Profile: Yevgeny Kiselyov

Millions of Russians have tuned in to Yevgeny Kiselyov's broadcasts

* NTV general director under Vladimir Gusinsky

*Born in Moscow, 1956; graduated as a "historian-orientalist" from the Institute of Africa and Asia, where he studied the Farsi language

*Worked as a translator with Soviet forces in Afghanistan in 1979; taught for four years at the KGB Higher School

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*Worked for Radio Moscow's Persian service in 1984, later moving into central television

*Provided ideological support via radio broadcasts for Soviet troops in Afghanistan in 1986. Applied for membership in the Communist Party in 1989, but did not end up joining

*Left Russian TV in 1991 for the state-run Ostankino network, saying RTV was too ideological and unprofessional

*Part of production team for "Vesti," the first alternative news broadcast in Russia, in 1991

*Launched the news analysis programme, "Itogi", in 1993, with Oleg Dobrodeyev, NTV's future general director. Took "Itogi" with him when he moved to NTV; the programme became one of NTV's top-rated programmes and helped make Kiselyov a household name in Russia

*Awarded the International Press Freedom Award in New York, in 1995; a year later, "Itogi" is named "Best Original Programme" by the Academy of Russian Television

*Ousted as general director in a boardroom coup on April 2 by NTV creditor Gazprom, which tries to install U.S. financier Boris Jordan in his place

(Transitions Online and The Russia Journal Online contributed to this report)

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