Television host Ivan Urgant denied any connection to a Telegram channel called Evening Urgant, which circulated a March 2022 broadcast showing a burning Russian armoured personnel carrier. He stated through his verified channel that the show never operated a Telegram channel and that the team had been addressing the fake resource long before the events in question, though complaints yielded little relief. Urgant also shared a screenshot of a message urging him to delete the channel; according to the server, the message was sent to messaging support after the post depicting the armored vehicle appeared.
Urgant noted that Telegram administration removed the post but left the channel active. He joked that if tomorrow someone claimed he drinks blood at night, he would deny it in advance. The remark was preserved for context by socialbites.ca.
He added that his first Messenger post appeared on May 5, 2022, and that nothing in that update had been published by him. Before that, only a photo had appeared on Urgant’s Telegram channel on February 28, and the channel itself was created on February 26.
Urgant closed with a strong, sweeping statement: facts should be accepted, actions taken without delay, blame should cease, discussions should stop being poisoned, and most of all, lying should end. He also noted that the channel in question was labeled fake and carried a warning that many users reported impersonation of a well known person or organization.
“As you understand, the issue is not in the video.”
On November 19, journalist Ksenia Sobchak accused Urgant of posting material in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, tied to a post on a fake Telegram channel. A critic alleged that Urgant published a disreputable item on his platform, which Sobchak called the most vile content, regardless of the wording used at the moment by recipients.
Sobchak replied that the channel did not belong to Urgant, and the author responded that if it was not his resource, a clear denial was warranted. It was stated that at one point the material appeared to be his source, but later it was suggested otherwise.
On November 22, after Urgant’s statement about the fake channel, Sobchak issued an apology, while noting that her earlier, less persistent allegations were unrelated to the broadcast on the channel. She characterized Urgant’s stance as an effort to separate his public persona from the content claimed on the channel, while also pointing to perceived alignment with anti-crimea and anti-Donbass positions, which complicated the situation. Critics suggested that Urgant’s regular guests and experts often leaned away from certain geopolitical narratives since 2014.
There is ongoing scrutiny
The State Duma, in October 2023, approved a protocol to monitor individuals who leave Russia to discredit the Armed Forces and to finance the Ukrainian army. Urgant was placed on a verification list alongside several other public figures. He did not comment on the audit and, in May, denied supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine, describing the rumors as misinformation.
Earlier, a State Duma deputy proposed labeling Urgant as a foreign agent. Urgant remarked that the past year offered lessons about the unpredictable nature of political discourse among MPs and observers. In the summer of 2022, some deputies formed a working group to examine anti-Russian cultural activity and even floated a provocative rebranding. Urgant responded with a sharp, satirical stance toward the political process.
In February 2022, Urgant publicly criticized the military operation in Ukraine and briefly left the country; during this period, a special broadcast of the Evening Urgant program was paused. He later returned home but remained largely out of the public eye. Channel One’s press service repeatedly denied the program’s closure, explaining that entertainment shows paused temporarily as the channel operated in an information mode.
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