Russia's unsanctioned master of propaganda The Insider investigation reveals how Margarita Zhitnitskaya built a media empire to serve the Kremlin while staying off the West's radar

Margarita Zhitnitskaya, better known by her pseudonym Margo Krzhizhevskaya, heads the company M-production, which has produced television content for more than 30 years, occasionally changing its name. The company’s portfolio ranges from game shows and comedy programs to pre-election debates. In the 2010s, it produced propaganda programs for Vladimir Solovyov on the state-owned network Rossiya-1, including shows like “Duel,” “Sunday Evening,” and “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin.” Since 2020, M-production in one iteration or another has produced content for Solovyov’s YouTube channel, and since 2022, for the television network Solovyov Live.

Investigative journalists at The Insider revealed in a new report that Zhitnitskaya’s business legally consists of three LLCs that she wholly owns: M-Production, M-Production Media, and M-Production Group. In 2023, these companies reported total revenue in excess of 4.5 billion rubles (roughly $53 million at the time) — twice as much in 2021. The combined net profit for 2021–2023 amounted to 655 million rubles (about $8.2 million). The company’s largest source of income is Rossiya-1. M-production also pays the salaries of propagandists Vladimir Solovyov, Alexander Myasnikov, and Sergey Mikheev.

According to leaked tax data from 2020, Zhitnitskaya’s income that year was 246 million rubles ($3.4 million at the time). Her companies own two Porsche vehicles, while she personally owns a Mercedes-Benz GLS, a BMW 420D, a Porsche Cayenne, and a Land Rover Discovery Sport. Zhitnitskaya also owns five apartments in Moscow — three on Rozhdestvensky Boulevard and two in the Heart of the Capital residential complex on the Shelepikhinskaya Embankment.

Additionally, Zhitnitskaya owns an apartment in Sozopol, Bulgaria. Until 2022, she owned two companies in Bulgaria, which are now registered under a U.S. citizen named Gleb Piryatinsky — presumably her son.

Despite Zhitnitskaya’s direct involvement in Russian wartime propaganda, neither the U.S. government nor the E.U. member states have targeted her with economic sanctions. The Insider also reports that she frequently travels outside Russia, including to countries in Europe.