Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan named one of FT's most influential people of 2025

The Financial Times has included Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russian state-run TV channel RT, in its list of the most influential people of 2025 in the Leaders category.

Source: Detector Media, a Ukrainian analytical centre and media platform, citing the FT

Details: There are 25 people on the list, which is divided into three categories: Creators, Leaders and Heroes.

The list was compiled after consultations with FT reporters, columnists and editors, who were asked who's really made a difference this year.

It features personalities from politics, business, media, the arts and sport. Profiles were written by the most high-profile people in their sectors, plus fans from different industries.

The piece on Simonyan was written by American author and journalist Julia Ioffe.

Quote from Ioffe: "She is, perhaps, Vladimir Putin's most fiercely loyal messenger, his Valkyrie of propaganda. Unlike some of the older men towing the Kremlin's line, Simonyan never had a liberal phase, not even when she was an exchange student in the US.

She was always a Putinist, which is why in 2005, at the tender age of 25, she became the founding editor-in-chief of Russia Today, the now multilingual, global Kremlin-controlled media network rechristened RT.

After the full-scale invasion in 2014, she has called for even more extreme measures, such as using Russia's blockade of the Black Sea to starve the world into submission and detonating a nuclear bomb in the atmosphere above Siberia to paralyse the world's communication systems."

More details: Ioffe also writes that Simonyan believes the West is "jealous of Russia" and refers to the UK as a "decomposed empire".

Besides Simonyan, the Leaders category includes NVIDIA chief Jensen Huang, Oracle chief Safra Catz, Chinese BYD vice-president Stella Li, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon.

The Creators section features, among others, actor and singer Cynthia Erivo, director Ryan Coogler, writer Helen Garner, singer Rosalía and artist Bad Bunny. The Heroes category includes Margaret Atwood, Rory McIlroy and Jane Fonda.

There are no Ukrainians on this year's Financial Times list, and Simonyan is the only media personality mentioned.

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