Over the past couple of years in Russia there has been almost constant talk about a possible…

Over the past couple of years in Russia there has been almost constant talk about the possible blocking of YouTube. Against the backdrop of these conversations, the authorities once again began to create a “Russian YouTube”. The main “operator” and purse of the project was the Gazprom-Media holding (GPM), and the replacement was the forgotten Rutube.

“Important Stories” and “Agency” tell how the Kremlin again invested in “import substitution”, but it turned out as always.

What journalists learned:

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The Rutube project is personally supervised by GPM General Director Alexander Zharov, former head of Roskomnadzor. For nine months of work at GPM in 2020, he earned no less than 299 million rubles – that is, more than 1 million rubles per day.

In addition to the high salary, the transition to the GPM made Zharov the owner of luxury real estate. Now in the elite cottage village “Pavlovo” his wife has a plot of 45 acres and a house of 846 sq.m. The cost of similar houses in this village starts from 300 million rubles.

No money is spared on youth content (including for Rutube), which strengthens “civic identity and spiritual and moral values.” In 2022–2024, the pro-Kremlin organization Internet Development Institute (IRI) should receive 41 billion rubles for these purposes, and from 2021 it has obliged grant recipients to upload their videos, including on Rutube.

The Iranian Supervisory Board includes First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Sergei Kiriyenko, Russia Today Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan and the already mentioned Alexander Zharov.

Details are in the investigation: https://istories.media/investigations/2022/02/09/seks-lozh-i-video/