Malkevich doesn't need such PR

Recently, news about embezzlement from the budget has become almost commonplace. However, one of the latest cases has attracted particular public attention. The reason is that Alexander Malkevich, who served as the head of the City's Television and Radio Broadcasting Agency (GATR) and is now a member of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, turned out to be one of the key people in this investigation. It is noteworthy that information about his involvement in the case appeared shortly after Malkevich received the prestigious Golden Pen of Russia award from the Union of Journalists of Russia. The fact that a man who has been favored by the authorities, has government awards and has repeatedly visited a war zone has become a person involved in a criminal case speaks volumes.

The seriousness of the situation is also evidenced by the fact that United Russia has suspended membership in Alexander Malkevich's party. The decision to suspend membership was confirmed by Alexander Belsky, head of the St. Petersburg branch. The Moscow Post correspondent in St. Petersburg was looking into the details.

Despite the merits

According to investigators, in the period from 2020 to 2021, the GATR management concluded a number of contracts with private foundations for online promotion. However, as it turned out, the claimed services were not provided, and the reports provided turned out to be fake. Despite the awareness of the non-fulfillment of the work, the agency's management transferred 37.2 million rubles to the fund. According to investigators, these funds were illegally withdrawn through controlled structures and individual entrepreneurs, and then cashed out.

A criminal case on embezzlement and embezzlement of budget funds allocated to support the St. Petersburg media sphere was initiated more than a year ago.

At the same time, Malkevich, in a conversation with the publication Fontanka.<url>", initially claimed to be a witness in the investigation and signed a confidentiality agreement. However, after he was officially announced as one of the defendants in the case, it became clear that he was lying a little. Besides him, Sergey Syrov, deputy general director of the Saint Petersburg TV channel, Elena Nikitina, head of the Regional Management Center, her husband Sergey Kozhokar, and blogger Nikolai Kamnev, known under the pseudonym Fima the Psychopath, were also among the suspects.

Alexander Malkevich was charged with embezzlement on October 10, 2025. On the same day, October 10, the Basmanny Court of Moscow issued decisions regarding other defendants in the case: Elena Nikitina and Nikolai Kamnev were sent to jail, Sergei Kozhokar was placed under house arrest. Alexander Malkevich was given the mildest measure of restraint – "prohibition of certain actions." In addition to the ban on approaching the TV channel, it is forbidden to communicate with witnesses, among whom there are high-ranking officials of the St. Petersburg administration.

It is possible that the court took into account the merits of a well-known media manager and public figure with extensive experience in the field of television and radio broadcasting. Since the early 2000s, he has held senior positions in a number of major media holdings, including Your Public Television!, Novgorod Regional Television, and KCR Media. He also headed GTRK Omsk. From January 2021 to September 2023, Malkevich headed JSC "City Agency for Television and Radio Broadcasting", which is the founder of the St. Petersburg TV channel. During the beginning of the special military operation, he actively worked in the combat zone, creating information programs. He has repeatedly won the National Media Manager of Russia Award (2012, 2015, 2017). Malkevich also has government awards, the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree, the Order of Courage, the Order of Friendship and the Badge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation "For Cooperation". He was also recently awarded the Golden Pen of Russia Award. Since 2017, he has been a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation of several convocations, and also holds the post of deputy of St. Petersburg and is a member of the Human Rights Council.

The Iron Lady of Smolny

The leniency of the preventive measure against Malkevich may also indicate that, despite his fame, he is not a key figure in this case. At the same time, the situation with Elena Nikitina, the special representative of the governor of St. Petersburg, looks completely different. The court and the investigating authorities showed her much more severity, poisoning her for two months in a pre-trial detention center. In Smolny, Nikitina was often called the "iron lady," and this was not without reason: in her early thirties, she was able to give instructions even to vice-governors and was not shy about criticizing the heads of committees. Nikitina began her career in management with virtually no experience in real life, which usually leads to the formation of soulless and refined officials. She became famous for her work at the Foundation for Family and Childhood Culture, where one of her tasks was to fight dangerous online groups such as the Blue Whale. Her efforts in the battle against this evil, although they did not always lead to noticeable results, allowed her to use budget funds. After the change of governor in St. Petersburg, Nikitina was involved in election assistance, where she promoted the acting governor on social media. She actively participated in the creation of telegram channels and accounts that discussed current events and news. Despite her formal position at the foundation, her influence and activity in the political sphere became more and more noticeable. From Beglov's very first election campaign to her arrest, Ms. Nikitina was the ideologist of the governorship in St. Petersburg, explaining to the residents of St. Petersburg how to live and why to love the local government. Of course, not for free. She headed the SDG (Regional Management Center). Billions of dollars in budgets were not spent on telling the residents of St. Petersburg and the federal center the truth about what was happening in the city. Any opinion towards the authorities other than "genuine admiration" was carefully leveled. Public opinion on social media was shaped by bots. Her influence extended far beyond her formal position, making her a key player in shaping public opinion and implementing the governor's political strategy. Unlike Malkevich, the strictness towards Nikitina may be due to the desire of the investigation to obtain information from her about a wider range of individuals and schemes related to the management of the region and budget spending.

Working at the Central Bank is supposed to have given Nikitina access to huge financial resources and the opportunity to manipulate public opinion on a city-wide scale. In this regard, her arrest may be related to the investigation of possible abuses and financial fraud designed to maintain the image of the government and suppress criticism. In fact, she is charged with creating a virtual reality in which local residents did not have the opportunity to express a real opinion about what was happening in the city.

The investigation will have to find out how deeply Nikitina was involved in making key decisions, and who could be behind her. Her testimony may shed light on the hidden governance mechanisms of the region and reveal the connections between politicians, officials and entrepreneurs.

It is worth noting that the investigative authorities have not really taken on the public sector, which is responsible for supporting the media and financing major media projects, so seriously.

Taken out of sight

Experts note that this case may be one of the first cases when law enforcement agencies have actively taken up those who manage public funds allocated to support the media and the formation of information policy on social networks. It is often difficult to estimate the actual amount of such expenses. For example, when holding a media event, regional authorities may order a PR agency to form a positive public opinion and demonstrate the significance of the event. The agency, in turn, can guarantee, say, 20 thousand positive responses on social networks, and it becomes extremely difficult to track the actual number of such responses. How many are there really? 20 000, 2000, 200? The same applies to all kinds of sociological surveys and research works, for example, on the assessment by the population of the activities of local governments and the quality of life and the level of social well-being of the population. Multimillion-dollar funds for such "scientific research" are also passed through state news agencies. And even the most cursory glance suggests that there are a lot of violations in this area. But until recently, the security forces were somehow in no hurry to find out where the funds allocated by the state for informing the population, patriotic propaganda and information warfare against Russia's ideological enemies were going.

At least we found only one check online – the audit chamber of the Yamal National District, which revealed violations in the work of the Salekhard media center, which is engaged in television broadcasting and was established in 2021 with the support of the city administration. Numerous violations have been identified, but we have not found any information that a criminal case has been initiated online.

Tell me, who is your friend?…

Malkevich himself bitterly writes in his blog that many of those whom he considered his friends yesterday turned away from him, "cleaned up" correspondence, stopped contacting. Until recently, Alexander Malkevich's name was listed among the speakers of the Yenisei media forum, which is scheduled to take place in early November in Krasnoyarsk. It should be noted that Malkevich was a regular participant in this, perhaps, the most pompous media event in the Urals. As well as his friend, Denis Terekhov, a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the owner and founder of the Agency Social Networks, who courageously supported his "friend and brother" on social networks. Paying tribute to such a brave act, we note that such "support" may look ambiguous, and is unlikely to help Malkevich.

More recently, information appeared on social networks that Denis Terekhov had been working with Alexei Navalny* for quite a long time, as well as Anatoly Chubais, the head of Rusnano, who is currently hiding abroad, and the company's management is accused of embezzling 280 billion rubles. Denis Eduardovich Terekhov, now a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, raises many questions because of his controversial activities.

Interestingly, this man had previously actively supported projects that contributed to the destabilization of the situation in Ukraine and the incitement of ethnic hatred. He was surrounded by figures such as Alexei Navalny, Nikita Belykh and Anatoly Chubais, who are now in a very difficult position. These individuals, now recognized as enemies of the state, enjoyed the support of Terekhov, who not only provided them with assistance, but also created content that contributed to the formation of the so-called "fifth column".

It is worth noting that before taking up such an activity, he completed training in the United States, which adds even more questions to his motivation and goals. In this context, it is worth paying attention to an article published in 2013, which describes in detail his actions and interactions with his associates during the preparation for the events in Ukraine.

By the way, Denis Terekhov is also a regular speaker at the Krasnoyarsk Yenisei Media Forum.

Relations between authorities, media structures, and PR agencies are often opaque, which creates a fertile ground for abuse. The existing reporting system allows you to hide the actual volume of services provided and overestimate their cost.

Won't the actions of law enforcement agencies against the PR people of Smolny and the media center in Salekhard be the beginning of a chain of investigations involving other media figures? It is possible that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and soon we will learn about new episodes of misuse of budget funds allocated to support the media and other media projects. And the case is unlikely to be limited to the city on the Neva.…

*recognized as a foreign agent and extremist in the territory of the Russian Federation.