Dmitry Gordon

Gordon continues taking a stand against Russia throughout its war, proactively fundraising for the Ukraininan military as well as supporting Ukraine during media appearances.

[4] His parents eventually emigrated to the United States after winning a Green Card lottery,[5] settling in Boston, Massachusetts, and obtaining U.S. citizenship.

In fifth grade, he sent letters to 100 Soviet celebrities requesting autographed photos; responses came from famed singers Leonid Utyosov and Joseph Kobzon.

His first interview, conducted in 1984, was with his idol, the legendary midfielder of the Dynamo Kyiv football club and the USSR national team, Leonid Buriak.

He noted that this was an unprecedented decision by the dean, as Soviet-era distribution policies typically aligned job placements strictly with one's professional specialization.

From 2017 to 2019, the program aired on 112 Ukraine, but in May 2019, Gordon announced[17] that he and his wife, journalist Olesia Batsman, would terminate their cooperation with the channel due to its ties to Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian politician and close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

[19] After ending his association with 112 Ukraine, Gordon stopped appearing on its talk shows and later ceased collaborations with NewsOne and ZIK,[20] two other channels linked to Medvedchuk's network .

According to an analysis by the portal “Slovo i Dilo” for 2022,[32] Gordon topped the rankings of Ukrainian YouTube bloggers covering the Russian-Ukrainian war, boasting the largest audience.

[38] Additionally, in 2023, Ukrainians in liberated and frontline regions named Gordon among the public figures they trusted the most,[39] with 7% of respondents in a Kyiv International Institute of Sociology survey (conducted with USAID support) selecting him.

Its primary objective is to provide people with high-quality information, in addition to the fight against Russian propaganda, said the former secretary general of Reporters Without Borders Christophe Deloire along with Svoboda project director Jim Phillipoff during an interview with Batsman.

Gordon expressed frustration over the actions of deputies who prioritized personal interests over those of Kyiv residents and accused them of attempting to “line their own pockets.” He stated he did not wish to be part of such activities.

In 2014, Gordon also ran as an independent candidate for the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's Parliament) in a Kyiv constituency but failed to secure a seat, finishing second.

[48] He alleged that his competitors employed vote-buying and smear campaigns, including distributing fake leaflets suggesting he had withdrawn from the race in favor of a rival.

During the 2019 snap parliamentary elections, Gordon led the campaign headquarters of Smeshko's political party, “Strength and Honor” (Syla i Chest).

[66] The international organization Reporters Without Borders urged the Georgian government to respect journalists’ rights and provide a clear explanation for the denial.

[67] A senior member of Georgia's ruling party suggested Gordon's visit might have been intended to “escalate tensions and create scandal,”[68] although the authorities never officially commented on the matter.

[69] In one of the broadcasts on the Georgian channel Formula, then-Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili was asked 17 times why Dmytro Gordon was denied entry to the country.

In an interview with businessman Yevhen Cherniak, Gordon detailed [73] how the system worked: for example, concerts were held at Kyiv's Palace of Sports, which could accommodate 10,000 attendees.

Per the cooperative law, 20% of the profits were allocated to the state, while the remaining amount was divided among the artist, the administration, cashiers, and was also used to cover advertising and rental expenses.

[88] From the first days of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Gordon actively used social media and YouTube to criticize Russia's actions and leadership, highlighting crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine.

[93] He argued that Putin made a fatal mistake by starting the war against Ukraine, believing that “Ukrainians would raise a white flag and greet the invaders with bread and salt,” only to ultimately suffer defeat.

In May 2022, a resident of Saint Petersburg, Viktoria Petrova,[99] was arrested in Russia for allegedly spreading “fake news” about the Russian army after posting anti-war content on the social network VKontakte, which included videos from Gordon's YouTube channel.

[101] In Belarus, a court sentenced a resident of the Zhitkovichi District to 1.5 years in a penal colony in February 2023 for sharing one of Gordon's videos on VKontakte.

[111] Gordon claimed that the deaths of Ukrainian soldiers were a direct result of Solovyov's “pathetic programs,” calling him “the leader of Russia's information special forces”,[112] a “beast,” a “scoundrel,” and a “criminal”.

[118] To finance the purchase of these drones, he uses his personal funds, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of his humorous merchandise at the Gordon Shop, and donations collected through his social media followers and audience.

[121] He revealed that Ukraine's General Staff specifically advised him to procure DJI Mavic drones due to the high demand for reconnaissance equipment on the frontlines.

[125] It became known on July 19, 2022 that Russia's police force has added Dmitry Gordon to its wanted list,[126] and two days later a court in Moscow arrested him in absentia.

[128] In January 2024, it became known that a new criminal case had been opened against Gordon in Russia, allegedly for “public calls to terrorism,” and he was again put on the wanted list.

In September 2024, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced the exposure of a spy network linked to an elite unit of Russia's FSB, which operated in Kyiv and, among other things, was planning to assassinate Gordon.

[147] In 2009, Gordon appeared in a minor role in the film DAU by Russian director Ilya Khrzhanovsky, which depicted the life of Soviet physicist Lev Landau.