4 ms·

I came across this yesterday but wasn't sure what to make of it. I have no prior for themoscowtimes.com. When I googled for corroboration (as a non-Russian spe

I came across this yesterday but wasn't sure what to make of it. I have no prior for themoscowtimes.com. When I googled for corroboration (as a non-Russian speaker) all I found was blogspam citing this article. It gives me pause because, as reported, it seems almost comically reactionary. "We're going to make our own Chernobyl show but with CIA saboteurs because some historians don't say it didn't happen." From the article: > Still, an attempt will be made to put an entirely different spin on those events. Russia’s NTV channel has already announced that it is shooting its own “Chernobyl” series based on the premise that the CIA sent an agent to the Chernobyl zone to carry out acts of sabotage. Can someone with access to Russian media corroborate this or provide insight?

golergka 7y ago
This new series by NTV is widely discussed news here and completely true. Also, The Moscow Times is a newspaper that, I believe, dates back to at least the 90s.
- enimodas 7y ago
  What does the public think of the show there?
  - golergka 7y ago
    Everyone I talked to absolutely loved it. It's a common theme on Russian twitter (which is mostly anti-government, pro-western, pro-LGBT, as opposed to general population of the country) that the show is awesome and the fact that it was filmed in UK and never could've been filmed in Russia is a testament to the state of our cinema. Also, set design is stunningly truthful to the soviet era, I've seen quite a few comments after the first episodes about how familiar it looks, and can testify so myself. Also, the Kremlin corridors look exactly like they did in reality, despite some critics. The only thing, sometimes the apartments and material things look a little bit too nice for the era, may be.
    - cpursley 7y ago
      It was actually filmed in Lithuania. They are real soviet era apartments, just retrofitted and those with a sharp eye noticed plastic windows, etc.
pp19dd 7y ago
While it doesn't look like anyone else interviewed Alexei Muradov, number of reputable western publications (not blogspam) seem to have taken this source seriously and are citing it. Washington Post did verify by way of Hollywood Reporter that it seems to be happening. "The series was commissioned by NTV, a top free-to-air network, owned by Gazprom Media, the media arm of the natural gas giant Gazprom. It was partially financed by the culture ministry, which provided 30 million rubles ($460,000). The total budget has not been made public." That number is not something the Moscow Times reported on, so it looks like corroboration: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/russia-making-own-tv-series-chernobyl-nuclear-disaster-1216383 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/russia-making-own-tv-... Additionally, this claim makes it seem they hurried to catch up - "Principal photography was done last year in neighboring Belarus and the series is currently in postproduction."
- e40 7y ago
  number of reputable western publications (not blogspam) seem to have taken this source seriously and are citing it These days, I don't think that's enough of a guarantee.
  - topspin 7y ago
    Indeed. We can't tell if this is genuine because while it is sadly plausible it might also be a troll, and we don't have a media competent enough to detect the difference or credible enough to believe either way. Thankfully it doesn't matter; if there really is going to be a Russian version of Chernobyl it will be awful and everyone except the inveterate whataboutists will point and laugh. That is a metaphysical certitude.
r721 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moscow_Times https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moscow_Times
supergirl 7y ago
moscowtimes is tabloid level. i don't imagine even 1% of the article is true. it's anti-putin fake news
craftyguy 7y ago
This article is blatant advertising for this show. 'Hacker' 'news' fell for the bait.

golergka 7y ago

This new series by NTV is widely discussed news here and completely true. Also, The Moscow Times is a newspaper that, I believe, dates back to at least the 90s.

enimodas 7y ago
What does the public think of the show there?
- golergka 7y ago
  Everyone I talked to absolutely loved it. It's a common theme on Russian twitter (which is mostly anti-government, pro-western, pro-LGBT, as opposed to general population of the country) that the show is awesome and the fact that it was filmed in UK and never could've been filmed in Russia is a testament to the state of our cinema. Also, set design is stunningly truthful to the soviet era, I've seen quite a few comments after the first episodes about how familiar it looks, and can testify so myself. Also, the Kremlin corridors look exactly like they did in reality, despite some critics. The only thing, sometimes the apartments and material things look a little bit too nice for the era, may be.
  - cpursley 7y ago
    It was actually filmed in Lithuania. They are real soviet era apartments, just retrofitted and those with a sharp eye noticed plastic windows, etc.

pp19dd 7y ago

While it doesn't look like anyone else interviewed Alexei Muradov, number of reputable western publications (not blogspam) seem to have taken this source seriously and are citing it. Washington Post did verify by way of Hollywood Reporter that it seems to be happening. "The series was commissioned by NTV, a top free-to-air network, owned by Gazprom Media, the media arm of the natural gas giant Gazprom. It was partially financed by the culture ministry, which provided 30 million rubles ($460,000). The total budget has not been made public." That number is not something the Moscow Times reported on, so it looks like corroboration: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/russia-making-own-tv-series-chernobyl-nuclear-disaster-1216383 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/russia-making-own-tv-... Additionally, this claim makes it seem they hurried to catch up - "Principal photography was done last year in neighboring Belarus and the series is currently in postproduction."

e40 7y ago
number of reputable western publications (not blogspam) seem to have taken this source seriously and are citing it These days, I don't think that's enough of a guarantee.
- topspin 7y ago
  Indeed. We can't tell if this is genuine because while it is sadly plausible it might also be a troll, and we don't have a media competent enough to detect the difference or credible enough to believe either way. Thankfully it doesn't matter; if there really is going to be a Russian version of Chernobyl it will be awful and everyone except the inveterate whataboutists will point and laugh. That is a metaphysical certitude.

r721 7y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moscow_Times https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moscow_Times

supergirl 7y ago

moscowtimes is tabloid level. i don't imagine even 1% of the article is true. it's anti-putin fake news

craftyguy 7y ago

This article is blatant advertising for this show. 'Hacker' 'news' fell for the bait.