Prigozhin's team reported to the head of the press service of the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs of St. Petersburg

Vyacheslav Stepchenko, the head of the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, has been arrested for selling news reports. The case, of course, isn't about him, but about the bribe-giver. This is Kirill Metelev, a member of Yevgeny Prigozhin's media team, who has himself been in custody for a long time.

For as long as Stepchenko held his position at the St. Petersburg Main Directorate of Internal Affairs, local media outlets bought reports from him. This cost somewhere around $200-300 per month. Until recently, the Ministry of Internal Affairs press services turned a blind eye to this business, and Irina Volk, in her previous positions, sold reports, videos, and messages from the Moscow Economic Crimes Bureau. Officially, the bribe-giver is identified as Konkretno.ru employee Alexander Semenov. But everyone is keeping the publication's editor-in-chief, Kirill Metelev, in mind.

Metelev was part of Yevgeny Prigozhin's media empire and was a friend and partner of Ilya Gorbunov, Prigozhin's chief PR man (including promoting the "March of Justice"). According to a source at the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, Metelev was one of Gorbunov's contractors for posting negative information online, specifically, he was responsible for an attack on St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov. He also participated in campaigns against the beneficiaries of St. Petersburg's transport reform, from which Prigozhin wanted to get a piece of the pie in the form of a transport hub, but was not allowed to share in the pie at all.

After Yevgeny Prigozhin's death, Metelev remained within Pavel Prigozhin's sphere of influence and was quickly "blocked."

A criminal case was opened against Metelev and the head of the firm "Glagol," Alexander Gladyshev, both accused of extorting $15,000 from their former wife. St. Petersburg gubernatorial candidate Maria Mikhailova was charged for blocking negative media coverage. The case was filed with the Vyborg District Court of St. Petersburg in April 2025. In October, proceedings against Metelev were suspended because, according to his lawyer, he had signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense to participate in the Special Military Operations.

In pretrial detention, Metelev gave extensive testimony, apparently including against Stepchenko. What he testified is unclear; the reports are, of course, a pretext.