Maria Eduardovna Sittel ( rus, Мария Эдуардовна Ситтель; born November 9, 1975 in

Penza Penza ( rus, Пе́нза, p=ˈpʲɛnzə) is the largest city and administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Sura River, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census, Penza had a population of 517,311, making it the 38th-la ...

) is a Russian television presenter and an anchor on the Vesti program at

Russia-1 Russia-1 (russian: Россия-1) is a state-owned Russian television channel, first aired on 14 February 1956 as Programme Two in the Soviet Union. It was relaunched as RTR on 13 May 1991, and is known today as Russia-1. It is the flagship ch ...

. She won the Russian

TEFI TEFI (russian: ТЭФИ) is an annual award given in the Russian television industry, presented by the Russian Academy of Television. It has been awarded since 1994. TEFI is presented in various sectors (up to 50 nominations in 2008), such as tele ...

award.

Early life and education

Sittel was born on November 9, 1975 in

, Russia. She is the daughter of Eduard Anatolyevich Sittel, who has German ancestry, and Larisa Pavlovna. Sittel studied at the Penza Medical Lyceum until 1993, when she transferred to the V. G. Belinsky Penza Institute of Teacher Education and majored in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

and chemistry. Later, she graduated from the All-Russian State Distance-Learning Institute of Finance and Economics with a

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

in finance and

credit Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt) ...

Career

Sittel began her television career in 1997 in her hometown on the program ''Musical Souvenir'' on the Penza channel "Our House". In 1998, she became a correspondent and later a news presenter on the Penza Express television channel. In 1999, she started working at State TV and Radio Broadcasting Company in Penza. From September 24, 2001 to May 14, 2006, Sittel worked as a daily news presenter on Vesti TV channel

. In September 2003, she replaced

Sergey Brilev Sergey Borisovich Brilyov or Brilev (russian: Сергей Борисович Брилёв; born 12 July 1972) is a Russian television journalist on the state-owned TV channel '' Rossiya''. Early life Sergey Brilyov was born on 24 July 1972 i ...

as the regular nightly newscaster. From 2004 to 2005, she hosted the daily show ''Osoboe Mnenie'' ("Minority Report") on

Radio Rossii Radio Rossii (russian: Радио России, ''Radio of Russia'') is the primary public radio station in Russia. History Radio Rossii began broadcasting on December 10, 1990. The radio station is part of the state-owned unitary enterprise ...

. From May 15, 2006 to June 17, 2016, Sittel presented the nightly news with Dmitry Kiselyov (until July 2008) and Andrey Kondrashov (since September 2008). Sittel covered the lying-in-state of Boris Yeltsin on April 25, 2007 with

Nikolai Svanidze Nikolay Karlovich Svanidze (russian: Николай Карлович Сванидзе, born 2 April 1955 in Moscow) is a Russian TV and radio host and member of the Public Chamber of Russia. Biography Nikolai Karlovich Svanidze is named after hi ...

live on Channel One and

. From 2008 to 2011, she hosted the annual program ''Conversation with Vladimir Putin: continued'' with Ernest Matskyavichus. From September 6, 2009 to December 25, 2011, she hosted the program ''Special Correspondent''. On May 14, 2018, after a two-year break, she returned to the Vesti program. On 18 March 2022, Sittel, together with

Dmitry Guberniev Dmitry Viktorovich Guberniev (russian: Дми́трий Ви́кторович Губе́рниев; born October 6, 1974, Drezna, Moscow Oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR) is a Russian TV presenter, sports commentator of TV channel Match TV. Previously ...

, was the host of the Moscow rally in support of the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

Participation in other TV projects

Sittel has participated in episodes of the TV game show Fort Boyard. In 2006, Maria Sittel and her partner Vladislav Borodinov took part in the first season of the television competition Dancing with the Stars in Russia. The couple won first place, which gave them the right to participate at the

Eurovision Dance Contest 2007 The Eurovision Dance Contest 2007 was the inaugural edition of the Eurovision Dance Contest, a dance competition co-production between the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster BBC. The first ever pan-European dance competition ...

, where they finished in seventh place.

Personal life

Sittel is married to Alexander Lyubomirovich Tereshchenko (b. 1979). She has a younger sister, Anna Sittel, who also works at VGTRK. Until 2013, she was the presenter of the Vesti-Penza programme. Sittel is fond of photography, alpine skiing, sports and reading books.

Awards

* Laureate of the

(2005) award for News programme presenter *

Order of Friendship The Order of Friendship (russian: Орден Дружбы, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds ...

(June 27, 2007 ) "for her great contribution to the development of Russian television and many years of fruitful work" * Letter of gratitude from the

Government of the Russian Federation The Government of Russia exercises executive power in the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers. It has its legal basis in the Constitution of the Russia ...

(March 31, 2009) "for active participation in the coverage of the activities of the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation"'' * Letter of gratitude from the

(March 3, 2012) "for active participation in covering the activities of the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation"

References

External links

Maria Sittel on Vesti.ru

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sittel, Maria Penza State University alumni Russian journalists 1975 births Living people Russian people of German descent