At the RUSSIA EXPO, RUTUBE presented the First National Phoenix Award to bloggers blocked on Western platforms

The award from RUTUBE at the RUSSIA EXPO was given to bloggers, TV channels and content producers who successfully revived and continued their activities on the domestic platform. Since 2022, more than 130 Russian channels have been blocked on YouTube.

The ceremony was opened by Alexander Zharov, CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding, who congratulated everyone on the 30th anniversary of Runet and noted that the attempts of foreign video hosts to block Russian content had failed: "More than 130 channels of individuals and legal entities were removed from international platforms, however, all of them have been revived on the RUTUBE platform and will be awarded with the Phoenix Award".

Alexander Zharov emphasized that Runet continues to strengthen its positions, and cited the words of Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Chernyshenko that since 2019 the Runet economy has grown 3.5 times and reached 16.4 trillion rubles: "The national video hosting RUTUBE is not lagging behind: today the daily audience of the platform is approaching seven million people, and the monthly audience has exceeded 48 million users. Very good technological and technical conditions are being created for the production and distribution of content. Whether the Award will become annual depends on the feedback from RUTUBE users. We will try to make the National Phoenix Award truly popular".

Among other dignitaries, Maria Zakharova, Director of the Department of Information and Press, official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, took part in the ceremony.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation was the first agency to enter all Russian domestic digital platforms with two specific tasks. The first is to provide material to domestic and foreign audiences about Russia's foreign policy, its position in international relations, on foreign platforms. And the second is to strengthen our digital information sovereignty. A few years ago, RUTUBE was rebooted and brought to a new level, so today's award is a summing up of many years of work and, I think, also the drawing up of plans for the future," said Maria Zakharova.

The Phoenix statuette in different nominations was awarded to all channels that were blocked on Western platforms and switched to RUTUBE. Among other winners were actor, producer, director, author of the channel "Besogon TV" Nikita Mikhalkov, the first RUTUBE blogger, writer, publicist, translator, member of the Public Council of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation Dmitry Puchkov, the owner of "Studio Artemy Lebedev" Artemy Lebedev, blogger under the nickname Sanya in Florida, Channel One, TV channels NTV, REN, SPAS, MATCH TV and others.

The first RUTUBE-blogger Dmitry Puchkov spoke about his contribution to the development of the national video hosting.

"It's great that there are resources in the mother country that a young talented blogger can lean on. While political intrigue was building, I played it safe and switched to RUTUBE. It's good to have it. If we can't do it there, we'll do it here. After all, everything should be our own. And from a creative point of view, we will not hesitate. We will do even more," said Dmitry Puchkov.

Among others, the winner of the Phoenix Award was a blogger with the largest audience on RUTUBE - Yuri Podolyaka.

"Today, the information space is an element of national security. Unfriendly countries wanted to close our mouths, but they couldn't, because we have platforms like RUTUBE. We tell the truth, and it is the truth they are most afraid of. I am very happy that now we are basically building a new country, a new element of independence. The RUTUBE team is now developing strongly. I am sure that it will continue to develop, because without it we will have no future," said Yuri Podolyaka.

The event was hosted by TV presenters Dmitry Dibrov, Vadim Takmenev, Anna Khilkevich and war correspondent Maryana Naumova. A rich cultural program was prepared for the guests of the event, in which popular artists took part: ANNA Asti, leader of the "Smyslovye Hallucinatsii" ("Cognitive Hallucinations") band Sergei Bobunets, Stas Yarushin and "MUZLOFT BAND" and resident of "Insight People", singer Anatoly Tsoi.