--- title: Margarita Simonyan url: https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/margarita-simonyan/ description: 5 verified quotes from Margarita Simonyan, Editor-in-Chief of RT and of Rossiya Segodnya, with sources. section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: a dossier collage of a vintage television wall broadcasting archival news footage, surrounded by press clippings and film reels.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/hero-watch-briefs.jpg) [Quotes](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/) · Russia # Margarita Simonyan ![Margarita Simonyan, 17 July 2017](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/putin-government/margarita-simonyan.jpg) [Photo](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Margarita_Simonyan_(2017-07-17).jpg): Presidential Press and Information Office (kremlin.ru), CC BY 4.0 Editor-in-Chief of RT and of Rossiya Segodnya · Russia On the regime page: [Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/putin-government/#margarita-simonyan) 5 quotes, oldest first. [Filter with other speakers](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/#speaker=margarita-simonyan). 1. > “The West never got over the Cold War stereotype. One thing that only few journalists understand is that Russia started dissolving the Soviet Union of its own accord. We were the ones to realize that Communism was a failure.” — English: English edition of SPIEGEL ONLINE International, 13 August 2013. Original-language text not found. — August 13, 2013 · Interview · Moscow — Simonyan was asked in an interview about Western perceptions of RT's coverage of the 2008 Georgia war. The passage follows her answer that Russia had not started a war with another country in 20 years. — SPIEGEL interview with Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russia Today, interviewer Benjamin Bidder, Moscow, SPIEGEL ONLINE International, 13 August 2013 [Source](https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/spiegel-interview-russia-today-editor-in-chief-margarita-simonyan-a-916356.html) 2. > “then we will join them in battle, yes. That goes for the country's real, armed conflicts.” — English: English edition of SPIEGEL ONLINE International, 13 August 2013. Original-language text not found. — August 13, 2013 · Interview · Moscow — Interviewer: 'Many are comparing the network to the Ministry of Defense. You said it yourself, when Russia goes to war …'. Simonyan's reply, quoted here, continues with her account of Western coverage of the 2008 Georgia war. — SPIEGEL interview with Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russia Today, interviewer Benjamin Bidder, Moscow, SPIEGEL ONLINE International, 13 August 2013 [Source](https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/spiegel-interview-russia-today-editor-in-chief-margarita-simonyan-a-916356.html) 3. > “There is no objectivity -- only approximations of the truth by as many different voices as possible.” — English: English edition of SPIEGEL ONLINE International, 13 August 2013. Original-language text not found. — August 13, 2013 · Interview · Moscow — Asked whether RT's aim is objective reporting, Simonyan asked whether the interviewer had seen many examples of objective reporting, then cited Western coverage of Syria and Georgia's president Saakashvili. — SPIEGEL interview with Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russia Today, interviewer Benjamin Bidder, Moscow, SPIEGEL ONLINE International, 13 August 2013 [Source](https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/spiegel-interview-russia-today-editor-in-chief-margarita-simonyan-a-916356.html) 4. > “If we manage to lose in Ukraine, The Hague… is waiting even for the janitor who sweeps the pavement behind the Kremlin wall” — Original (Russian) — если мы умудримся проиграть, Гаага условная или конкретная ждет даже дворника, который брусчатку за кремлевской стеной подметает. — English: English as quoted by the Kyiv Post, 'Fear of Losing War Bites Russian Propagandists', 30 November 2022; Russian as printed by Krasnaya Liniya TV, 30 November 2022 — November 28, 2022 · Broadcast · Moscow, "Evening with Vladimir Solovyov" (Russian state television) Verified (secondary source) — Simonyan spoke about officials said to fear international prosecution, and argued that the real fear should be of losing. The programme aired in the tenth month of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. — Margarita Simonyan on the talk show Vecher s Vladimirom Solovyovym, Monday 28 November 2022, as reported by the Kyiv Post and Krasnaya Liniya TV [Source](https://www.kyivpost.com/post/15) 5. **Content note:** Proposal of a nuclear detonation as a threat The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “What will happen is all electronic devices and satellites would be knocked out” — English: English as quoted by The Moscow Times, 4 October 2023. Original-language text not found. — October 2, 2023 · Broadcast · Moscow (television programme) Verified (secondary source) — Simonyan proposed detonating a thermonuclear device 'on our own territory, somewhere over Siberia' as a 'nuclear ultimatum' to the West. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said her words did not reflect Moscow's official position and that Russia had 'not abandoned' its nuclear-testing moratorium; she later said she had not proposed a strike on Russian territory. — Margarita Simonyan on her television show, Monday 2 October 2023, as reported by The Moscow Times [Source](https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/10/04/rts-simonyan-faces-backlash-over-call-to-detonate-nuke-over-siberia-a82658)