[4] His comments have been controversial both in Russia and in the West, especially regarding homosexuality and the Euromaidan, the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014 and his allegation of the US standing on "the side of the terrorist caliphate" ISIS, destroying Syria and bringing down Metrojet Flight 9268.

[7] Kiselyov's maternal grandfather with a last name Nesmachno came from Western Ukraine, was a lieutenant colonel in the Russian Army and chief of engineering services of General Aleksei Brusilov.

[11] On April 9, 1989, at the invitation of Eduard Sagalaev, he began working on the USSR Central Television,[12] where he was a parliamentary correspondent for the "Vremya" program.

Due to his refusal to read a prepared text about the Soviet repression of protests in Vilnius, he was removed from news programs, after which he collaborated for some time with the German TV channels ARD and RTL, as well as the Japanese television company NHK.

[11] In 1994–1996, he was the host of the "Window to Europe" program on the same TV channel,[15] for the creation of which Kiselyov received a grant from the European Commission aimed at supporting democratic institutions in Russia.

[16] In March 1995, after the murder of Vladislav Listyev, he was the host of one of the issues of the topical interview "Rush Hour" of the VID television company, which was aired on Channel One Ostankino.

[8] On November 26, 2004, the channel's journalists, at a meeting with ICTV CEO Alexander Bogutsky, expressed their distrust of Dmitry Kiselyov, saying that he distorted news broadcasts.

[26] During the presidential elections in Ukraine in 2004, Dmitry Kiselyov took an active part in promoting on television the candidate from the Party of Regions close to Moscow, Viktor Yanukovych, to whom, in turn, the owner of ICTV, Victor Pinchuk, was loyal.

After Viktor Yushchenko's election victory, Kiselyov continued to work on the TV channel until the expiration of his contract in March 2006.

[36] From 2006[37] to 2012, after his final return to Moscow, Kiselyov was the host of the social and political talk show "National Interest" on the channel "Russia", later renamed "Russia-1".

[38] On July 3 and 10,[39] 2010, within the framework of this program, from the Moscow side held a teleconference "Ukraine — Russia" together with the host of the "1+1" TV channel Nataliia Moseichuk.

[52] In April 2016, hackers announced the hacking and theft of the contents of two mailboxes and the WhatsApp correspondence of Dmitry Kiselyov, which was put up for auction until May 15.

The topic is mainly devoted to the projects "Rossiya Segodnya", also in the array there is data on finances and assets (including the purchase of an elite apartment of 204 m2 on Tsvetnoy Boulevard for 162 million rubles in February 2014),[53] challenging the personal sanctions imposed by the EU, purchase of a finished diploma thesis and professional scholarly articles for the wife.

Among the interlocutors of Kiselyov were Valentina Fedotova, head of the social philosophy sector of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences (who writes the texts of the host on a paid basis),[54] economist Nikita Krichevsky [ru], media manager Aram Gabrelyanov, prankster Vovan, Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky.

[59] His show is accused of being a soapbox to promote the Kremlin's policies,[4] disparage homosexuality, denigrate the West and speculate about Western-led conspiracies as well as attack the political opposition to Putin.

Kiselyov has gained particular notice in the West for his commentary on gay people[4] and statements made during the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.

"[62] Kiselyov has been described by The Economist as Russia's propagandist-in-chief,[63][2] and in a piece entitled "Russian TV host: Russia is the only country with capability to turn U.S. into 'radioactive dust'" The Washington Post says that: He may seem extreme, but Kiselyov apparently has the blessing of the Kremlin: He's been selected to head the new Russian state media conglomerate, Rossiya Segodnya, that is due to replace the well-respected RIA Novosti.

He also incorrectly claimed that the Food and Drug Administration in the US kept a database of "everyone in the US who has had a same-sex sexual relation over the past twenty years, with the equivalent EU agency doing the same", according to The Moscow Times.

[69][70] Timothy Snyder writes in The New York Review of Books that "Kiselyov has taken Putin's campaign against gay rights and transformed it into a weapon against European integration.

[73] In Sweden, he gained media attention in December 2013 when he criticized the moral values of that country in response to the 2013 Ukrainian protests, for which he partly blamed the Swedish political leadership and Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt[74] as well as the government of Poland, accusing Poland and Sweden of fomenting the protests to avenge defeats in centuries-old Polish-Russian and Russo-Swedish Wars.

A week after presenting the identity of a Ukrainian officer in the Galician SS-Volunteer division, he "thanked the attentive audience for finding “inaccuracies” in the document and said it was fake".

Kiselyov later blamed the Metrojet Flight 9268 crash on a secret pact between America and ISIS,[63] and has said that if American bombers were to attack the Syrian army, then "We'll shoot them down".

[81] On March 16, 2014, against the backdrop of the Crimean referendum held a day prior, Kiselyov commented in his weekly current affairs and analytical programme Vesti Nedeli (News of the Week) in the context of his presentation about Vladimir Putin being a stronger leader than U.S. president Barack Obama: "After all, Russia is the only country in the world that is truly capable of turning the USA into radioactive dust.

[87][88] On 1 May 2022, Kiselyov threatened serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson with nuclear annihilation on his Sunday night news show claiming, without credible evidence, the United Kingdom and Ireland could be "plunged into the sea" and turned into a "radioactive wasteland" by a single Russian underwater nuclear strike.

[89][90] A week after his nuclear threat, Kiselyov was pictured at the five-star Jumeirah Al Qasr hotel in Dubai with his eighth wife.

The Armenian government expressed concern over the program's content, which it described as containing "artificially generated narratives" aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Armenia.

[92] Mkhitar Hayrapetian, the Armenian Minister of High-Tech Industry, informed reporters that the airing of Kiselyov's program could face a potential block within Armenia.