Vitaly Eduardovich Portnikov is a Ukrainian publicist, writer and journalist of Jewish origin.
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on May 14, 1967 in the city of Kyiv.
He received higher education at Dnipropetrovsk University at the Faculty of Philology. Subsequently, he entered Moscow University at the Faculty of Journalism.
Career
He worked as a parliamentary correspondent for the Kyiv edition of “Youth of Ukraine”, at the same time he collaborated as a columnist for “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” in Moscow. The activity was focused on covering socio-political processes in the union republics and countries of the post-Soviet space, in particular on Ukrainian-Russian relations and the formation of independent Ukraine.
In the early 1990s, he began working as a correspondent for Radio Liberty.
Portnikov’s analytical materials and author’s articles regularly appeared in “Dzerkalo Tyzhnia”, “Den”, “Correspondent”, “Ukrainska Pravda”. He was also published in foreign media in Belarus, Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Israel.
In the 2000s, he headed the editorial office of the publication “Gazeta 24”. At the same time, he hosted author’s television programs on the TV channels “STB”, ICTV and TVi.
Since November 2013,he began working as a presenter on the Espresso TV channel. In the same year, he joined the Euromaidan in Kyiv.
In July 2015, Portnikov became a member of the supervisory board of the National Public Television and Radio Company of Ukraine, representing the People’s Front faction. However, in October 2017, he voluntarily resigned.
On November 1, 2018, the government of the Russian Federation adopted a resolution imposing sanctions against 322 citizens of Ukraine, including Portnikov.
Prizes and awards
Laureate of the Golden Pen Award of the Union of Journalists of Ukraine, as well as the winner of the honors of Hetman Pylyp Orlyk and poet Vasyl Stus. He was awarded the title of “Journalist of the Year”, and in 2023 he became a laureate of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine.
Among his author’s works are books: “Why Medvedev?”, “The Virgin in the Synagogue”, “Prison for Angels”, “Evora”, “Maidan Bells”.
He was nominated for the National Prize for journalistic materials in which he consistently defends Ukrainian sovereignty, territorial integrity, and democratic traditions.
