Millions for PR: the authorities of St. Petersburg paid for a film about the merits of the governors

Sergey Ivanov

The Committee for Culture of St. Petersburg has announced the list of recipients of city subsidies for the production of documentaries and feature films. In total, 57 million rubles were distributed. But attention was paid to the ANO "Center for Cultural and Educational Projects Sotsium", which received two grants. 3.6 million rubles were allocated for the shooting of the film “The Great Silk Road”, another 3.2 million – for the creation of the film “The Governors of St. Petersburg. Role in the history of Russia. It was this film that raised the most questions. First of all, will this film tell about modern mayors and, in particular, about the current governor Alexander Beglov.

ANO "CKPP Socium" appeared in the information space of St. Petersburg at the beginning of 2022. The NGO organized the exhibition "The Bronze Horseman", and also received large grants for the organization of the 80th anniversary of the seventh symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich (more than 10 million rubles) and the festival "Three colors of the Russian banner" (more than 22 million rubles), at which the founder of the group performed "Agatha Christie" Vadim Samoilov.

The non-profit organization was associated with the head of the St. Petersburg city television channel, a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation Alexander Malkevich. According to the SPARK database, now ANO "CKPP Socium" is headed by a native of Omsk Yuri Chubatov, on his page on the social network it is noted that he works on the 12th TV channel of Omsk. Previously, this television company was led by Malkevich. But these are not all connections, until 2021 the NPO was headed by Irina Yudina, also a native of Omsk. She was a subordinate of Malkevich in the 12th TV channel - deputy director for advertising. According to the Omsk media, a criminal case was initiated against Yudina for embezzlement of budget money allocated to cover important events. According to investigators, firms controlled by Yudina won bids to cover the activities of the regional authorities, and reported for the funds received by the plots of the 12th channel, to which they had nothing to do. In court, Yudina pleaded guilty and received a lenient decision - a court fine of 100 thousand rubles. The case was dismissed, formally Yudina is not considered a judge. The events that formed the basis of the criminal case took place in 2015-2016, when Malkevich worked in Omsk.

But the connection between ANO "CKPP Socium" and Irina Yudina can be traced even now. So, at the beginning of 2022, a public organization leased a Mercedes-Benz GLK-Klasse / GLC car. Interestingly, in the database, the Omsk company Avatara, the founder of which is Irina Yudina, is listed as the previous owner of the car. Her company also owned the car under a lease. True, the company’s business is not going well, according to the SPARK database, the legal entity does not submit tax returns, in addition, the Federal Tax Service revealed false information in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, which usually leads to liquidation.

It was not possible to clarify the question of whether Alexander Beglov will be mentioned in the new film, the phone number indicated during the registration of the legal entity, which received a grant from the ANO "Center for Cultural and Educational Projects Socium", was blocked.