Kirill Kovalchuk is the nephew of Yuriy Kovalchuk, and President of the National Media Group (NMG), a holding that owns large stakes in almost all major Russian federal media that reproduce Russian Government propaganda. NMG was created in 2008 by Yuriy Kovalchuk, a long-time acquaintance of President Vladimir Putin, co-founder of the so-called Ozero Dacha, a cooperative society bringing together an influential group of individuals around Putin and the chairman and largest shareholder of Bank Rossiya. Media controlled by NMG is actively spreading propaganda and disinformation related to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
In his position as President of NMG, Kirill Kovalchuk is therefore supporting actions or policies which undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Furthermore, he is a natural person closely associated with a listed person.