Television presenter Dmitry Kiselyov, the head of the state-owned Rossiya Segodnya news agency, who is known for his anti-gay and pro-Kremlin views, announced Thursday he would launch his own game show.
The show will be called “Knowledge Is Power,” and the first episode will be aired Saturday on state-owned television, Kiselyov said in an interview published by the Izvestia newspaper Thursday.
“It's a one-on-one intellectual game show,” Kiselyov told Izvestia.
Kiselyov, best known for his attacks on the West and his strong backing for President Vladimir Putin on his weekly news program on state-owned channel Rossia-1, was appointed head of the Rossiya Segodnya news agency in 2013 after its predecessor, RIA Novosti, was broken up by the Kremlin.
Details of the new game show are sparse, but Kiselyov said it would avoid political topics.
“It's an apolitical game show. It's interesting because ultimately, there is more to life than politics … I will play on the side of the audience,” Kiselyov told Izvestia.
Kiselyov was sanctioned by the European Union in March last year after Russia's annexation of the Black Sea region of Crimea, as a result of which his foreign assets were frozen and he was barred from traveling to the EU.
The controversial presenter is particularly known for a remark in 2013 that the hearts of gay people who die in car accidents should not be used in transplants, but rather burnt or buried. Last year he also caused an outcry when he said Russia could turn the United States into “radioactive dust.”