On 1 June 2023, on air on Sezoni TV’s broadcast of Summary of the Day with Nikoloz Mzhavanadze, the programme anchor, Nikoloz Mzhavanadze, criticised the "Turn Off Russian" campaign which calls on the public not to listen to Russian music. There are celebrities who are taking part in this campaign.
Nikoloz Mzhavanadze claims that the participants of the campaign, Gia Chanturia and Misha Mshvildadze, appeared on the Russian КВН show after the 2008 war and posted footage as a demonstration. Nikoloz Mzhavanadze also stated: "These are people who demand distancing from everything Russian and almost like Fascists, demand the burning of books. One of those, Gia Chanturia, was the director of Channel One and he also joined this campaign for saying no to Russian music. And I remember how this man participated there on the КВН show after 2008 and how he sang this Russian song" ... "By the way, Misha Mshvildadze is also there, among others, in that КВН group and they were singing and having a blast."
Nikoloz Mzhavanadze's claim that Gia Chanturia participated on the Russian КВН show after the 2008 war is false. If we take a look at the beginning of the footage that he posted, we can clearly see the background with the caption КВН 2000 which means that the programme was recorded in 2000 and not after 2008.
In addition, a search for the full version of the show on YouTube proves that it was recorded in 2000.
In regard to Misha Mshvildadze, he was definitely a member of the Tbilisi State University team. However, he does not feature in the video that aired on Sezoni TV. We can see Misha Mshvildadze in the 2000 Ukrainian League.
In order to verify the information, FactCheck also reached out to Misha Mshvildadze. As he stated the Tbilisi State University team (where both Misha Mshvildadze and Gia Chanturia were members) has not participated in the championship held in Russia since 2002. In addition, he pointed out that it was a demand from the Georgian side not to allow Abkhaz participants to take part in the show with an independent team. Since the Abkhaz were allowed to participate in 2002, Tbilisi State University’s team left the Russian league.
Therefore, Nikoloz Mzhavanadze’s claim is false.
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