounted to up to $ 4 million. “We want to turn this project into a commercially successful publication, and we have the opportunity to ride out the difficult times,” Leontyev said at a press conference dedicated to the launch of the weekly However "in the crisis year 2009. He also stressed that the investor "insisted on financing the project", even despite Leontyev's warnings about the difficulties with advertising and return on investment.
The money was allocated by credit lines of Investbank Antonov Jr. from October 2009 to November 2010. Since December, funding for the magazine has ceased, and at the beginning of 2011 Vladimir Antonov sold his shares in the bank to his top managers. Apparently, the new shareholders were embarrassed by the media asset, but it was possible to agree: the bank received 15% of the publishing house (the share of Channel One), and the loans were guaranteed by Snoras-real estate LLC, 50% of which at that time belonged to Antonov's business partner - the deputy chairman of the board of Academkhimbank Viktor Yampolsky. By 2013, the magazine was published once every two months.
According to SPARK, the shareholders of Press Code Publishing Group LLC are Mikhail Leontyev (15%), Ekaterina Sedova (15%), Investbank (15%) and Dukelevel Holdings Limited registered in Cyprus (55%). In 2009 Leontyev told Kommersant that the majority shareholder is the main investor in the project.
And then, as usual, the Central Bank appeared in history. On December 3, 2013, he revoked the license from Investbank due to the unsatisfactory quality of assets. At that time, the bank was ranked 80th among the largest banks in Russia with an asset valuation of 75.6 billion rubles. It soon became clear that 44 billion rubles would not be enough for the bank to settle accounts with creditors. This is a record size of the hole at that time, comparable only to the bankrupt Mezhprombank of Sergei Pugachev. Investbank was declared bankrupt on March 4, 2014. The Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) started searching for assets and collecting accounts receivable. As of the summer of 2016, the DIA managed to return only 4.1 billion rubles out of 40 to depositors; the bank's total debt to creditors is 60.2 billion rubles.
 |
| Decision on declaring Ivestbank bankrupt
|
And this is where the fun begins. The decision came into force on December 30, 2015, but there are no signs that the money was returned to Investbank. An important detail - representatives of "Press Code" were not present at the hearings. According to SPARK, the publishing house has not reported to the tax office for more than a year. And according to the bailiffs database, enforcement proceedings started in August and November 2016 to collect tax debts from Press Code were soon terminated: it is impossible to establish the whereabouts of the debtor, his property or obtain information about the money in the accounts (Art. 1 clause 3 of the Federal Law "On Enforcement Proceedings").
Rosneft spokesman Mikhail Leontyev declined to comment on the Dozhd TV channel on the information that appeared in social networks that the head of Rosneft Igor Sechin still uses a car with a flashing light, although he is not allowed by law.
"Please go to the ass. Please accept the assurances of our unwavering respect," - answered the question of Dozhd why Sechin received a flashing light, Rosneft press secretary Mikhail Leontyev. Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov did not answer the question whether Vladimir Putin provided a special signal to the head of the state company.Until 2012, Sechin moved in a car with a special signal as Deputy Prime Minister. Dozhd failed to find any presidential decree that would have given the head of Rosneft the right to use a flashing light. All departments whose employees can use the flashing light are listed in the presidential decree "On streamlining the use of special signals", which he signed in May 2012. According to the text of the document, for example, the government is entitled to 32 flashing lights, the presidential administration - 22, the FSB - 207. There are no Rosneft and other state-owned companies in the decree.
Sechin can drive a car that was not provided by his company, but by a third-party agency that has the right to flashers, the Federal Security Service, two federal officials told Dozhd. Such decisions are not formalized by public decrees, said one of the interlocutors. “We have nothing to do with this,” the FSO press service told Dozhd and addressed all questions to Rosneft.
"Rain"
Life journalist Anastasia Kashevarova drew attention to the fact that Sechin was driving a car with a special signal. According to her, "Sechin left the Kremlin himself at the wheel."
Traditionally, FSO cars are equipped with numbers with the EKX series, a federal official notes. The alleged car of the head of Rosneft has just such a series. The Mercedes number published by Kashevarova is Е939КХ77.The Kremlin correspondent of "Life" Alexander Yunashev told "Rain" that he also saw Sechin getting into a car with this number on several occasions. Moreover, according to him, an escort car drives behind the head of Rosneft. “Once he got behind the wheel himself, and as soon as he drove off a little, an escort car drove up behind him, if I’m not mistaken, a dark blue Volkswagen. But Sechin usually sits in the back seat of his car, and unlike all officials, he sits down not on the right, but on the left, that is, behind the driver. This is the safest place. I once asked him why he does this. He replied that this is a habit from his past work, "says the journalist.
A senior federal official claims the intelligence services had information that Sechin's life was in danger following the Yukos affair. He needs protection and escort to protect himself from the revenge of the former shareholders of the oil company, follows from the words of the interlocutor of "Dozhd". Because of this, according to his version, the flasher<...>
The heads of all other state-owned companies and corporations do not use flashing lights, it follows from the answers of their press services to Dozhd's questions. The press secretary of the head of "Gazprom" Alexei Miller said that he used a special signal before the presidential decree in 2012, but after that he lost his privilege. "When the decree was issued, we obeyed," - explained the interlocutor of Rain. The press services of Transneft, Sberbank, Russian Railways and Rostec also assured Dozhd that their managers and employees do not drive cars with flashing lights.
"Rain"
January 18, 16:30 Leontyev told BBC journalists that Sechin has the right to a car with a flashing light as a "state official of a certain level."
"By the way, Sechin is the executive secretary of the presidential commission on the fuel and energy complex (the fuel and energy complex - Sechin oversaw it when he was deputy prime minister in Putin's government). That is, at least he is a state official of a certain level who has the right to a flashing light and a special car," - Leontyev replied to the BBC's question whether the Dozhd TV channel's information that Sechin uses a car with a special signal is true.To a direct question whether Sechin has a flashing light, Leontyev refused to answer.
Leontyev reacted emotionally to the call from the BBC correspondent. “What are you asking? Why, why the hell? BBC ": guys, you really are fucking. Well, enough of g **** - then pick up. [...] You know what, you go farther, I don't want to answer your question," said Leontyev and threw tube.
The Investigation Management Center (LRC) of the public organization "Open Russia" discovered that the current press secretary of the state corporation "Rosneft" Mikhail Leontyev in May 2015 received from this company "a sponsorship contribution to the publication of the magazine" However "in the amount of 170 million rubles in exchange for some “information and advertising services.” The LRC found this information on the public procurement website.
At the same time, the execution of the contract began four months before it was signed, and was supposed to end on January 31, 2016. However, the last issue of the aforementioned magazine was published in June 2015, according to the SDGs page on the VKontakte social network.
The founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, Alexei Navalny, has already drawn attention to the investigation. The oppositionist wrote in his blog that he, as a shareholder of Rosneft, will write a request to the company's management demanding to provide him with all the documents related to financing the production and distribution of the magazine However.
Issue of the weekly "However" Leontyev launched in 2009, being the host of the TV show of the same name on Channel One. By 2013, the magazine was published once every two months, and then the issue was discontinued.
The founder of the magazine was the Press Code publishing group, but the aforementioned agreement on sponsorship was signed by Rosneft with OOO Publishing Group However. Until 2012, 99% of this OOO belonged to Leontiev, then the Institute for Social and Economic Policy Research "(ISEPS), writes the SDGs.
ISEPS, recall, was created in May 2011 immediately after the formation of the pro-Putin "All-Russian Popular Front" (ONF) and developed the electoral program of "United Russia" for the elections to the State Duma in the same year. In May 2012, the head of ISEPI, Nikolai Fedorov, received the post of Minister of Agriculture, after which the Institute was headed by Dmitry Badovsky. According to open sources, in 2013 ISEPS directly or indirectly owned the magazine "However", the Kontr TV channel, the network editions "Vzglyad" and "Dni.ru".
Since September 2016, 100% of the "However" group turned out to be owned by its permanent general director Larisa Leonova, ex-general director of Press Code, writes the SDG. The staff of the center called Leontyev, but his assistant answered instead. Upon learning that the callers are interested in the fate of Rosneft's millions spent on the magazine However, after a long pause, she offered to "call back, maybe tomorrow," the publication says.
"Only the press secretary of a state-owned company that squandered 170 million rubles for his magazine" for intellectuals "can send a journalist in the ass,” the LRC ironically comments, recalling the recent story with Leontyev’s answer to Dozhd’s journalists when asked about the “flashing light” on the president’s car. " Rosneft "Igor Sechin.
Since January 2014, Leontyev has been an advisor to Sechin in the rank of vice president for PR and is the press secretary of Rosneft. The Open Russia organization was founded by the ex-head of Yukos oil company Mikhail Khodorkovsky. There is a version in the Western press that it was Sechin who organized the arrest of Khodorkovsky in order to remove him from the political arena and seize Yukos's assets, which eventually passed to Rosneft.
A family
Father is an aircraft design engineer Vladimir Yakovlevich Leontiev, mother Mira Moiseevna Leontieva(born 1926) - lecturer in statistics at the Moscow Institute of National Economy. Plekhanov, co-author of the textbook "Trade Statistics".
From his first marriage with a poet and philologist Natalia Azarova- two children: son Dmitry (works on the O2TV channel), daughter Elena. Two grandchildren. With a second wife - Maria Kozlovskaya- daughter Daria (born 1999).
Biography
Was born on October 12, 1958 in Moscow. Educated at the Faculty of Economics Moscow Institute of National Economy. Plekhanov... In his student years, he worked as a security guard in the Moscow Planetarium, from where he was fired for a brawl arranged by his friends.
After graduating from university in 1979, he worked in Institute of Economic Problems of Moscow where tried " deal with the real Soviet economy". In the same years, Leontyev became interested in applied art. In 1985 he graduated from vocational school number 86, specializing in" cabinetmaker", however, he did not work in his specialty. He worked as a laborer in the Literary Museum, guarded the dacha-museum of Boris Pasternak in Peredelkino, was engaged in tutoring.
In 1987 Leontiev began writing analytical articles on sociological topics. In 1989 he was invited to the chaired Experimental Creative Center, engaged in political science.
In the same 1989, Leontyev began to work in the newspaper's policy department "Kommersant" where he went, in his words " very helpful school".
In 1990, Leontyev headed the department of economics in "Nezavisimaya Gazeta".
In 1993 he became the first deputy editor-in-chief of the weekly "Business MN"... In the same year he co-founded the newspaper "Segodnya", which was financed by Leonid Nevzlin, Vladimir Gusinsky and Alexander Smolensky.
He worked as a political columnist and first deputy editor-in-chief. Left Segodnya, disagreeing with the reform that had begun in the publication, however, Leonid Nevzlin claimed that Leontyev was "kicked out" of the newspaper.
In 1997 Mikhail became the founder of the magazine "A business", which was funded but never published. In April of the same year, he began working on television, becoming the head and host of the daily program "Actually", aired on the channel "TV Center" ( TVC).
In 1997-1998, he headed the service of social and political programs of the TVC and hosted the information and analytical program "The Seventh Day". In parallel, he continued to work in the print press - in 1998 he became the author of the column "Fas!" in a business weekly magazine "Company".
In 1997 Leontiev was nominated for the award TEFI, and the next year became a laureate of the "Golden feather".
In February 1999, he resigned from the TVC and, together with the team of the "Actually" program, moved to the staff of the service of social and political programs ORT, where his program began to appear in March of the same year "But".
Leontyev explained his departure by the fact that he does not share "the views of those people who own the TV Center." Later Leontiev led "However" together with Maxim Sokolov and Alexander Privalov.
In the summer of 1999 he became the editor of the satirical "journal of political hunting" "FAS". The project was closed in 2000 for financial reasons.
From November 2001 to December 2002, Leontiev's analytical program "Another Time" was aired on Channel One, from May 2003 to January 2004 - the author's program "Puppet Theatre".
In 2005, M. Leontiev was the editor-in-chief of the magazine "Main Theme", which was published at that time.
From January 2006 to November 2007 he hosted the "Master-class with Mikhail Leontyev" program on the O2TV channel. In October 2007, his project was released on Channel One "Big game"- a series of programs dedicated to the history of relations between Russia and Great Britain for dominance in Central Asia in the 19th-20th centuries. In November 2008, Leontyev's book of the same title was released.
In May 2007, he was appointed editor-in-chief of a business analytical magazine "Profile"... He worked in this position until March 2009. Magazine publisher Sergey Rodionov said that Leontyev's departure led to an increase in the publication's circulation. During the same period he collaborated with Moulin Rouge magazine.
In September 2007, Mikhail, together with his colleague Evgeny Dodolev(acting as publisher) launched the Russian-language version of the German weekly in Ukraine Der spiegel("Der Spiegel-Profile"), which has become a notable event in the media market.
The magazine in Russian was published weekly with a circulation of 30 thousand copies in Kiev, Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. The editorial office was located in Moscow, and a correspondent network was formed in Ukraine. The project was mothballed in May 2008, there is an online version of the publication.
Since June 2009, together with Channel One, he became the founder of the magazine "However", in which, in addition to Leontyev, they publish Evgeny Dodolev, Alexander Nevzorov and other journalists and columnists who previously worked for Profile.
In 2009 he starred in a small role in the film Stas Mareeva"Real love".
Mikhail Leontyev was a member of the journalistic "Seraphim Club", taught at the non-state Higher School of Management, which trained the "commissars" of the movement.
On January 8, 2014 it became known that Mikhail Leontyev would be appointed advisor to the president. Rosneft in the rank of vice president, will oversee the activities of the information and advertising department.
The media pointed out that there is a long-standing "friendly relationship" between Sechin and Leontyev. According to a source close to the company, PR specialists of this level are always coordinated, stressing that this is standard practice for such cases. " If Igor Ivanovich is confident that Mikhail Leontyev will be able to benefit the company, then he, as president of Rosneft, vouches for this decision"- said a high-ranking official of the presidential administration. At the same time, Mikhail Leontyev remains the host of the" However "program on Channel One.
Political activity
In December 1995, Leontyev, as an independent candidate, ran for the State Duma of the II convocation from the 203rd Cheremushkinsky constituency of Moscow, but lost the elections Pavel Medvedev.
During the first Chechen war, he was among those who supported the entry of troops into the territory of Chechnya, stating that he was " a staunch supporter of the military solution of problems in Chechnya"Later, during the explosions of residential buildings in Moscow and Volgodonsk, he called for the bombing of Chechnya.
In 2000, in the presidential election, he announced his support for the acting head of state Vladimir Putin.
In 2001, he became a member of the political council of the Eurasia social and political movement.
In 2002 he became a member of the party.
In 2002, for speaking out against the wife of the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko Ekaterina Yushchenko (earlier she bore the surname Chumachenko). The Ukrainian court ordered Leontyev to reimburse UAH 2,500 in favor of Ekaterina Yushchenko and, within 30 days, to refute the false information that he announced in his program "However" on April 10, 2001. Leontyev refused to comply with the court's decision. Became persona "non grata" in Ukraine. The ban was later lifted.
In August 2014, Ukraine was included in the sanctions list for its position on the war in the East of Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea to Russia.
In his economic views he is a radical liberal, in his political views he is an ardent anti-communist. He calls himself a dissident. Repeatedly admired Augusto Pinochet.
Leontyev urges Russia to abandon " imperial burden".
In connection with the global economic crisis, he stated that " the only way out of the current crisis is a global war. Who and how will untie it is a purely technical question.".
In September 2015, after the speeches of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and the President of the United States Barack Obama stated:
"His speech is such an ideologically conspiratorial gibberish ... Everything that Obama said was some semi-diplomatic formats, some old models that he went through. Basically, he said nothing, except for one thing - he left the door open. That is, having repeated all American fetishes, ideologemes, he nevertheless said that it is possible to cooperate", - said Leontyev.
"It is difficult to trust him, because it is not clear whether he will be able to realize these ideas about how to act in reality, because so far he has been poorly able to do this.", - the journalist recalled.
In his opinion, Obama's weakness is not that he cannot resist Putin's pressure, but that he cannot pursue his own policies, which he wants to pursue under the pressure of very powerful American interests.
Leontyev stressed that, unlike Obama, the Russian president spoke clearly and distinctly, his speech was not diplomatic: Putin called a spade a spade.
Scandals
April 2, 2013 Mikhail Leontyev, commenting on the statements on the Day of TV channel A. Miller about the allegedly unprofitable production of "shale gas", with the help of which the Russian "Gazprom" are already being squeezed out of the European market, said: " The largest Russian company is headed by a dangerous madman who has turned into a direct threat to national security. It seems that he contracted madness from his Qatari brothers, with whom he was trying to arrange a gas alliance. You have to do something about this. I don't know, maybe call a doctor. Vladimir Vladimirovich has already called a doctor once. It takes a whole brigade here, a psycho wagon".
Leontyev also said that he did not understand at all on what basis such a company exists, which systematically damages Russian interests.
"They are losing Europe because of the idiotic pricing policy, and they will lose it. Where did the Shtokman, which was intended for the Americans, go? It is not and will not be, because it is not needed. There will be no South Stream, and there is no need to fool people, because there is nothing to fill it with", - said Leontyev.
Leontyev drew attention to the fact that Gazprom is not interested in shale gas production in Russia, of which there should be more than enough in the country, but the monopoly is a nightmare for the state and justifies the obscenely exorbitant costs of extracting ordinary "blue fuel".
"With obscene costs, our gas production at Gazprom will soon become unprofitable. Not because gas is expensive to extract, but, roughly speaking, because you need to steal less, at least a little less", - said the journalist.
"Shale gas production is unprofitable, while shale oil production is much more complicated, but in Mr. Miller's view it is profitable. This is generally some kind of aberration of consciousness. Just psychosis. It seems to me that what is happening is a direct act of sabotage - an arrogant, public - presidential decree. Mr. Miller needs to be hospitalized, and Gazprom would be better sold to the Americans. If it is so valuable, maybe they will give money for it, in the end. Moreover, to appoint a nutty Miller as an encumbrance in the sale. Gazprom's media assets can also be sold there. Because these assets still work for the Americans. Let them pay for them", - concluded Leontiev.
On the eve it became known that Rosneftegaz notified Rosimushchestvo on the acquisition of 0.23% of shares in Gazprom for 7 billion rubles. It is reported that the deal took place in the first half of March. Thus, the state, represented by Rosneftegaz, which it heads, gained full control over the gas monopoly.
Independent observers, commenting on the statements of Mikhail Leontyev, suggested that Alexey Miller, apparently, will lose his post, and his place will be taken by the protege of the closest ally of the President of the Russian Federation Igor Sechin... Ultimately, these predictions did not come true, and Miller remained in his post.
Mikhail Leontyev is considered a heavy drinker and, therefore, often finds himself in delicate situations. So, on May 7, 2012, Mikhail Leontyev provoked a major international scandal in Odessa. He took part in the concert "Songs of Victory"... It was evident that the journalist came on stage not too sober. Leontyev immediately stated that the inhabitants of Ukraine " fucked up the country"... and to return everything back, you need to make the right choice." We need to stop betting on goats and pid * races. To change something, you need to vote for the party, - Leontyev declared loudly from the stage.
For his statements, the scandalous journalist was booed by the audience, many of whom came to the concert with their children. By the way, among the spectators were city and regional officials, none of whom apologized to the residents of Odessa for the behavior of the Russian guest at a concert dedicated to Victory Day... Since the ATV channel was broadcasting live from this event, thousands of Odessans who watched TV witnessed this.
November 12, 2014, when Mikhail Leontyev, the host of the program, started talking about the Association of Ukraine and European Union, behind his back, a pornographic clip was played on the screen of one of the televisions. The recording shows how a woman in the position "from above" moves on a man who is lying under a blue blanket. The action itself lasts about ten seconds, after which what is happening in the studio is replaced by a journalistic plot. In the video below, the erotic elements start at the 44th second.
Alexey Venediktov, editor-in-chief "Echo of Moscow", in his Instagram, he actively posted photos from the birthday of Remchukov. In social networks, a wave of indignation swept over the warm "friendship" of representatives of opposition and pro-government political figures and journalists.