Russia’s security authorities have stepped up protection for state media personalities and TV channel executives following a series of attacks on Russian servicemembers and propagandists, the Russian opposition outlet Agentstvo reports, citing four informed sources.

According to an employee a federal TV channel, Rosgvardiya (Russian National Guard) chief Viktor Zolotov personally recommended that the channel’s management bring in security. Rosgvardiya officers now accompany nearly all TV executives and many presenters.

According to the sources, some media professionals are unhappy with these measures, since they imply constant monitoring by security officers.

Moreover, the outlet has documented cases of Federal Guard Service (FSO) units being deployed to ensure the security of Ilya Medvedev, son of Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, as well as the grandchildren of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during their visit to Moscow.

According to the outlet, first enhanced security measures for key Russian media figurse were introduced back in the first months of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

READ MORE:

For instance, in August 2022, RT chief editor Margarita Simonyan reported travelling with a security detail. It emerged in September of that year that Rosgvardiya and the FSB had been brought in to guard the property and person of Dmitry Kiselyov, CEO of the international news agency Rossiya Segodnya.

Journalists also found that Vladimir Putin had increased the staffing ceiling for the FSO’s central apparatus four times after the start of the full-scale invasion; as of now it stands at 812 people. Furthermore, the FSO has taken more than 10 Russian generals under its protection on Putin’s orders.

Attacks on Russian propagandists

On 20 August 2022, a car carrying Darya Dugina, a TV host and daughter of Russian propagandist Alexander Dugin, exploded on the outskirts of Moscow. The FSB blamed Dugina’s death on Ukrainian intelligence.

On 28 August, Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, stated that Russian intelligence services were behind the attack that killed Darya Dugina.

Russian propagandist Maxim Fomin (pen name Vladlen Tatarsky) died in an explosion on 2 April 2023 in St Petersburg, Russia, at a café owned by Wagner PMC leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, during an event Fomin hosted. A bust presented to him by a visitor exploded.

On 6 May, a car carrying Ukrainophobic writer and “Spravedlivaya Rossiya” party member Zakhar Prilepin was blown up in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region. He was injured; Alexander Shubin, a member of Rosgvardiya’s Oplot Battalion who was travelling with him, died.