Lyubimova Olga

Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, one of the main authors and executors of the policy of the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of military propaganda, in particular, on the formation of "propaganda teams" to "support military personnel in the special military operation".

Born in 1980 in Moscow. She graduated from a school with an in-depth study of the English language, studied for several years at the Orthodox gymnasium named after the Monk Nestor the Chronicler. For some time she was a student at the journalism faculty of Moscow State University, later she studied at GITIS at the theater department, in 2007 she graduated from this institute with a degree in theater criticism.
In 2000, he was a correspondent for the Europa Plus radio station. After 2001, she worked on television, including as a correspondent for the program "Orthodox" produced by the Information Agency of the Russian Orthodox Church, which aired on the TVC channel. She was a correspondent for several programs on Channel Three, was the chief editor of the programs Region (2003-2004) and Russian View (2003-2004, 2006-2009). From December 2010 to 2011, he was the head of the information and analytical program "Context" on the TV channel "Culture". In 2011-2012, he was a senior documentary film producer in the program department of the TV channel TV-3. She took part in the creation of more than 80 documentaries, including those made for the TV channels Russia-1, Culture, Channel One. He is the author of the script for several documentaries, most often of a religious and "patriotic" orientation, and co-author of the film "Nikita Mikhalkov" (2015). Published in the journals "Russian View" (where she was also the head of the department of culture), "Political Journal", "Afisha", "Esquire".

In November 2015, she took the (newly created) position of adviser to the head of the cinematography department at the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. From October 2016 to January 2018 - Deputy Director of the Directorate of Social and Publicistic Programs of Channel One JSC. From January 2018 to January 2020 - Head of the Department of Cinematography of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. In early 2018, the Ministry of Culture - quite in the spirit of Putin's "re-Sovietization" - withdrew the rental certificate from the satirical comedy by Italian director Armando Iannucci "Death of Stalin". According to Lyubimova, the alleged reason was "requests from cultural figures." She herself hypocritically noted that she was allegedly worried "not by the figure of Stalin in the cinema, but by the cynical portrayal of the victims of political repression ".

In January 2020, Olga Lyubimova became the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, succeeding Vladimir Medinsky in this post. Then conflicting responses in the media were caused by the blog of 28-year-old Lyubimova "Kropalik" published in 2008, where she reported that she "does not tolerate opera, classical music, ballet, museums, exhibitions, memorial evenings, processions, rallies, anniversary events, does not want look at the Mona Lisa and does not tolerate excursions at all, she admits that she does not understand art-house cinema and does not know world cinema well".

In 2022, “for the help of the Russian Orthodox Church,” she was awarded the Order of the Holy Right-Believing Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, II degree.

Married to TV journalist Yevgeny Baranov, has two children.

Managing one of the most important areas of propaganda for the Putin regime during the aggressive and aggressive war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.

Despite the fact that in 2022 some “turbopatriotic” publications complained that allegedly “The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation is silent about the special military operation ” (although some events in the territories occupied by the Russian Federation were already carried out by this ministry), the facts show the opposite - that Lyubimova is one from active ( and, of course, high-ranking) participants in the pro-war state propaganda.

In October 2022, Olga Lyubimova joined the persecution of "national traitors" from among the creative intelligentsia, in particular, supporting the removal by the Russian Academic Youth Theater and the Alexandria Theater from St. Petersburg of the writer Boris Akunin’s name from posters of performances staged based on his plays. The writer himself associated the incident with pressure on the management of theaters by the authorities, while Lyubimova stated about the "demands of the Russian citizens ".

And at the end of November 2022, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation presented a “list of priority topics for state support of cinema in Russia in 2023”, many of which, even in their very wording, are clearly of propaganda (including glorifying the war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine) and deceitful character: “Peacekeeping mission of Russia", "Malorossiya [a “Russian imperialist name of Ukraine”] as a historical region of Russia", "Popularization of the heroism and selflessness of Russian soldiers during a special military operation", "Neo-colonial policy of the countries of the Anglo-Saxon world", "Degradation of Europe", "Formation of a multipolar world", and so on.

However, such “ideological support for the special military operation” to the leadership of the Ministry of Culture (as well as its curators from the Presidential Administration), apparently, was not enough, and in February 2023 Olga Lyubimova announced that the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, together with the Ministry of Defense of Russia, was forming propaganda teams for visits to the occupying troops in Ukraine in order to raise their morale. She said that "there are performers from different regions" in these teams and added that it is "incredibly touching ". According to media reports, the propaganda team should consist of a lecturer from the Knowledge Society, a representative of the Combat Brotherhood, a federal deputy, as well as of the creative team itself.

For her activities, Lyubimova was included in the EU sanctions list in December 2022, namely, for projects carried out under her leadership aimed at integrating the illegally annexed regions of Ukraine . In addition, according to the European Union, she is indirectly involved in the destruction of Ukrainian cultural heritage – due to the lack of efforts to protect cultural heritage in the occupied territories . In February 2023, Lyubimova was included in US sanctions list due to "harmful foreign activities of the government of the Russian Federation ". For similar reasons, she is included in the sanctions lists of Ukraine , Switzerland , Australia and New Zealand.

The very fact of being in the leadership of the federal ministry (especially responsible, in fact, for propaganda) in the conditions of a full-scale war unleashed by the Russian Federation is a reason for classifying Olga Lyubimova as the main accomplice in the policy of Vladimir Putin's regime. And as for the above-mentioned special “achievements” of Lyubimova in terms of the persecution of dissidents, or the formation of “propaganda teams”, they, of course, further aggravate her guilt and are the basis for bringing her to justice for the crimes of the Russian authorities, including military ones.