Kirill Sukhanov, the former commercial director for Russian journalist Ksenia Sobchak, has made his first public appearance following his release from prison.
Sukhanov attended a gala dinner celebrating the launch of Fashion Paper magazine, according to Antiglyanets, a Telegram channel covering celebrity culture that published photographs of him at the gathering.
The former media executive appeared before guests dressed in blue jeans, a white T-shirt, a grey jacket and white trainers.
Extortion conviction and sentence reduction
Sukhanov was convicted of extorting 11 million roubles from Sergei Chemezov, the head of the Russian state conglomerate Rostec.
According to investigators, Sukhanov and his accomplices, Arian Romanovsky and Tamerlan Bigaev, demanded the money in exchange for removing negative posts from the Telegram channel Tushite Svet, which translates as Turn Out the Lights.
In February 2024, the Khamovnichesky Court of Moscow sentenced Sukhanov to seven and a half years in prison. The term was later reduced to five and a half years.
Sukhanov was released after four years in custody after the Skopin District Court of Ryazan Region approved his petition for conditional early release. The court is based in the Ryazan region, located south-east of Moscow.
Rostec leadership and media ties
Before his conviction, Sukhanov managed commercial operations at Ostorozhno Media, the media holding company founded by Ksenia Sobchak. The media group runs multiple digital news channels, video projects and podcasts covering Russian public life. Sobchak is a prominent television presenter, journalist and socialite who also ran as a candidate in Russia's 2018 presidential election.
Sergei Chemezov is the director general of Rostec, the vast state corporation that oversees hundreds of advanced technology, defence and manufacturing enterprises across Russia. A long-standing associate of President Vladimir Putin, Chemezov is widely regarded as one of the country's most powerful corporate leaders.
His co-defendants were also established media figures, with Romanovsky previously serving as editor-in-chief of Tatler Russia and Bigaev working as a lifestyle journalist. Their prosecution was part of a wider clampdown on commercial Telegram channels across Russia, where administrators have faced criminal extortion charges over allegations of demanding payments to delete critical stories or withhold damaging coverage.
