Kremlin propagandist Solovyov, lawmaker face backlash over insults to women as thousands demand apologies

Russian blogger Viktoria Bonya has launched a flash mob targeting propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, State Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov, and pro-Kremlin blogger Artemy Lebedev, accusing all three of publicly insulting women. Thousands of social media users have rallied behind her, demanding that Solovyov, Milonov, and Lebedev apologize.

The episode traces back to a video address to Vladimir Putin that Bonya recorded on April 14. In it, she told the Russian president that both ordinary citizens and government officials are afraid of him — and that, as a result, he is not getting accurate information about conditions in the country. She listed five pressing problems facing Russians that “not a single governor will mention” and called on Putin to establish a direct line of communication with the public.

The video drew enormous attention, racking up 30 million views and 1.6 million likes. Other bloggers widely discussed it, and Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov weighed in. “Many topics are raised there, on which, in fact… a great deal of work is being done, a large number of people are involved, and none of this has been left unattended,” Peskov said.

Bonya, in tears, thanked Peskov and said she was moved that the Kremlin had responded to her video. “I don’t know what will happen to me [next], what my fate will be. In our times, nothing surprises me anymore. But I want to say that it was worth it. I couldn’t not use my voice. […] I would have betrayed myself if I hadn’t spoken. It would have been a betrayal of my Russian spirit,” she said.

Peskov’s comment and Bonya’s response were both published on April 16. That same day, a source at a media outlet loyal to the Russian authorities told Meduza that the Kremlin had issued a “strong request” to stop covering Bonya’s address. Pro-Kremlin bots on VK and some pro-government media outlets also began attacking her, the independent Russian investigative outlet Agentstvo reported. The pro-Kremlin outlet Tsargrad mocked “truth-tellers from Monaco and Bali,” while the news outlet Life suggested that Bonya was doing the bidding of “Western intelligence services.”

The loudest critics proved to be Solovyov and Milonov. Solovyov called Bonya a “worn-out slut” on air; Milonov called her a “poorly educated blogger” and an “escort girl.” Bonya announced she would prepare a joint lawsuit against them and against Artemy Lebedev, who had reduced to tears Olesya Ivanchenko, the host of the show “Natalnaya Karta.” She urged other Russian women to join the suit.

Bonya wrote on Instagram: “There’s a lot of talk right now about traditional values. Is it a traditional value when on national television men allow themselves to insult women, call them ‘escort girls,’ call them ‘elderly,’ tell them to go suck dick? Is that what we’re teaching our children? Because if it’s shown to the whole country, it normalizes that behavior. It means boys grow up feeling like that’s how you can talk to women. And girls grow up feeling like they have to put up with it.”

She also posted an AI video in which she appears as Spider-Woman fighting Solovyov, Lebedev, and Milonov. The caption reads: “I propose creating a women’s community that will be a community for each other, where together we will create beauty on this planet. We are women — we know how to see the beauty of life. We are a soft power. We are warriors of the LIGHT!”

Bonya’s remarks about the treatment of women set off a wave of response videos on social media, above all on Instagram, where many users criticized Lebedev, Milonov, and especially Solovyov, calling out his foreign ties abroad. The authors of these videos were men and women alike. They shamed all three men — each with a long history of inflammatory statements — called for them to be “canceled,” and demanded apologies. Some of the quotes:

• ”We are a generation that had time to read books, to travel the world. We have seen how differently women are treated. And all you will achieve is a real women’s revolt. […] Mothers of children who were pushed out of ninth grade will come out. Women who can’t keep up with mortgage payments, who can’t pay their utilities, will come out. Women whose businesses are closing will come out. Every last one of us will come out, because we are all very tired.”
• ”Men, what are we fighting for? I signed a contract for the homeland, for family, for values, for culture. And then yesterday I see women being insulted on television. And it made me sick. […] This is spitting in the face of all women. At the very least, he [Solovyov] must apologize.”
• ”I’m surprised that Russian men are silent. […] Not a single athlete, not a single blogger supported her [Bonya]. Where are all those Orthodox activists…? Our Russian woman, an Orthodox woman, is being attacked by some devil [Solovyov]. […] He didn’t just insult Viktoria Bonya — he insulted her 13 million followers.”
• ”On what grounds am I, a 46-year-old woman, being called elderly? On what grounds am I, a single mother, being called a slut? […] Why is it that I, an ordinary woman, can’t swear in a public place, but this man can insult women on television?”
• ”In tsarist times, there would have been a line of people waiting to challenge you to a duel. After saying such things on air about women, you have no place on Russian screens. You belong in a monastery, at minimum.”
• ”We understand that you [Solovyov] make your money in Russia. Russia means nothing to you — you’re no patriot, just a pseudo-patriot. By humiliating Victoria Bonya, you revealed something else important: that censorship in this country is only for ordinary people.”

After Bonya announced her intent to sue, Solovyov temporarily stopped naming her on air. He also called on law enforcement to investigate her and urged the Justice Ministry to designate her a foreign agent. He refused to apologize, arguing that the word he used was not obscene but derived from the perfectly neutral word “shalovlivaya” (playful).

Philologist Valery Mokiyenko told the Russian Telegram news channel Ostorozhno Novosti that Solovyov was wrong. “I think he is, so to speak, softening his blow. Because, of course, it is not a compliment. And the etymology he is proposing is also not quite right — it is a vulgar slang word. […] To call any woman that, from a linguistic standpoint, is simply not gentlemanly,” he said.

Milonov and Lebedev have yet to comment on Bonya’s promise to sue them.