Wife of pro-Kremlin Ukrainian oligarch with links to Putin launches film studio in Russia

Oksana Marchenko, the wife of Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian businessman and pro-Russian politician to whose daughter Putin is godfather, has opened a film studio in Russia. Alexei Basmanov, a former producer of the popular TV show Ukraine's Got Talent, is a company director.

Source: an investigation by Skhemy (Schemes), an investigative journalism project by Radio Liberty

Details: The journalists found that Vervitsa Film, a film, video and TV production company, was set up in Russia in autumn 2023. The firm’s founders are Renaissance (99.99%), a Russian joint-stock company owned by Oksana Marchenko, and Russian citizen Alexei Basmanov (0.01%).

The journalists discovered that Basmanov and Marchenko had worked together in Ukraine on Ukraine's Got Talent, with Basmanov as the line producer.

The investigators added that as yet, they have been unable to get comments from either Basmanov or Marchenko. However, former colleagues of Basmanov’s explained that he has been involved in producing episodes of Pilgrim, Marchenko’s propaganda series. They said Basmanov enjoyed this work immensely.

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