By Andrew Osborn
MOSCOW, April 20 (Reuters) - A celebrity blogger whose sharp criticism of the authorities has been watched by tens of millions of Russians has hit back after one of state TV's best-known political presenters accused her of working for the West and called for her to be investigated.
Vladimir Solovyov, a fiery talk show host sanctioned by the West over his vocal support for the war in Ukraine, launched a vitriolic weekend attack on Victoria Bonya live on air, mixing personal insults
about her appearance with accusations that she is part of a shadowy Western plot to undermine the Kremlin.
Bonya, who lives in Monaco and has denied working for anyone but herself, called Solovyov "an enemy of the people" who should be taken off air. She said he was one of several state TV personalities who spoke about women in an unacceptable way.
"I want to ask a question to all of us women - when did we miss the moment when women began to be insulted on federal TV channels?" said Bonya, a 46-year-old single mother, adding she was tired of women like herself being publicly dismissed as prostitutes or escorts.
"There are lots of mothers who bring up their kids on their own. By insulting me you insult them all," said Bonya, pointing out that her page had received nearly 500 million visits and that her social media presence was bigger than Solovyov's.
Bonya, well-known in Russia as a former reality TV star, had hitherto confined herself to videos about her own life and beauty tips, garnering over 13 million Instagram followers.
But she triggered a political storm with a video appeal to President Vladimir Putin saying she supported him but that he was not being told the truth about Russia's real problems, and that ordinary people were being squeezed so hard by corrupt officials that they might one day erupt.
The Kremlin took the unusual step of acknowledging Bonya's criticism - her video clip has since been viewed nearly 30 million times, - while insisting that the problems she listed - including a sweeping crackdown on the internet - were being worked on. It denied that Putin was insulated from bad news.
'FOREIGN AGENT'?
Solovyov asked on air why Bonya had not yet been designated "a foreign agent" - a label with negative Soviet-era spying connotations - and asked Russia's top state investigator to check if her outburst had broken any laws.
"It's not up to this worn-out harlot to open her dirty mouth and clog up the information space," said Solovyov.
Bonya hit back, vowing to use petitions and a potential lawsuit to have Solovyov taken off air.
Attempting to turn the tables, she also asked authorities to check whether the sometimes extreme language he uses in his broadcasts about various people and groups broke Russian law.
A jokey new video, created with the help of artificial intelligence and viewed 10 million times in just 24 hours, showed Bonya dressed in a Spider-Man outfit firing a web at Solovyov's face and taking on two other outspoken male public figures she accuses of misogyny.
On Moscow's streets, passers-by interviewed by Reuters mostly sympathised with Bonya.
Nadezhda, a manager, said she believed any Russian - even if they were outside Russia - had the right to talk about their country.
"I didn't like it that they started to insult her," she said. "It seems absolutely wrong from people who have some kind of influence in society."
(Reporting by Andrew Osborn in MoscowAdditional reporting by Nika Khutsieva in MoscowEditing by Guy Faulconbridge and Gareth Jones)
