Russian propagandist, military correspondent. He runs the @russ_orientalist telegram channel, which has over a hundred thousand subscribers.
Born in 1979 in Odessa in a family of immigrants from the Balkans. Historian-orientalist by education.
Until 2014, he was known in Ukraine as the general producer of the Russian-language TV channel ATV (2005-2010) and co-founder of the pro-Russian Rodina party, later — a deputy of the Odessa City Council from this party. One of the organizers of the separatist so-called "Kulikovo field" 2013-2014 in Odessa. He fled from Ukraine to the Russian Federation after the events of May 2, 2014 in Odessa, after which he repeatedly returned to the occupied territories of Donbass to cover the events taking place there for propaganda (pro-Kremlin) purposes.
He also actively covered the war in Syria, after which he became known in Russia as a "voenkor" (war correspondent) and appeared in the Russian media as a specialist in the Middle East and military issues.
From the very first days of the full-scale invasion of the Russian occupation forces into Ukraine in February 2022, he conducted a text “broadcast” in enthusiastic tones on his Telegram channel, and also called on the Ukrainian military not to resist the invaders.
Some quotes (spelling and punctuation retained):
“…The guys do everything carefully, they don’t shoot aimlessly anywhere, only at military facilities... Our people love Odessa very much, they will blow off dust particles from it...”
"...the fact that Ukraine began to pose such a danger and people were charged for confrontation is a disaster..."
“... Kievans, I want to reassure you to some extent. In the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, as a whole, there is strict discipline; there is no need to be afraid of unreasonable violence and looting from military personnel. They behave adequately and calmly, perhaps even too much, to the point of carelessness, calmly. Therefore, do not panic, the danger comes rather from marauders and idiots armed by the Ukrainian government. The Russians sincerely worry about you and try to avoid casualties among the population, even at the cost of losses... ”(recall that the infamous Bucha and Irpin are located precisely in the Kyiv region).
Propaganda of aggressive and predatory war.
The propaganda activities of Igor Dimitriev are contrary to both international law (in particular, Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966), and, at a minimum, the criminal law of the Russian Federation (Article 354 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and Ukraine (Art. 436 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), and must receive a proper official legal assessment, with the ensuing consequences for this person.
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