Igor Leonidovich Kirillov (Russian: Игорь Леонидович Кириллов, born 14 September 1932) is a prominent former news anchor for Central Television of the USSR (CT USSR), the main state broadcaster of the Soviet Union. He was an announcer for the 9:00pm CT USSR news program Vremya.
He began working for Soviet Central Television in 1957, after he worked for two years at the Taganka Theatre. For 30 years he co-anchored the network's prime time news program Vremya. The program, which still has reach all over Russia on various networks and internationally, is one of the most watched news programs in the world. Throughout his tenure, Kirilov, often alongside his colleague Nonna Bedrova, was the news frontman of the Soviet Union's state-owned network for all of the nation's pivotal events since the 1950s, covering the annual celebrations of state occasions, the death and funeral of Leonid Brezhnev and his successors Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko, and the Soviet government's decision to invade Afghanistan in 1979, as well as the Moscow Olympics the following year. Kirilov also accompanied dignitaries, notably Soviet leaders, on their official visits to foreign countries to do reporting on location.
Kirilov was awarded the USSR State Prize in 1977 and People's Artist of the USSR in 1988. Kirilov also appeared in some Russian movies, mainly cameos. He retired as a newsreader in 1987, joining CT USSR (later Ostankino TV, then ORT). He retired in 1996, but he periodically appears as a emcee for some concerts and the annual Red Square Victory Day parade.
In 2006 Kirilov was also honoured with the prestigious Order of Merit for the Fatherland.[1]