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Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov's daughter, US-born Ekaterina Solovyova, spoke out against the Russian Supreme Court's decision to label the “International LGBT Movement” as extremist, according to a report by the independent publication Verstka.
“I adore the theater of the absurd, but this is a sick joke. We recognise non-existent, harmless organizations as extremist, and we give Hamas receptions in the Kremlin. Even Orwell would've puked [from having to swallow all this]. I'd like to remind you that [Russia] still only punishes domestic violence with fines,” Solovyova wrote on social media.
After the court's decision, she wrote in her Telegram channel, “The darkness, comrades. We continue to shine our light.”
Solovyova is also an outspoken opponent of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, calls for help for Ukraine and those Russians not wishing to be mobilized, performs burlesque and feminist shows, and lives in Moscow. Every year on her birthday, she publishes a post on Instagram calling for donations to the anti-domestic violence group Nasiliu.net and the human rights project OVD-Info. In 2012, Solovyova reposted a post in support of Fyodor Bakhov, a defendant in the Bolotnaya Square case. In 2019, she expressed solidarity with actor Pavel Ustinov, who was arrested during a protest.
Solovyova previously declined to comment on her relationship with her father and her creative work, saying that she was worried about the safety of the participants in her projects.
“The most important thing for me in this case is the safety of my colleagues, who already face injustice and narrow-mindedness all the time. I have nothing to hide, but talking about my father now means endangering not only myself and my family, but also my friends and colleagues.”
Vladimir Solovyov is one of Russia’s most well-known propagandists. He has been an anchor on the television show Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, broadcast n Russia-1 since 2012. His YouTube channel Solovyov Live was blocked under the platform's three-strikes policy in March 2022. He was then assigned the TV frequency of the Euronews news channel, which was banned in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.
The U.S. State Department has described him as “the most energetic Kremlin propagandist around today.” Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper headed by 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitriy Muratov, described Solovyov’s main methods of work as “hate speech, screaming, personal insults and humiliation.”
On 23 February 2022, one day before the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Solovyov was sanctioned by the European Union and banned from entering EU countries for as long as the sanctions remain in force. All his EU-based assets have been frozen.