The words of Vladimir Solovyev, one of the best-known television hosts on Moscow TV, who during a broadcast heavily insulted Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, could open a new diplomatic case between Italy and Russia. The man, a famous anchorman and one of the Kremlin’s main propagandists, harshly attacked the Italian Prime Minister with vulgar words and epithets, also in Italian (video here). After what happened, the Farnesina decided to call the Russian ambassador to Rome.
Oligarch friend of Putin
But who is Vladimir Solovyev? A 62-year-old oligarch, he is one of the few to call Putin “you”. In 2014 he received a medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland thanks to “objective coverage” of the referendum on the annexation of Crimea. At that time, in his television speeches he expressed his support for the Russian presidential action, condemning “Western hypocrisy in its relations with Ukraine”. Solovyev never hesitated to reiterate his positions on the Russian invasion and his very hostile attitude towards Ukraine.
He is known for being the host of the program “Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyev”, which airs on the Russia 1 TV channel. He considers himself a Soviet patriot and often hosts his program wearing a jacket with a hammer and sickle. In 2022, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Union, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and other countries imposed personal sanctions against him. In August of the same year, again on TV, he defined himself as a “terrorist” and called for the destruction of Ukrainian cities together with its inhabitants.
Kremlin propagandist
He is considered the standard bearer of Russian propaganda and disinformation, the unofficial voice with which the Kremlin launches its messages and attacks, often vulgar and threatening, against Europe, NATO and various international leaders. Known for his nationalism, he is considered very close to Putin’s positions. He often hosts the program wearing a jacket with the Soviet hammer and sickle. In the past, the US State Department called him “the Kremlin’s most energetic propagandist”.
Ties with Italy
Solovyev also has personal relations with Italy. The Anti-Corruption Foundation of Alexej Navalny (known activist and opponent of Putin who died in 2024) discovered that he owned two villas on Lake Como worth around 8 million euros, later seized, and that he had an Italian residence certificate. In April 2022, someone set fire outside one of the two pharaonic villas in Menaggio (Como), already seized by the Italian government as part of the economic sanctions against the oligarchs.