Bagdasarov Semyon

Propagandist

BAGDASAROV, Semyon Arkadyevich (b. 1954) is a Russian-Armenian politician and Director of the Center for the Study of the Middle East and Central Asia. A regular participant in “political talk shows” on Russian state TV channels. From 2007 to 2011, he was a member of the State Duma, Member of the Committee on Civil, Criminal, Arbitration and Procedural Law. Member of the Just Russia party.

Aggressive propaganda, incitement of hatred against other nations, and the dissemination of disinformation and fake news.

In 2014, Bagdasarov headed the newly created Center for the Study of the Middle East and Central Asia and began to be called an expert in this region on TV. In 2015, Novaya Gazeta drew attention to the unclear and opaque structure and activities of the organization, on behalf of which Baghdasarov made shocking and provocative statements regarding foreign policy in publications, television and radio broadcasts. Novaya Gazeta called Bagdasarov “a hatred preacher.”

Bagdasarov participates in the incitement of hatred against Ukrainians, residents of the Baltic states and other countries with the governments critical of the Kremlin. He repeatedly expressed support for pro-Russian terrorist groups operating in the east of Ukraine, called for a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, the genocide of the Ukrainian population and the destruction of the Ukrainian state. For example, on the Sunday Night with Vladimir Solovyov program, broadcasted on the Rossiya-1 channel, he called Ukraine a “cancerous tumor” and said that it must be regarded as a threat to the Russian Federation. In January 2019, Baghdasarov said that Russia should not stop at the annexation of Crimea and Donbas and urged the Russian government to invade all southern and eastern regions of Ukraine.

Azerbaijani media accused Bagdasarov of propaganda of Azerbaijanophobia and Turkophobia on Russian TV channels.