Alexei Panin discussed a tense moment from a television appearance involving journalist Ksenia Sobchak and interviewer Irina Shikhman, who is known in Russia as a foreign agent. Panin described a setup where Sobchak seemed to place him in front of another interviewer, creating a dynamic he found troubling and unfair.
According to Panin, his one real misstep was blaming Ira Shikhman. He recalled that he had been promised by the producers that his interview would not air before Shikhman’s piece. Panin says he checked with Ksyusha, Sobchak’s team, and received a nod to proceed. Yet he notes that Shikhman had previously accused Ksyusha of similar tactics, and Panin interpreted that as a form of planned retaliation. This sequence left him feeling manipulated and upset, a sentiment he described as dishonesty by the show’s team.
Panin went on to describe the interview with Shikhman as notably intense and engaging, comparing it to a short documentary due to its depth and duration. He claimed the shooting stretched over several days, with Shikhman requesting no communication from him until the journalist’s videos were released. However, once Sobchak’s team finished with their own segment and left, producers reached out again, inviting Panin to participate in further discussion.
In his account, Panin pressed the Sobchak group on the timing, asking if they were aware of Shikhman’s presence and urging haste. He suggested there had been promises that were not kept, which added to his frustration. The overall takeaway, he said, was that Sobchak did not set him up in the same way as the earlier claims suggested, but the broader tensions between the participants remained palpable. After the interviews, Panin added a lighter note, mentioning that he turned to other distractions to unwind. The episode earlier referenced by Sobchak, describing a concert from a major act, was a separate point of discussion that highlighted the level of media coverage surrounding the scene.