Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of pro-Kremlin outlet Russia Today (RT) and the state-owned media group Rossiya Segodnya, confirmed on Monday, Sept. 22 that she has cancer.
Simonyan recently spoke about having an unspecified “severe illness” during the Rossiya 1 show Evening with Vladimir Solovyov on Sept. 7.
On Monday, Simonyan wrote that she is undergoing “cancer treatment” in a Telegram update, joking that she will be seen wearing a wig soon, presumably as a result of chemotherapy.
She did not specify from what kind of cancer she is suffering.
She also referenced the condition of her husband, who was rumored to have been poisoned in January.
“I’d be happy to write that I’m fine, but I try never to lie. Tigran [Keosayan] is still in a coma, and I’m undergoing cancer treatment. What’s so good about that? You’ll see me in wigs soon. We’ll choose the best one together,” Simonyan wrote.
In January, Simonyan wrote that her husband, had “suffered clinical death and is in a coma,” adding that he has long had heart problems.
But rumors at the time suggested that Keosayan was targeted by Ukrainian intelligence, a theory that has not currently been substantiated.
RT is a Russian propaganda outlet that has been banned in the EU and the UK, as well as other nations, after Western governments accused it spreading disinformation and propaganda about the war in Ukraine.
On Sept. 6, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, a Kremlin-affiliated Russian Orthodox bishop, awarded Simonyan the Insignia of St. Olga, Third Class, for her “contribution to preserving traditional values in society.”
Simonyan has long been a vocal supporter of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, dismissing Western criticism, excusing atrocities and threatening to escalate the conflict.