Pressure on the media environment continued in St. Petersburg: on November 12, investigators detained Vyacheslav Stepchenko, head of the information department of the press service of the Interior Ministry directorate for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. The police colonel, long seen inside the directorate as untouchable, was accused of taking a bribe in exchange for passing on restricted official information.
According to investigators, the case concerns internal police bulletins. These materials are divided into three categories: open information for the press, “for official use” reports on crimes involving police officers, and separate bulletins on operations against organized groups. Access to the second and third categories, the report says, was of particular interest to journalists and could be paid for.
The outlet draws special attention to those who testified in the case. According to TASS, they are Sergei Ivanov of the TV channel Petersburg-78 and Alexander Semyonov of the Telegram channel Konkretno.ru. That channel had previously been linked to Kirill Metelev, who was arrested in an extortion case together with Ilya Gorbunov, a former manager of the Patriot media group.
Sources cited by Novaya Gazeta Europe say Metelev is now in the area of Horlivka, though his possible role in the case has not been directly confirmed: reporters said they were unable to reach him. At the same time, the article says many questions surround the arrest, including why the information was allegedly sold to a state-owned TV channel and why Konkretno.ru has again appeared in a scandal.
Stepchenko has worked in public communications since the early 2000s: he previously headed the incidents desk at Rosbalt, then served as press secretary to St. Petersburg vice governor Andrei Chernenko, led the press service of the Federal Migration Service, and from 2005 headed the press service of the regional Interior Ministry directorate. According to acquaintances, in the early 2020s he also helped secure the release of journalists detained at protest rallies.
“Personally, I do not understand this whole situation with Slava at all... there is no evidence that Stepchenko received any money,” a lawyer who has known him for more than 20 years told the outlet.
The lawyer also pointed to procedural oddities: in the Investigative Committee video, the participants’ faces are hidden, the presence of defense lawyers is unclear, and the detention was carried out by the FSB, while the investigation is being handled by the Investigative Committee. According to Fontanka, in addition to the bribery charge, Stepchenko was also charged under Article 272.1 of the Russian Criminal Code on unlawful use of computer information. On Thursday evening, a court placed him under house arrest.