Mikhail Lesin

Mikhail Yuryevich Lesin (Михаил Юрьевич Лесин; 11 July 1958 – 5 November 2015) was a Russian political figure, media executive and advisor to president Vladimir Putin.

From 1976 to 1978, Lesin served in the Soviet Army and Soviet Naval Infantry (Marines Corps) of the USSR Armed Forces.

In the late 1980s, he directed the television show Funny Guys (Весёлые ребята).

In the late 1980s, the New York firm National Video Industry attempted to establish its Moscow subsidiary Video Industry but could not obtain a proper registration although the firm had printed stationery and stored them in Moscow warehouses.

From 1982 to 1987, he worked in engineering at Minpromstroy (Industrial construction ministry) in Moscow and in Ulan Bator.

In 1984, he graduated from the Moscow Engineering and Construction Institute in Yaroslavsky as a civil engineer.

From 1988 to 1989, he was Deputy Director for Production of television programs of the Creative Production Association "Game Appliances".

In 1988, as head of the Alexander Zavenovich Akopov (Александр Завенович Акопов) founded 1988 cooperative "Igrotekhnika" ("Игротехника") which produced television shows, Lesin became aware of the items, obtained them, and with support from Yuri Zapol (Юрий Михайлович Заполь), Akopov, and others he established Video International through Ingrotekhnika and RTR (Russia Television and Radio which is often called Russia) (РТР) and obtained a studio in Spain to upgrade its video equipment and editing techniques after the horrible presentation in Russia of the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

From 1990 to 1993, he was Director of Youth creative production of the TV company RTV.

In the early 1990s, Lesin established Video International, which became a multibillion-dollar advertising agency with exclusive advertising rights on NTV and in 2015 was still one of Russia's largest agencies.

From 1993 to 1996, he was Head of Commercial Department, Deputy General Director and General Director of RIA Novosti.

In 1994, he left Video International.

At this position in Novosti, he was pivotal in the Russian parliamentary elections of 1995 and especially the re-election campaign of Yeltsin in the 1996 Russian presidential elections.

He began the slogan "Voice of the Heart", authored "I believe, I do, I hope" and "Save and Protect", and provided the president's weekly radio address to the country.

From September 1996 until February 1997, he was head of Public Relations for the President of Russia under Yeltsin.

From 1997 to 1999, he was first deputy chairman of the VGTRK (ВГТРК), which essentially brought state run television under one roof and follows the designs of Vladislav Surkov.

It was counter to the Western approach, which would have ended state owned media by promoting a free press that is not state owned and operated.

On 6 June 1999, and largely from Lesin's background among Video International, Novosti, and VGTRK, Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin appointed Lesin to head the Ministry of Press, Broadcasting and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation.

After Stepashin's brief tenure, then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin retained Lesin as minister and allowed him to be a key figure in the 1999 Russian parliamentary elections and the 2000 Russian presidential election.

Through Lesin's support, the pro-Kremlin Unity bloc gained power and the incoming Prime Minister Putin succeeded Yeltsin as the Russian president.

However, in 2001 with Lesin acting as mediator, "Media Most" assets were transferred to Gazprom-Media under the terms of Protocol No. 6, which allowed oligarchs to escape prosecution and be given the freedom to leave the country if they turned over their assets to the state.

In the 2002 Telegrand (Телегранд), the Expert Council of the National Research Center of Television and Radio named Lesin as "the most influential person of Russian television and radio".

Continuing under President Putin from 1999 until 9 March 2004 as Ministry of Press, Broadcasting and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, Lesin essentially merged a private advertising agency, Video International, which controlled 65–70% of the television advertising market, with the state owned media companies, and thus brought tremendous wealth to Video International.

During Putin's first term as Russian president with Lesin as Minister of the Press, Vladimir Gusinsky's private media holdings, "Media Most", came under intense scrutiny resulting in numerous charges filed against Gusinsky.

In an agreement for the charges to be dropped, Gusinsky's immense private media holdings, "Media Most", were to be transferred to Gazprom-Media, which, at the time, had recently acquired NTV, the only nationwide state-independent television in Russia and a highly critical opponent of the War in Chechnya, the Kremlin's handling of the Kursk incident, Vladimir Putin, and the Unity bloc.

Gusinsky subsequently was brought under arrest as a fugitive from Russia and while incarcerated refused to agree to the terms for the transfer.

Under Putin from 6 April 2004 until 18 November 2009, he became adviser to the President of the Russian Federation for mass media relations.

During his tenure and beginning in 2005, Lesin helped conceive and create the RT (Russia Today) television news network, he said, "to establish a news channel that would counter CNN and BBC with a Moscow spin. It's been a long time since I was scared by the word propaganda. We need to promote Russia internationally. Otherwise, we'd just look like roaring bears on the prowl."

In 2006, he was awarded the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", one of Russia's highest state decorations for civilians.

Lesin was nicknamed the Bulldozer (Бульдозер) because of his ability to get virtually all Russian media outlets under the Kremlin's control, and for being combative in person.

Lesin died in a Washington, D.C., hotel room under unusual circumstances.

His family initially said the cause of death was a heart attack, but after a year-long investigation Washington's chief medical examiner and federal authorities released a joint statement saying Lesin died of blunt-force trauma to his head, induced by falls amid acute ethanol intoxication.

A leaked report by Christopher Steele for the FBI said Lesin was bludgeoned to death by men working for an oligarch close to Putin.

Lesin was born in Moscow to a Jewish family involved in military construction.

He spent his childhood years in Mongolia while his father, Yuri, worked on military construction projects.

From 2010 to 2011, Lesin was on the board of directors for National Telecommunications (NTC), which at the time belonged to the National Media Group.

In 2011, he moved to Beverly Hills, California, and enjoyed ocean fishing, being with his family, and helping his son Anton in the Hollywood movie business.

Lesin's old friend Alexander Shapiro, a former vice president of Warner Bros., is a co-producer with Anton in several films.

In 2013, he returned to Russia and, from 1 October 2013 until 12 January 2015, was head of Gazprom-Media, a state-controlled media giant that describes itself as one of the largest media groups in Russia and Europe.

"HollywoodReporter 2015-11-15" />