Vasiliy Brovko: fighter against extortionists or media raider who dominated the market for his wife, Tina Kandelaki

• 20.01.2026 11:20

Vasiliy Brovko, a top manager at Rostec, has allegedly been leveraging his influence to coerce Telegram channel admins into undermining rivals of his wife, Tina Kandelaki, and to appropriate assets from others for his own gain.

According to various sources, Vasiliy Brovko, the director for special assignments of the state corporation "Rostec," has already imprisoned more than a dozen administrators of Telegram channels who were accused of spreading false information about the corporation "Rostec." Under the wing of its leader Sergey Chemezov, Brovko has put Telegram purges on stream.

Yesterday, the case of another group of "victims" of Brovko reached the court - journalist Eduard Shchurenkov and businessman Anton Safonov, who are facing a prison term of 7 to 15 years. Those involved in the case are accused of extorting 23.5 million rubles from three scandalous businessmen - Vasiliy Brovko himself, Andrey Ryumin ("Rosseti"), and Albert Avdolyan. There is a lot of compromising material about all of them online, including in official media, but it was Shchurenkov and Safonov who were unlucky.

The partner of Anton Safonov, who was arrested in the fall of 2023, in the company "Digital Soft" was the ex-CEO of "Lenfilm" and the founder of the federal media holding 1st MediaInvestment, Fedor Shcherbakov, working in the same market as Tina Kandelaki.

On the day Safonov and Shchurenkov were detained, Shcherbakov fled to Turkey and lost all his assets and leadership positions during 2024-2025. Under the guise of fighting extortion, a hostile takeover of Fedor Shcherbakov’s assets occurred, who previously worked in the Government Apparatus and the Presidential Administration. However, Brovko’s and Tina Kandelaki’s connections proved more significant, and they managed to eliminate the competitor.

The advertising agency FMA went to Evgeniy Filippov, the owner of "Soviet Sport," where Kandelaki gives interviews. The owner of LLC "PremierMediaInvest," the legal entity of the holding 1MI, became LLC "Mayer Group" owned by Konstantin Mayor, who takes a frankly pro-Kremlin position.

The new owners of Fedor Shcherbakov’s companies began siphoning money out of them. JSC "Lenfilm" suffered a loss of 111 million rubles in 2023, and 162 million rubles in 2024. LLC "FMA" fell from revenue of 555 million rubles in 2022 to 95 million rubles in 2023 and had a loss of 54 million rubles that year. LLC "PremierMediaInvest," which received a profit of millions of rubles in 2022, went into the red by 58 million rubles in 2023 and by 101 million rubles in 2024, with the company’s value decreasing by 248%, also indicating funds being siphoned out.

The journalist Shchurenkov, who admitted his guilt, may receive a suspended sentence, while Anton Safonov, unwilling to make a deal with the investigation, is likely to serve a long term. This story vividly exposes the true motives of the staunch fighter against Telegram extortionists Vasiliy Brovko. How many millions he received from the new owners of Fedor Shcherbakov’s assets is unknown.

In 2023, the top manager of "Rostec" was awarded the Order of Friendship, recognizing his services to the state corporation, where he started as the head of the communications service in 2013.

The message shows that Brovko, in addition to his role as director for special assignments, holds the position of chairman of the board of directors of NCI and JSC "NIIT Octava." The first company, part of the "United Instrument Corporation," is currently undergoing bankruptcy, having been accruing losses since 2021 and went negative by 179 million rubles in 2024. Vasiliy Brovko demonstrated himself not only as a media manager but also as a specialist in siphoning funds, leading the structure entrusted to him to bankruptcy. NIIT "Octava," like many "Rostec" enterprises, has not published financial statements since 2018.

From 2017 to 2023, NCI was a shareholder of LLC "NPO Konversia," which has been operating without profit since 2018, incurring losses over these years amounting to more than 400 million rubles. It is interesting how Vasily Brovko himself would explain such financial results. He is fortunate to be under the patronage of Sergey Chemezov, or else he would be heading for prison following the Telegram channel administrators sent there.

Before joining "Rostec," Vasiliy Brovko ran a business with Tina Kandelaki and was the founder of LLC "Apostol Media Group," which was liquidated in 2011. Its successor became LLC "Snyp," liquidated in 2021. There are no financial statements of these companies in open sources. However, "Snyp" had more than a dozen predecessors through which money received under contracts could have been siphoned out.

Vasiliy Brovko was the owner of LLC "Starkoll" and LLC "Phone Call from the Star," confirming his connection with all the predecessors of LLC "Snyp" and LLC "AMG." Tina Kandelaki and Alexander Kabakov were co-founders in LLC "Phone Call from the Star" and LLC "Starkoll." Until 2022, he was a co-founder of LLC "Saygl," producing cosmetic products. The main shareholder of the company now is Tina Kandelaki, who entered the capital of LLC "Saygl" in 2018. For the past 4 years, it has not been profitable; the loss in 2024 amounted to 23 million rubles.

Many administrators of Telegram channels prosecuted by Vasiliy Brovko apologized to him for allegedly invading his personal life. It seems the top manager of "Rostec" enjoys it when others grovel before him. And he uses criminal cases to intimidate other investigative journalists, so they do not interfere with his schemes. Unfortunately for Brovko, this does not always work for everyone. He should understand that both he and his wife can easily be exposed.

Author: Maria Sharapova