Badanin Novel Sergeyevich

Badanin Novel Sergeyevich

Biography

Roman Badanin graduated from the History Department of Moscow State University. Lomonosov.

He worked at the International Fund for Socio-Economic and Political Research (Gorbachev-Foundation) and was engaged in research activities.

2001-2011: Deputy Editor-in-Chief "Газета.ру"

From 2001 to 2011, he was deputy editor-in-chief of the Gazeta.ru website, leaving the publication before the elections to the State Duma in December 2011. The reason was the scandal due to the removal from the Gazeta.Ru website of a banner of a joint project with the Golos association, which monitors the elections.

2011: Chief Editor of the website Forbes.ru

Since December 2011, Roman Badanin became the chief editor of the site Forbes.ru. According to sources in the media market, Roman Badanin left Axel Springer Russia, which produces Forbes, due to disagreements with the general director of the publishing house Regina von Flemming.

2013: Interfax

Since the fall of 2013, the executive director of the agency's Internet projects service "."Interfax

2014: Transition to RBC

Since January 15, 2014, he headed the RBC news agency in the team of the chief editor of RBC holding Elizaveta Ossetinskaya.

Derk Sauer: "Roman has more than 10 years of experience on the Internet and high-quality journalism. I'm glad he joined our team. Roman's task is to develop the strengths of the agency and, together with the team of our company, make RBC the best news business resource. "

2016

Leaving RBC

In May 2016, RBC chief editor Elizaveta Ossetinskaya, RBC website editor-in-chief Roman Badanin and RBC newspaper editor-in-chief Maxim Solyus left the holding. The last working day of all three is May 13, 2016.

"Recently, we talked a lot about how to further develop RBC, and in these conversations we could not come to a consensus on important issues, so we decided to part. I want to thank Elizabeth, Roman and Maxim for their work and for their contribution to the development of the company, "RBC said in an official statement on behalf of the company's general director Nikolai Molybog^[1]

According to a Vedomosti source in RBC, at first it was decided to leave Solyus, Ossetian and Badanin left solidarity with him.

The previous few months, pressure on RBC increased. As sources in the holding reported to Vedomosti, employees of the presidential administration and the government sought a change in editorial policy from the company's management and its shareholder Mikhail Prokhorov. First of all, officials were not satisfied with RBC's investigations about people close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in particular about Putin's alleged daughter Ekaterina Tikhonova. Two interlocutors close to RBC say that it was Solyus who was the first to resign, since officials were used to reading a paper newspaper, and not the RBC website, where the materials appeared initially.

Editor-in-chief of the Dozhd TV channel

July 25, 2016 Roman Badanin was appointed editor-in-chief of the Dozhd TV channel.

2018: Creating the "Media Project"

In 2017, Roman Badanin left to study journalism at Stanford University. In 2018, after completing his studies and returning to Russia, he decided to engage in complex journalistic investigations in the format of an online publication, which he had previously dealt with. His colleagues in work at Dozhda (Maria Zholobova and Mikhail Rubin), as well as RBC, were involved in Project Media. The publication has a small staff and budget. The purpose of the publication, as Roman Badanin said - "to become the main investigator of the country."

The publication, according to RT documents, is managed by Project Media, a legal entity registered in the United States, but there is a company of the same name in Lithuania. Both for 2021 are led by Roman Badanin.

In January 2019, RT reported that the total amount of funding for the Project at the start amounted to $500 thousand. Later in 2021, it became clear who exactly allocated the largest part of the funds to Badanin. So, the American or Lithuanian Project Media in 2018 received $330 thousand in grants - as "support for high-quality investigative journalism in Russia." Three foreign non-profit foundations issued grants, two of which are directly controlled by the European and American authorities^[2]

In particular, the European Fund for Democracy (EED) allocated $240 thousand to the Project, and the American National Fund for Democracy (NED) issued a check for $40 thousand. Another $50 thousand was transferred to the publication by the Bermuda Sreda Foundation, owned by Boris Zimin, the son of Dmitry Zimin, co-founder of VimpelCom, who lives abroad. At the disposal of RT were supporting documents from the listed funds.

The European EED, founded by EU member states, and the NED, funded by the US Congress, are recognized in Russia as undesirable organizations. The Sreda Foundation of Boris Zimin is also included in the register of foreign NGOs. Zimin Jr., who now lives, like his father, abroad, is known as one of the most influential sponsors of FBK Alexei Navalny.

The fact that NED and EED helped the Project with money is also stated in Badanin's lawsuit against the US Migration Service about obtaining a permanent visa. Zimins was not previously known about financial participation in the Project.

On the Project website, it calls itself "independent media," a combination of investigative journalists and reporters who explore "complex and dangerous topics" that many other media do not take on.

Badanin, as it became known to RT, after launching the project, persistently sought opportunities to stay in the United States and asked his interlocutor from NED to find out about the presence of suitable vacancies.

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