RT Academy

Alexey Nikolov

General Director, RT

Alexey has been a journalist for over 45 years and has worked as a writer, presenter, editor and producer for various print publications, radio stations and television channels. He covered the August 1991 coup in Russia and has received a number of awards for his professionalism in journalism. Alexey joined RT in 2005 and was part of the team that created and launched our flagship channel. He is also the Deputy Dean for the Communications, Media and Design department at HSE University.

Saskia Taylor

Presenter, RT International

Starting out her professional life in the art world, Saskia decided her calling lay elsewhere and so, in 2016, she joined RT. Since then she has accumulated thousands of hours of broadcast experience. She presented our special coverage when Britain exited from the EU in 2020 and the U.S. presidential election that year as well. She has covered a number of Victory Day parades in Russia including from Red Square and was co-anchor for the 2021 Putin-Biden summit in Geneva. Saskia has also hosted special online projects, such as a tribute to pioneering Soviet cosmonaut Yury Gagarin on the 60th anniversary of his flight to space.

Rory Suchet

Presenter, RT International

Rory joined the RT team as a presenter in 2009 and has become one of the most recognised faces on the channel. Over the past 15 years, he’s covered breaking news and some of the most important international developments on RT’s global broadcasts including the war in Iraq, the Arab Spring and the conflict in Donbass when it kicked off in 2014 after the Maidan Coup in Ukraine. Rory was one of the first journalists to visit Khmeimim — Russia’s air base in Syria. He’s reported live from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi and has hosted broadcasts from Red Square covering Victory Day parades in Russia. Rory led special coverage of the 2013 G20 summit and the Russia-Africa summit in 2023. During his time at the channel he has interviewed top diplomats, politicians and public figures. Accolades for his work include a Peabody Award for Outstanding Achievements in Journalism. Coming from a family immersed in television, from his uncle David Suchet who is a famous actor, to father John who has been in journalism for over 5 decades, Rory carries a new generation legacy for the family name.

Maria Finoshina

Middle East Bureau Chief, RT International

Maria has been in TV broadcasting since she was 15 years old. In 2005, she joined the ambitious team that launched RT - the first Russian English-language international television channel. She began her career as newsroom editor, eventually becoming RT’s leading war correspondent. For many years, Maria reported from the most dangerous conflict zones on the planet: Libya, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Ukraine, South Sudan, Darfur, and Kosovo. She has always found the opportunity to talk to people on both sides of any conflict. In 2023, Maria was appointed RT’s special correspondent for the Middle East.

Maria Antonenko

Senior Producer, RUPTLY video agency

Maria is a Moscow-based executive producer for Russia’s first international video agency Ruptly, which is part of the RT media family. Prior to this, Maria worked as an executive producer for RT International. She has been working in media for 13 years, after studying PR and Journalism at the Russian State University for Physical Education and Sport. Maria worked as a producer for the RT Sports segment for three years before moving into news. She believes that viral videos are the type of content that is most in demand today. Such videos get millions of views, expanding the outlet’s audience and boosting its ratings. The ability to identify and source such content before it goes viral is the key to success.

Donald Courter

Correspondent, Presenter, RT International

Donald holds a BA in History and Russian Language from Rutgers University in New Jersey. Since 2018, he has been part of the RT team, holding various positions from correspondent to news presenter and political expert at RT International. His work includes reporting on Donbass refugees, coverage of Russia’s Pacific Fleet military exercises and an exclusive interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He is also the author of the online news channel The Revolution Report where he covers topics that are outside the Western narrative.

Vsevolod Pulya

Editor-in-Chief of Russia Beyond and Head of RT China

Russia Beyond produces content for the world community focusing on the interesting facets of Russia, its people, culture, and places to see. RT China is the fastest-developing foreign media outlet in China. Vsevolod has given over 100 coaching webinars dedicated to emerging media spheres, newsroom management and social media production in Russia and abroad.

Olga Bataman

Senior Producer, RT International

After receiving her cum laude degree in International Relations from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Olga worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. She joined the RT team in 2009. For seven years, she was in charge of Worlds Apart, an English-language geopolitical talk show that featured state leaders, foreign ministers, heads of international organizations, UN Secretaries-General, as well as writers, actors and other public figures. Currently a Senior Producer with the Kremlin Pool Department, Olga acts as key guest producer at all major forums, coordinating RT departments and handling the highest-ranking international and Russian guests.

Boris Gorlov

Head of Creative Projects, RT

Boris is in charge of a team that produces promotional content for all of the RT studios and special projects, including viral videos, brand-building videos, advertisements and new promos. RT’s Creative Projects under his supervision has received multiple international commendations, such as the Promax Awards, New York Festivals TV & Film Awards, the Clio Entertainment Awards among others.

Artyom Vorobey

Director, RT Documentary

Artyom Vorobey was born in the town of Miass, Chelyabinsk Region. He gained his first experience in journalism as a reporter for a youth newspaper in his hometown. When the newspaper launched a program on a local TV channel, Artyom took an active part in the new project. It was then that he realized that he wanted to build a career as a TV journalist. After graduating from the Ural State University in Ekaterinburg, he worked as a reporter, editor, and presenter for several Ural-based broadcasters (Vesti-Ural, Studio-41 and Channel 4). In 2008 he joined the RT Documentary department as a correspondent. During his time with RTD, he has worked on several dozen projects, most notably ‘I Want My Sex Back’, ‘She is My Son’, ‘Dance, Sex, Dance’, ‘US and the Wall’, and ‘Wombs for Rent’.

Charlotte Dubenskij

Correspondent, presenter, RT International

Charlotte has been a journalist for two decades. She’s worked around the world for some of the biggest news providers, including RT, BBC and Euronews. A graduate of Cardiff University in Wales with Distinction, she earned a Master’s Degree in International Journalism and focused her studies on covering conflict, terrorism, and insurgency movements in the Middle East. Joining the RT team in 2017 as a foreign correspondent in Paris, her work covered the Yellow Vest protest movement that saw her team nominated for the Golden Nymph Award at the Monte Carlo Television festival in 2019. Charlotte reported from the Philippines on the siege of Marawi, a five-month-long conflict between government forces and Islamic State linked militants. Also, she reported on the unrest in Israel following a decision by the Trump administration to relocate the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem along with a host of other top geopolitical stories. Charlotte is currently a correspondent based in Moscow and one of the presenters for RT International.

Oksana Boyko

Host of RT's WORLDS APART

Born in St. Petersburg, Oksana holds a Bachelors degree in Journalism from St. Petersburg State University and a master’s in Mass Communications from Kansas State University. Oksana stands as one of RT’s top journalists, with extensive experience in covering events across the globe. With RT since its inception in 2005, she began as a political news reporter and later moved on to become a foreign correspondent. Throughout her career, she has covered conflicts in Chechnya, Libya, Syria and Afghanistan. As the host of Worlds Apart, Oksana has interviewed former Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, former Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan among many others. Her work has been recognised with an award at the New York Festivals and she has also received accolades from organizations such as the Association of International Broadcasting.

Mourad Hammami

Presenter, RT International

After graduating college, Mourad started off in the heat of the kitchen as a chef in high end restaurants across London. Later he settled in Istanbul and worked as an English teacher and eventually set up his own language school in the south of Turkiye. In 2005 Mourad began his career in journalism as a freelance field producer for Press TV and BBC. Mourad moved on to print media as an analyst and field photographer for the Oxford Business Group where he travelled to over 80 countries, interviewing heads of businesses and ministers. 5 years ago, Mourad joined A news, a TV broadcaster in Istanbul as an editor and became a presenter at the station in 2020. He has interviewed over 300 guests including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesperson. After all that, Mourad joined the RT team in 2022 as an anchor for the international news programme.

Igor Zhdanov

Correspondent, RT International

Igor holds a degree in International Journalism from Moscow State University. In 2011, he joined the RT team as a broadcast journalist before he moved on to work as a producer, editor and eventually a correspondent. He has covered military conflicts in Syria and Iraq, as well as mass protests in France, Germany, Belarus and in the Middle East. Since spring 2022, he has been reporting on Russia’s Special Military Operation across the frontlines. Igor has reported on international events attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, including the 2018 BRICS summit in South Africa and President Putin’s first meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022. As a result of his work, he has been nominated twice for an Emmy as part of the RT team for his reporting on the 2018 deadly mall fire in Kemerovo and reports from the war zone in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Natalia Kadyrova

Film Director, RT Documentary

Starting off her journalistic career early in high school as a reporter for a local TV station, Natalia went on to get a degree in journalism from Novosibirsk State University and later studied at the prestigious Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in Moscow where she graduated with a masters degree equivalent in documentary filmmaking. Natalia joined RT Documentary in 2010 and since then has become an experienced film director and scriptwriter, creating about 100 documentaries. From the Antarctic in the south to the Artic on top of the world, she’s been to countless places in between from North Korea to Africa to document stories and shed light on the plight of those whose voices haven’t been heard. Under her direction, the films she has created have been watched by millions across the globe. As part of her motivation, Natalia is of the belief that a good film can influence the future by raising audience awareness.