Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. At 25 years and 13 days, he is the longest-serving Russian or Soviet leader since the 30-year tenure of Joseph Stalin.
Right Said Fred are an English pop band formed by brothers Fred and Richard Fairbrass in 1989. They are best known for the hit 1991 song "I'm Too Sexy".
Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin is a Russian nationalist politician serving as the senator from the Russian-occupied Zaporozhye Oblast since 23 September 2023. He previously served as General Director of Roscosmos from 2018 to July 2022, as deputy prime minister in charge of the defense industry from 2011 to 2018, and as Russia's ambassador to NATO from 2008 to 2011.
Joel McIver is a British author. His best-known work is Justice for All: The Truth About Metallica, first published in 2004 and appearing in nine languages since then. McIver's other works include biographies of Black Sabbath, Slayer, Thunder, Ice Cube, and Queens of the Stone Age. His writing appears in newspapers and magazines such as The Guardian, the Daily Telegraph and Classic Rock, and he is an occasional guest on BBC and commercial radio and television.
"I'm Too Sexy" is a song by British pop band Right Said Fred, released in July 1991 by Tug Records as their debut single from their first album, Up (1992). The song was written by band members and brothers Fred Fairbrass and Richard Fairbrass with Rob Manzoli and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outside the United Kingdom, it topped the charts in seven countries, including Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United States. James Lebon directed the music video for the song, featuring various clips of models walking on the catwalk. In 2023, Billboard magazine ranked "I'm Too Sexy" among the 500 best pop songs of all time.
Up is the debut album by English pop group Right Said Fred, released in 1992 on Charisma Records and Tug Recordings. The album contains the group's only United States Top 40 hit, "I'm Too Sexy", which was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in February 1992, and their only UK number-one hit "Deeply Dippy", which stayed in that position for three weeks from April to May 1992.
Fraser Thorneycroft-Smith, known professionally as Fraser T. Smith, is an English record producer, songwriter and musician. Some of the singles he collaborated on include Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain", James Morrison's "Broken Strings", Tinchy Stryder's "Number 1" and Taio Cruz's "Break Your Heart". In 2016, Smith teamed up with Stormzy to produce his debut album Gang Signs & Prayer, which won Best Album at the 2018 Brit Awards. Earlier that year he produced seven tracks on Kano's Made in the Manor album and co-produced the debut EP from South London rapper Dave. Smith has also worked with Sam Smith.
Myles Peter Carpenter Rudge was an English songwriter, known for writing the lyrics for novelty songs. His songs "The Hole in the Ground" and "Right Said Fred" were both British Top 10 chart hits in 1962, both recorded by Bernard Cribbins to music by Ted Dicks and produced by George Martin for Parlophone. Another of his songs, "A Windmill in Old Amsterdam", was a hit in 1965 for Ronnie Hilton, and won an Ivor Novello Award in 1966 for the Year's Outstanding Novelty Composition.
Edward Dicks was an English composer. He is best known for composing the music for the novelty songs "Right Said Fred" and "The Hole in the Ground". They were both Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart in 1962, recorded by Bernard Cribbins with lyrics by Myles Rudge, and produced by George Martin for Parlophone. Another song by Dicks and Rudge, "A Windmill in Old Amsterdam", was a million-seller hit in 1965 for Ronnie Hilton.
Julia Ioffe is a Russian-born American journalist. Her articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Foreign Policy, Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, The New Republic, Politico, and The Atlantic. Ioffe has appeared on television programs on MSNBC, CBS, PBS, and other news channels as a Russia expert. She is the Washington correspondent for the website Puck.
Steven Barnett Rosenberg is a British journalist for BBC News. He has been its Moscow correspondent since 2003, except for being Berlin correspondent between 2006 and 2010. In 2022, he became the BBC's Russia editor.
The propaganda of the Russian Federation promotes views, perceptions or agendas of the government. The media include state-run outlets and online technologies, and may involve using "Soviet-style 'active measures' as an element of modern Russian 'political warfare'". Notably, contemporary Russian propaganda promotes the cult of personality of Vladimir Putin and positive views of Soviet history. Russia has established a number of organizations, such as the Presidential Commission of the Russian Federation to Counter Attempts to Falsify History to the Detriment of Russia's Interests, the Russian web brigades, and others that engage in political propaganda to promote the views of the Russian government.
From April 2014 until September 2022, the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) claimed to be independent states. Their sovereignty was recognized by South Ossetian authorities in 2014, Russia and Abkhazian authorities in February 2022, Ba'athist Syria in June 2022 and North Korea in July 2022.
Elon Musk is the CEO or owner of multiple companies including Tesla, SpaceX, and X Corp., and has expressed many views on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from politics to science.
The Russian information war against Ukraine was articulated by the Russian government as part of the Gerasimov doctrine. They believed that Western governments were instigating color revolutions in former Soviet states which posed a threat to Russia.
The following is a timeline of the presidency of Joe Biden during the first quarter of 2022, from January 1 to March 31, 2022. To navigate between quarters, see timeline of the Joe Biden presidency.
Many states, international organizations, and civil society actors worldwide had expressed their reactions to the then-escalating crisis between Russia and Ukraine that started in March 2021. The crisis eventually culminated in a Russian invasion of Ukraine, beginning on 24 February 2022.
As part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian state and state-controlled media have spread disinformation in their information war against Ukraine. Ukrainian media and politicians have also been accused of using propaganda and deception, although such efforts have been described as more limited than the Russian disinformation campaign.
"Space Man" is a song by British singer-songwriter Sam Ryder, released as a single on 22 February 2022 through Parlophone Records. It represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, after being internally selected through TaP Music and the BBC, the British broadcaster for the Eurovision Song Contest. Co-written by Ryder, Amy Wadge and Max Wolfgang, it appears on Ryder's debut studio album There's Nothing but Space, Man!, which was released on 9 December 2022.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine led to widespread international condemnation by political parties and international organisations, as well as by people and groups in the areas of entertainment, media, business, and sport, where boycotts of Russia and Belarus also took place.
