Gusev Pavel

GUSEV, Pavel Nikolaevich was born on April 4, 1949, in Moscow. In 1971, he graduated from the Moscow Geological Prospecting Institute and until 1974 he worked as a junior researcher. In 1975, he graduated from the Moscow Polytechnic Institute. In 1986, he graduated in absentia from the Gorky Literary Institute with a degree in literary work. Since 1975, he was the secretary of the Krasnopresnensky district committee of the Komsomol of Moscow. In 1980, he was appointed the Responsible Organizer of the International Department of the Komsomol Central Committee. In 1983, he became the editor-in-chief of the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.

Pavel Gusev is the Chairman of the Union of Journalists of Moscow since 1991. In 1992, he served as a Minister in the Government of Moscow and headed the Department of Press and Information. Member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Media Commission. Member of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights. Chairman of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation since 2013.

Complicity in aggressive state propaganda of the anti-democratic Russian regime, in the creation and dissemination of information in the interests of the political leadership of the Russian Federation, intentionally distorting and deceiving people and instilling aggression in the public opinion, an atmosphere of hatred and political intolerance.

Pavel Gusev is a typical example of the Soviet nomenklatura, who made his career “along the Komsomol-journalistic line.” In five years, having grown from secretary of the district committee to an employee of the International Department of the Komsomol Central Committee, at the age of 33 he became the chief editor of the Moskovsky Komsomolets, the second most important newspaper after the Komsomolskaya Pravda in the Soviet propaganda hierarchy, and in 1992, he became its owner.

During the formation of the Putin regime, Pavel Gusev, nominally retaining the position and image of the leader of an influential independent media, an advocate of freedom of speech and liberal values, actually contributed to the strengthening of the anti-democratic system. He is one of the brightest examples of the so-called systemic liberals (sislibs), legitimizers of the regime. A loyalist stance towards the Kremlin allowed Gusev to become one of the top Russian media magnates with a fortune estimated at 30 billion rubles.

The main reasons for the accusation of Gusev are his approval of the annexation of Crimea and the fact that the media he has been leading for several years has been a platform for the mass distribution of propaganda reports justifying Russia's aggression against Ukraine. On May 27, 2016, Pavel Gusev, along with other leaders of the major Russian state and non-governmental media was included in the list of personal sanctions by decree of the President of Ukraine and became a persona non grata on the territory of Ukraine. Indirect evidence of complicity in the crimes of the Putin regime is the appointment of Pavel Gusev to various public posts and the receipt of state and governmental awards. In January 2018, he was registered as a confidant of Vladimir Putin in the presidential election.