Andrey X

Andrey Ilyich Khrzhanovskiy (born May 2, 1998), known online as Andrey X, is a Russian-Israeli journalist and activist against Israeli settler violence in the West Bank. He has gained prominence during the Gaza war.

The son and grandson, respectively, of filmmakers Ilya and Andrei Khrzhanovsky, Andrey X was born and raised in Saint Petersburg. After traveling to several countries to pursue an education, he went back to Russia, where he worked as a journalist. He left the country upon the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War, settling in Israel and gaining its citizenship. There, he grew sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and began to document settler violence in the West Bank, where he has since resided. Khrzhanovskiy's positioning has been characterized as far-left, and his activism has been met with societal controversy as well as legal issues in Israel.

Early life and education Andrey Khrzhanovskiy was born in Saint Petersburg to Russian filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky, in turn the son of fellow filmmaker Andrei Khrzhanovsky, and was raised in his birth city. He had a brief experience as a child actor which includes a role in Room and a Half (2009), directed by his grandfather. After spending a year learning about Buddhism and practicing kung fu at the Shaolin Monastery in China, He started his career as a journalist writing for Russian anti-government publications like Meduza, Novaya Gazeta, Doxa and Discours.

Khrzhanovskiy was visiting his grandparents in Israel in February 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began; he chose to stay there, fearing potential persecution for his activity as a political journalist. Thanks to his Jewish heritage, he could apply for Israeli citizenship in accordance with the Law of Return; he was granted a passport shortly afterwards, allowing him to settle in Tel Aviv. He has mainly attributed this to exchanges with two people: a real estate agent telling him that "Netanya is a very good place to live in because the mayor doesn't allow Arabs to rent apartments;"

The following October, Khrzhanovskiy and four other journalists were stopped on their way to Nablus and taken to a military base, where they were reportedly blindfolded, beaten and held for hours in the sun, with authorities charging his colleague Jeremy Loffredo of The Grayzone of "aiding the enemy during wartime" after he had reported on the landing of an Iranian missile on the Nevatim Airbase. Due to Loffredo's association with a pro-Russian outlet, Khrzhanovskiy was expelled from the Kompas collective for failing to adhere to their values, "the main one of which is the rejection of any imperialism, including Russian." He commented that agreeing to accompany Loffredo was "a massive mistake and gross unprofessionalism on part." after spending four days in the same prison cell as "Kahanists" and "settlers convicted of homicide".

In November 2025, Khrzhanovskiy toured Swedish cities, where he spoke about Israeli settler violence. Shortly later, in early December, he was convicted to one month and a fine for spray-painting the Embassy of Russia in Tel Aviv two years prior, in protest of the country's war on Ukraine; , the one-month jail sentence is still suspended. He was involved in 13 civil lawsuits with Israeli authorities ; Israel is rooted in ethnic supremacygiving Jews "a remarkable amount of political freedom" while keeping Palestinians in a condition "worse than that of in Russia". Because of this, he has reported attempts from Knesset members to revoke his Israeli citizenship, stating "If I were Palestinian and I was doing this, I would have been dead. If I were an international and I was doing this, I would have been deported a long time ago." He has likened Russia jailing dissidents over stickers to Israel jailing Palestinians over Facebook posts.

According to Khrzhanovskiy, Israeli society and institutions show a generalized genocidal attitude towards Palestinians, and "will not be satisfied until Palestinians are completely gone." He has claimed that the murder of Palestinian children has been normalized as a means to prevent "terrorism", and has blamed continued violence on "decades of dehumanization" similar to the one behind the genocides of the 20th century. He has also contrasted the support of the Russian opposition for Israel's genocide with their preoccupation for human rights in Russia.

Personal life When he first settled in Tel Aviv in 2022, Khrzhanovskiy was married; he has since divorced from his wife. he had been living for two and a half years in the West Bank, being hosted by Palestinian families and moving from village to village every few days; in May 2026, he was staying in Beit Jala. Due to his close contact with Palestinians and his estrangement from Israeli society, he no longer identifies as Israeli, even though he has expressed gladness for his Israeli citizenship allowing him to be an activist.