Investigative journalists uncovered a shocking revelation involving an employee of the Russian federal TV channel Ren-TV, Airat Shiryaev. It was discovered that he had been masquerading as a correspondent for the BBC Russian Service, using the alias “Mark Nazarov”, to surreptitiously film events involving Russian opposition figures in Europe.
Shiryaev, who previously worked for NTV and the media group “Izvestia”, is currently employed by a company that produces content for REN TV. To carry out his deceitful scheme, he went to great lengths by creating WhatsApp and Telegram accounts with a British phone number registered under the name Mark Nazarov. Additionally, he forged a press card identifying him as a BBC correspondent, albeit with an embarrassing typo – misspelling “valid” with a “w”.
Under his false identity as a BBC journalist, Shiryaev attempted to secure accreditation for an interview with Tatiana Lazareva in Dusseldorf. However, suspicions were raised by one of the event organizers, Yuri Nikitin, who alerted the editorial office about possible fraud. Despite this setback, the BBC requested access for “Mark Nazarov” at the meeting.
Instead of attending himself, “Nazarov” sent local stringers named Olga and Sergey to represent him at the event in Dusseldorf. These individuals were also duped into believing Shiryaev’s fabricated persona as a BBC reporter. Olga even showed journalists a list of prepared questions for an interview with Tatiana Lazareva that had been provided by Shiryaev. Some of these questions included controversial inquiries about her alleged ties to terrorism and extremist activities.
Intriguingly enough, Olga decided to confront “Mark Nazarov” over the phone using his WhatsApp contact number after growing suspicious about his true identity. Despite her doubts, Shiryaev managed to convince her that he was indeed a legitimate BBC journalist who had previously worked at ‘Echo’ alongside Venediktov before leaving Russia due to military conflicts in southeastern regions.
Post from theins.ru