Thread by @MuKappa

TV Rain (@tvrain) is an independent russian liberal channel. That's what most or almost all people think. I am of a different opinion. Why? The channel has a very interesting origin story and questionable associations. 1/

@tvrain positions itself as a liberal outlet broadcasting exclusively in russian. It was launched on April 27, 2010, by Natalya Sindeeva @sindeeva and Vera Krichevskaya @krichevskaya. The channel primarily focuses on political, economic, and cultural news and analyses. 2/

In 2014 @tvrain introduced paid subscriptions and substantially increases sub prices due to the russian federal legislation changes banning ads on paid channels. The same year the channel started receiving funding from the EU. 3/

In 2021 the channel is designated as a "foreign agent" by the federal authorities. In the meantime, select timeslots are broadcast live on TV Rain's YouTube channel.
On March 1, 2022, roskomnadzor (russia's FCC) blocked the channel's website. 4/

On the same day, russia's prosecutor general requested to restrict access to TV Rain's resources. Official grounds: "targeted and systematic posting on these websites of information calling for extremist activity and violence against russian citizens, mass violations of... 5/

"public order and public security, participation in mass public events in violation of the requirements of current legislation, as well as the violent overthrow of the constitutional order." Source: t.me/genprocrf/1721 6/

On March 2, many of TV Rain's staff leave russia, and the day after the channel suspends operations. As a farewell, they play Swan Lake (it was unclear if the broadcasts would resume).
N.B. Swan Lake replaced all broadcasts in soviet times whenever a "dear leader" died. 7/

russia's new law on "fake news" carrying criminal penalties is the main motivation behind TV Rain's decision to suspend operations in russia.
On June 6 TV Rain obtained a European broadcast license in Latvia and on July 18 broadcasts resumed (web.archive.org/web/2022060619…). 8/

So far, so good right? Well, let's roll back to 2010, to TV Rain's origins. I will ignore all the "controversial" statements made by the channel's staff over the years, especially in the past few months. They are not all that surprising if you know how it all started. 9/

Who is Natalia Sindeeva, one of TV Rain's co-founders? Until 2021 she was married to Aleksandr Ivanovich Vinokourov, a russian financier and entrepreneur. Vinokourov allegedly invested 15% of his wealth into the channel. In 2007 and 2008 he reportedly made ~$230 million. 10/

No bank was spared in 2008 and Vinokourov was no exception. His investment bank, KIT-Finance, defaulted on a repo worth ~$280 million dollars. However, the bank was bailed out and bought out by RZhD investment arm, a state-owned railroad company. web.archive.org/web/2014122812… 11/

RZhD, rossiyskie zheleznye dorogi, is *the* railroad company of russia. The same railroad company that is crucial to the russian war effort in Ukraine right now.
So, Sindeeva had the startup capital through her husband, but what about licensing? Things get more interesting. 12/

Multiple sources suggest that Sindeeva, with a 95% ownership share in TV Rain, is a close friend of Natalya Timakova, presently deputy chair of VEB.rf, a russian state development corporation. She is even profiled by TASS: tass.ru/encyclopedia/p… 13/

Sources that suggest the Sindeeva-Timakova affiliation:
1: fish12a.livejournal.com/1852905.html?y…
2: maxpark.com/community/33/c…
3: kompromat.wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B8%D…

Who is Timakova? She started her career as a journalist. In 1999 she became a press secretary to putin, ru prime minister at the time. 14/

Between 2008 and 2012, Timakova served as press secretary to the russian president, Medvedev at the time. And in 2010, TV Rain received an approval and support from Medvedev to Sindeeva's surprise by her own admission. Here's an excerpt from an article by Lenizdat titled... 15/

"TV Rain leadership didn't count on Medvedev's help":

"The leadership of TV Rain did not turn to russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev for help.
'We didn’t ask. And Dmitry Medvedev, if I may say so myself, he supported us by inviting us, our editor-in-chief, to... 16/

"all his interviews, and for us it was an incredible support, because this has never happened when four federal channels interview the president, and then the prime minister, and invite a mostly niche cable channel, not with a very large audience,' said Natalya Sindeeva,... 17/

"general director of the channel, speaking at a press conference in Moscow.

'I never asked myself what to do if they don’t license us. If it were necessary, I would have definitely asked Putin to decide what to do next,' Sindeeva said."

Source: lenizdat.ru/articles/11181… 18/

Moreover, then-president Medvedev made a personal appearance in TV Rain's studio with much fanfare in May 2011: 19/

Allegedly at Timakova's suggestion TV Rain pulled from the air a poem recital criticizing Medvedev by the "Citizen Poet" project (video: ) prior to Medvedev's visit. In protest TV Rain's cofounder, Krichevskaya, left the channel: web.archive.org/web/2019012301… 20/

Sindeeva, however, denies the friendship with Timakova. In an interview with Freecity(.)lv she commented on Medvedev's visit: "...this gave rise to a bunch of talks that we are Medvedev's channel, that we are funded by Timakova." Source: freecity.lv/persona/30991/ 21/

Alas, in the same interview Sindeeva begrudgingly admits to jumpstarting Solovyov's career: "I recruited Vladimir Solovyov, the current host of VGTRK. He had nothing to do with journalism at the time. But one day he happened to be on the air with us..." 22/

"I heard him and convinced [the owner] that he should be hired[...] We started to invest in him, develop him. And that's how I gave rise to what he is now."

TV Rain's smooth start, however, didn't insure the channel from financial troubles. 23/

In the early years, TV Rain was described as a "money shredder." Reportedly, TV Rain was in talks with russian oligarchs Prokhorov and Usmanov. Neither acquired a stake in the channel for unspecified reasons. Source: forbes.ru/kompanii/inter… 24/

TV Rain also received funding from the russian federal budget between 2010 and 2014 through the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications (rospechat). The funding is estimated to be one million USD. Sources:
1. iz.ru/news/585059
2. lenta.ru/articles/2015/… 25/

So is TV Rain a truly liberal and independent channel? The channel's early history suggests that it is not. Hence, Latvia's fine and warning of a possible shutdown after the most recent incident are not extreme measures: rferl.org/a/russia-dozhd… 26/26

P.S. Correction, TV Rain recently started posting videos in English as well on a separate YouTube channel. I won't advertise it here.