While it doesn't look like anyone else interviewed Alexei Muradov, number of reputable western publications (not blogspam) seem to have taken this source seriou

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."