Saying Goodbye to <PERSON>, Godfather of the Russian Internet · Global Voices
<PERSON>. Source: Facebook.
<PERSON>, a founding father of the Russian Internet, successful media entrepreneur, and popular blogger, died of a heart attack on July 9 while staying at a friend's summer house outside Moscow. He was 51 years old.
Often referred to as the “Godfather of the Russian Internet,” <PERSON> founded or led influential news websites Lenta.ru, Gazeta.ru, Vesti.ru, and NTV.ru (now NewsRu.com), and helped popularize blogging in Russia.
<PERSON>, who described himself as the “planet's first Russian blogger,” helped sound the alarm as the <PERSON> regime began to crack down on the RuNet after allowing the Internet to operate relatively freely during the first 13 years of his tenure.
He was a tireless advocate for free speech in Russia, sometimes getting himself in trouble for his own firebrand politics: Last year, <PERSON> was fined 500,000 rubles, or $8,000 for calling for Syria to be “wiped from the face of the earth.”
In the hours since his death, Russian bloggers, journalists, and media personalities have shared their memories of <PERSON>, whom they remember as a dogged worker who built the RuNet from the ground up, helping turn it into, in his own words, “Russia’s only territory of unlimited free speech.”
<PERSON>, the founder of VKontakte and Telegram, wrote in a post on VKontakte on Sunday that <PERSON> had “until his last days, stood in defense of the Internet and common sense in his precise and vivid posts on LiveJournal,” where <PERSON> blogged. He continued:
Антона будет не хватать. 880
Он был одним из тех редких людей, кто ясно мыслил, ясно излагал, охотно делился своими знаниями и оставался оптимистом. Он всегда поддерживал меня и многих других, а мы часто забывали поддержать его в ответ.
К сожалению, мы уже не сможем вернуть Антону ту теплоту, которой он делился с нами. Но мы можем хранить память о нем и защищать те принципы, которые он защищал, и следовать его примеру – поддерживать друзей, делиться знаниями, сохранять оптимизм и здравомыслие.
<PERSON> will not be forgotten. He was one of those rare people who thought clearly, expressed himself clearly, and willingly shared his knowledge and remained an optimist. He always supported me and many friends, but we regularly forgot to support him in return.
Unfortunately, we can't give back that warmth that <PERSON> gave to us. 417