Lacking both a team and support from the Kremlin: the ways in which Dmitry Kiselyov saw his influence wane, his staff disappear, and the nation’s leading weekly news program slip away

06 сентября 2026 г., 16:12

974     0

Lacking both a team and support from the Kremlin: the ways in which Dmitry Kiselyov saw his influence wane, his staff disappear, and the nation’s leading weekly news program slip away

The entire team of Dmitry Kiselyov (correspondents, producers, editors, directors, editors, camera operators) was fired from "Vesti Nedeli." Almost none of them found a place in Kiselyov’s new program either.

This Sunday, the updated weekly news program "Vesti Nedeli" will air on the Russia-1 television channel. As our project previously reported, in the new television season, Evgeny Popov will be the host of the weekly "Vesti" instead of Dmitry Kiselyov.

According to a source, Popov brought in his own team entirely, while the employees from Kiselyov’s team (which was quite a large group) were, so to speak, shown the door.

Kiselyov himself, practically alone for now, will be producing a 26-minute program airing at 11:00 PM on Sundays. This timeslot, to put it mildly, is not suitable for such shows, and he was not given any staff to assist him, nor was any clear direction for his activities established. All these years, the agenda — the layout of the "Vesti Nedeli" program — was shaped by Kiselyov himself, based on personal conversations in the Kremlin. Even the head of VGTRK, Oleg Dobrodeyev, could not influence the final agenda of the program.

Earlier, the media reported that Kiselyov "suffers" from intolerance to any differing opinions or recommendations, whether from the Presidential Administration or Dobrodeyev. At the same time, he always referred to very "high" powers, claiming, for instance, that he sometimes has tea with Putin. "So I know what and how to do." According to behind-the-scenes information, Putin once remarked that "Kiselyov has completely stopped paying attention." As a result, the Russian Presidential Administration and Dobrodeyev gladly dropped Kiselyov from "Vesti Nedeli," and he found no support whatsoever.

"Kiselyov, who faithfully served the Kremlin and was the main ’locomotive’ of Russian propaganda, now, at 72, has to prove his usefulness to the Kremlin again. Moreover, with zero support from VGTRK itself and practically without a team. No one believes he will succeed. Everyone thinks that his new project will be quietly shelved due to low ratings and its lack of relevance to the Presidential Administration," our source believes.