A kind of military romantic

Who was Kirill Radchenko, who was killed in the Central African Republic

On July 31, the Central African Republic was killed by journalist Orhan Jemal, director Alexander Rastorguev and operator Kirill Radchenko. They arrived in the CAR to make a documentary about mercenaries from Russian private military companies. About Radchenko, who worked as an operator in the war in Syria and was an observer from Navalny’s headquarters in the presidential election in Chechnya in 2018, the least was known before his death. Medusa asked the operator’s colleagues and friends to talk about how he was.

Kirill Radchenko worked as a cinema mechanic, photographer and shot a series

Radchenko began his career as a movie mechanic at the Moscow Museum of Cinema, and then in the cinema of the Moscow City Council and the journalist’s house. In parallel, he worked as a video operator and an assistant photographer in the production companies Tropsere Group and Ga Studio.

Since 2015, Radchenko participated in the creation of the web series “District of Darkness”-on the set, he was an assistant photographer and assistant operator. “He was, it would seem, an assistant, but very reliable, executive, and it was very calm and good with him,” recalls Arseny Gonchukov, general producer of the series. - “The District of Darkness” is a cloudless, gloomy series about Russian reality. They did not pay money for work on him, but, despite this, Cyril worked with us for a year. He had a clear idea with whom he, for whom he and how he sees and realizes this world. He is not just an assistant and a techie, he is an ideological person. I think he did projects with those people with whom he was closely mentally. "

According to Gonchukov, Radchenko was "in a good way, crazy fan of his craft. “He learned the basics from us, and then there was Syria,” the producer adds.

In the early 2010s, Radchenko became interested in politics

According to Gonchukov, Radchenko had "sharp liberal glances." The operator’s friend, historian Alexander Shubin, says that he met him in a car carrier in February 2014, when they were detained together at one of the rallies in support of the participants in the “swamp business” .

“He photographed everyone who was collected in this car carrier. He impressed a man very well -read, correct, polite, intelligent, ”Schubin recalls. According to him, in the future he and Radchenko met on ships, where they considered administrative cases of detainees at rallies.

In 2016, Radchenko worked in a war in Syria for the publication Anna-News

In 2016, Radchenko got a job as a video operator and an editor in Anna-News : he was created in 2011 by a Russian financier, teacher of Moscow State University and State Trade and Economic University Marat Musin, it was registered in Abkhazia. Anna-News covered in great detail armed conflicts in Libya, and then in Syria; Apparently, cooperating with local authorities and Russian military. He who finances the publication is unknown, Musin himself spoke of "few sponsors."

Anna-News military correspondent Sergei Shilov told Medusa that Radchenko worked in a volunteer basis. As part of the film crew, he shot stories during the battle for Aleppo, in the Syrian desert and in the village of Deir ez-Zor-and "was at the very front edge." According to Shilov, initially Radchenko went to Syria because of the "peculiar military romance." “In four months of filming, it became noticeable that Kir was Pravilov to the war. And so I was not surprised when I found out that he and [colleague] Marat are flying in a helicopter over the territory of ISIS. Together they spent a week among the cold and hunger in the besieged Deir ez-Zor, and these winter days could not leave him indifferent to the fate of the inhabitants of the city. Therefore, in the summer he reached the desert with the troops there, ”Shilov recalls on his Facebook page.

In an interview with Medusa, Shilov added that Radchenko was very worried about the issue of public justice. “He was afraid of death? I was afraid. But there was more fear not to recognize the answers to the questions that tormented him. He did not tolerate inequality and discrimination, ”says the journalist. According to him, Radchenko dreamed of making a documentary story about a simple soldier or officer. “We got it a little in between reports. The story of the captain of the Syrian Army Galebe [35-minute film Anna-News] is 90% of his work, ”explains Shilov.

Friend Kirill Radchenko Ruslan Ablyakimov told Medusa that once he asked the operator why he was working in Anna-News. Radchenko, according to him, replied: “Yes, this is such a cotton media, but the editors know about my opposition views and allow you to stay with their opinions.”

In 2018, Radchenko was in Chechnya an observer in the presidential election

In March 2018, Alexei Navalny initiated a trip to Chechnya several dozen people from Moscow - they were supposed to become observers in the presidential election. Radchenko was among these people, there was also journalist Alexander Baev. According to Baeva, Radchenko was one of the most active members of the group. It was in Chechnya that he met with director Alexander Rastorguev, who then called him to Central Africa.

Maxim Aleshin, who was also an observer in Chechnya along with Radchenko, told Medusa that after returning back to Moscow, he and Radchenko went together to court hearings on political prisoners. “Cyril was very worried about the matter of“ new greatness ” ,” he adds.

According to Baeva, Radchenko wanted to make investigations about the people who are fighting in Syria: "To tell you why they are fighting, and our authorities do not actively recognize all this." “He somehow always talked about it calmly,” says Baeva.

“He was not one of those who beat himself in the chest with the shouts of“ I am a patriot ”or performs with some loud speeches. He loved his homeland very quietly and calmly, and he wanted everything to be fine, ”says Baeva. - I am absolutely not surprised that Alexander Rastorguev invited him to go to Africa with him to make a film, because Cyril showed himself [in the elections] very reasonable, calm, able to turn on the cold head when necessary. It does not have any unnecessary emotions, arrogance. Probably military correspondents should be like that. ”

Irina Kravtsova, Maria Semintinova