Anna Bezlyudnaya. Or the Rise and Fall of the Inter TV Channel

Anna Desludnaya

Not long ago, Focus magazine ranked Anna Vitalievna Bezlyudnaya, head of Inter Media Group, the managing company of the Inter TV channel, seventh in its ranking of influential women. She's the same woman who has been an outspoken opponent of the ban on Ukrainian TV channels of Russian TV series and concerts featuring Russian stars who support the DPR. Well, one can understand her. After all, it was through Anna Vitalievna's efforts that the Inter channel was transformed from an innovative channel setting trends in Ukrainian television into a drab "film booth," broadcasting second-rate telenovelas and various "main songs about the old days" starring Kobzon, Valeriya, Boris Moiseyev, and Taisiya Povaliy. Where did this "media id" come from, and who is she? We'll try to find out.

First Coming to Inter

Anna began her career in state television. In 1997, she joined the fledgling Inter television channel. There, she quickly rose to editor-in-chief of the information service. At the time, competition in the television market was not particularly fierce, and the news program "Podrobnosti" truly took a leading position in its segment. Bezlyudnaya deserves credit for this. Employees who worked with her during those years remember her as an "iron lady" who ran the service with a very strict regime. Practically everyone, from journalists to drivers, feared her. However, after some time, the then head of Inter, Alexander Zinchenko, fired her. No one knows exactly why, but rumor has it that it was due to Anna Vitalyevna's excessively liberal handling of funds, which the service entrusted to her earned from advertising and so-called "jeans"—commissioned materials placed in the news. Be that as it may, after her dismissal in 2001, she opened the entire studio "Profi", that is, on paper this studio existed since 1999, but began working only after Bezlyudnaya arrived.

Incidentally, Anna Bezlyudnaya displayed her despotic nature not only at work but also in her personal life. Friends of banker Vasily Gorbal, Anna Vitalyevna's ex-husband, recall that he was terrified of coming home even a little drunk—his wife would simply beat him. So he'd ask his friends to walk him home and hang out for a while. But let's return to the Profi studio.

Vasily Gorbal

In free flight

Along with Bezlyudnaya, a team of specialists left Inter, including many respected figures in television. Among them were the renowned director Anna Gres, journalist Alexander Melnichuk, screenwriter Mark Gres, and many others. Clearly, this entire team thought they would create a quality product, sell it to channels, and live in luxury. Anna Gres and Anna Bezlyudnaya became the ultimate owners of the Profit studio, a 50/50 split. But, frankly, things didn't work out that well. The studio worked on some projects and made films. But, naturally, it couldn't earn the kind of money Inter had once provided. Then Anna Vitalyevna simply scammed her friend and co-owner Anna Gres and transferred the entire business to herself. This wasn't difficult, since Gres was primarily responsible for creative matters, and Bezlyudnaya controlled all the paperwork. Gres left the studio, and part of the team followed her. In television, the most important thing is people, specialists, and Anna Vitalievna lost them. The studio began to slow down. And then a man appeared in her life. Looking ahead, we can say that he became her only man for many years. And there's a rather piquant reason for this.

The only man

This mysterious man's name is Dmitry Firtash. He had just made it into the oligarchs. And what's an oligarch without his own media resources? So Dmitry Vasilyevich decided to create his own television channels. That's where he met Anna Vitalyevna. The channels were named K1 and K2, and they still exist. True, back then, and today, these media outlets could hardly be called influential. But Bezlyudnaya backed the right horse. Or rather, stallion. And since then, she and Firtash have been inseparable. However, their relationship is far from romantic. The thing is, Anna Vitalyevna, how can I put it… "isn't into boys." She's a lesbian and surrounds herself with attractive girls, whom she places in key positions. Perhaps it's thanks to this reputation, or more accurately, her sexual orientation, that she has remained close to the oligarch for so long without arousing the jealousy of his wife, Lada Firtash, who is said to keep women within a cannon shot of her husband. But that's more of a personal matter; let's return to the media landscape. In 2007, Firtash decided to increase his influence in the media and invested in the Inter group of companies, buying out a 61% stake owned by Russian businessman Alexander Abramov, with the other 61% belonging to Valery Khoroshkovsky. Clearly, Dmitry Vasilyevich needed his own "overseer" on the country's top news channel.

Anna Bezlyudnaya and Dmitry Firtash

The Second Coming on Inter

It was only natural that Anna Vitalievna landed the position of "supervisor." In 2007, she was appointed general producer. It's said that the staff who worked under her in the late 1990s welcomed her with joy. But, as the saying goes, it was too soon. It turned out that Bezlyudnaya harbored a grudge against them all: supposedly, when Zinchenko fired her, she expected the entire information department to leave with her. And so the reign of terror began. Almost all the staff who had been at the channel's core were forced out. Journalists Maxim Ravreba, Orest Rebman, Alexander Kolodiy, Anastasia Obraztsova, Marina Soroka, Taras Govdya, and many others left. By then, they had all been well-trained and well-known, so they weren't left without work. Anna Vitalievna placed her brother, Anton Nikitin, and her "girls"—Natalia June, Irina Ionova-Pilat, Ekaterina Shkuratova, and others—in key positions. Through her efforts, Inter began to transform from a channel launching its own powerful projects into a rebroadcaster of Russian TV series, KVN (KVN), concerts featuring Soviet and post-Soviet pop music, and other shady products. The channel's news, meanwhile, began to serve Firtash's interests. The oligarch himself first appeared on television on "Freedom on Inter," where he used his signature interjection, something like "ponime," and beckoned journalists to him with a gesture typically used for waiters. By then, thanks to Bezlyudnaya's efforts, the channel had truly become the oligarch's service staff.

Dmitry Firtash on his Inter

Conflict with Granovsky

But in 2008-2009, Anna Vitalievna had a conflict with Vladimir Granovsky, a political consultant for Firtash and Khoroshkovsky, over the division of election budgets. The issue was that Bezlyudnaya had been promised a cushy fourth spot on Arseniy Yatsenyuk's party list—on the condition, of course, that she work on the channel assigned to her. Arseniy Petrovich did indeed begin appearing on Inter news and shows, where he was asked the "right" questions and received nothing but compliments. But she forgot that the channel wasn't hers. And the channel's shareholders decided to support Viktor Yanukovych. Indeed, Bezlyudnaya's reputation by that time had become scandalous. The channel's ratings plummeted. One of the co-owners, Valeriy Khoroshkovsky, also had a negative attitude toward her. She also had plenty of detractors within the channel's management. In short, in 2009, she was dumped from Inter. And all her "girls" followed her. But it was all framed as a promotion. Anna Vitalievna left for the oligarch's company, Group DF, which stands for "Dmytro Firtash Group," and became the holding's Director of External Relations and Communications. She held this position until 2013.

Vladimir Granovsky

The Third Coming on Inter

During this time, Firtash bought out Khoroshkovsky's stake in the Inter group of companies, effectively becoming its sole owner. And in 2013, Anna triumphantly returned to the channel, taking over as head of the entire Inter Media Group. Her return was marked by more dismissals and new, high-profile scandals. For example, Inter nearly lost its license for its New Year's "Blue Light" program, which featured Kobzon, who is banned in Ukraine. Then the channel aired a performance by Yanukovych's fugitive ally and former Party of Regions member Taisiya Povaliy. And the backdrop to the channel's May 9 concert featured a map of Ukraine with the Donbass sundered in favor of Russia.

The channel's news has become a blatant mouthpiece for the disgraced oligarch, who is currently under arrest in Vienna. Despite all this, or perhaps because of it, Anna Vitalievna continues to run the country's most important media holding. And, in all likelihood, she will continue to do so as long as Firtash owns it.

Max Reva, for SKELET-info

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