Olga Skabeyeva

Skabeyeva was born in 1984 in Volzhsky, in the Volgograd Oblast of the Soviet Union.^{[citation needed]} At first, she studied at a private Russian-American school, from which she graduated with honors.^[6][7]

In the tenth grade, she decided to become a journalist.^[4] She studied at the Faculty of Journalism at Saint Petersburg State University, where she graduated from with honors in 2008.^[8][9] Her journalistic career began at a local newspaper.^[4][10]

Skabeyeva rose to prominence in 2012–2013 with her coverage of the Pussy Riot trial, the concurrent surge in anti-government rallies and subsequent criminal investigations into the activities of Russian opposition supporters. Her critical reports of the Russian opposition prompted TV critic Irina Petrovskaya [ru; uk] to describe her as a member of Russian state TV's "special operation forces", and her tone as "prosecutorial and accusatory".^[11]

Since 2015–2016, Skabeyeva has hosted the author's program Vesti.doc on the Russia-1 state TV channel.^[4] Since 12 September 2016, together with husband Yevgeny Popov, she has hosted the 60 Minut (60 minutes), a social and political talk show on Russia-1, billed as a discussion program on high-profile topics.^[12][13]

In 2018, Skabeyeva was involved in an attempt to discredit the British investigation into the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.^[14][15] Her television program said the Skripal poisoning case was 'an elaborate British plot to smear Russia'.

Skabeyeva is a two-time winner of the Russian television TEFI Award, receiving the distinction in 2017 and 2018.^[16]

She called the Russian invasion of Ukraine an effort "to protect the people of Donbas from a Nazi regime" and said it was "without exaggeration, a crucial junction in history".^[17] On 15 April 2022, she reacted to the sinking of the Russian cruiser Moskva by the Ukrainian forces, saying: "One can safely call that it has escalated into World War III."^[18]

In September 2023, she said that Russia should have nuked Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in London.^[5]

Skabeyeva criticized Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war, saying that "Only the Americans can stop this bloodbath but they are doing exactly the opposite."^[19]

Skabeyeva is married to State Duma member Yevgeny Popov, who is also a co-host of her TV production,^[22] for both it was the second marriage.^[23] On January 14, 2014 they had a son, Zakhar.^[24]

According to an Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) investigation published 29 July 2021, Skabeyeva and her husband own real estate in Moscow with a total value of over 300 million rubles (US$4 million).^[25][26] A 2020 investigation by The Insider website found that Skabeyeva officially earns 12.8 million rubles a year, and her husband 12.9 million.^[27][28] Their only reported sources of income are the state-owned media holding VGTRK and its subsidiary TV channel Russia-1.^[27][29]