Remembering Vladimir Markin, longtime Investigative Committee spokesman He famously quarreled openly with senior Kremlin officials, hosted several TV shows, authored multiple books, and acted in movies

Vladimir Markin, the first official spokesperson of Russia’s Federal Investigative Committee, passed away on October 12 at the age of 64. For years, he was the agency’s public face, becoming the country’s main source for information about what its top detectives were doing. Markin’s career went far beyond interfacing with the press: he acted in movies, published several books, and briefly tried his hand at singing. Meduza looks back at Markin’s varied ambitions and legacy.

Markin was the Investigative Committee’s first spokesperson 

Russia’s Investigative Committee was formed in January 2011. Several months later Markin became its press secretary. He moved to the new post after serving in a similar role at the Investigative Committee’s predecessor – the investigative office of Russia’s prosecutorial organ. In total, Markin spent nine years relaying information about the country’s investigative activities to the media and the public.

Markin started in radio and TV

Vladimir Markin graduated from Moscow State University with a journalism degree and began his career in his hometown, at the city’s “Evening Chelyabinsk” newspaper. He soon returned to Moscow to host two shows on Soviet radio: “Time, Events, and People” and “Man and the Law.” In 1991, he transitioned to Soviet state television; after the fall of the USSR, he worked for its Russian counterpart, hosting a talk show called “Career.”

Markin’s television career took off quickly: he produced NTV’s news broadcasts and became the executive producer for “Russia,” another major broadcaster. In 1997 he briefly served as the first deputy minister for press and information in the Moscow region. Markin continued his work for television even during his tenure as press secretary for Russia’s investigative organs. In particular, Markin hosted the “Loyal Russia” documentary series for the Zvezda network as well as “Investigating the Case,” a project for broadcaster OTR. And in 2015 and 2016, Markin had his own personal show on Channel One, “Case Closed with Vladimir Markin.”

Markin’s law degree was revoked, but then reinstated 

While working for the Investigative Committee, Markin pursued a second degree and studied law at the Institute of Science and Culture. He received his diploma in 2011, but it was quickly annulled: Prosecutors closed the school after an investigation found a number of infractions in the institute’s operations. The audit and subsequent closure were tied directly to Markin. According to representatives of the university, “the staff from the Attorney General’s Office only cared about one thing: Markin, Markin, Markin.”

At the time, media reports suggested that the interest in Markin arose from the power struggle between the Attorney General’s Office and the Investigative Committee. At issue was the “Gamblers’ Case,” which saw high-ranking prosecutors and their family members come under legal investigation. Nonetheless, Markin and the Institute enjoyed a happy ending: both Markin’s degree and the school’s accreditation were restored.

“The Gamblers’ Case” 

A high-profile case about illegal casinos in the Moscow region quickly became a heated flashpoint in the power struggle between the Attorney General’s Office and the Investigative Committee that Markin represented. The case was opened in 2011 and centered around Ivan Nazarov, a businessman accused of running illegal gambling rings in the Moscow area. According to the Investigative Committee, Nazarov received protection from Moscow regional prosecutor Alexander Mohov, his deputy Alexander Ignatenko, and several other prosecutorial staff. During the case, media sources suggested that Ivan Nazarov was affiliated with the son of the attorney general, Yury Chaika. As a result, the Investigative Committee would open cases against the well-connected suspects only for the Attorney General’s Office to intervene and close them. 

Russia’s news media covered the “Gamblers’ Case” closely, and Markin was a key character as the public face of the Investigative Committee. The infighting between the two agencies attracted enough publicity for then-President Dmitry Medvedev to call for an end to the “pressure on the investigation through enticement of the media.” He also met with Attorney General Chaika and the head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin to persuade them to end their public inter-agency strife. In the end, prosecutors refused to charge the accused and the “Gamblers’ Case” never reached the courts — though a handful of low-ranking prosecutorial staff lost their jobs.

Markin criticized Medvedev and Surkov

In 2012, Markin publicly rebuked Dmitry Medvedev, who had by then resumed his work as prime minister after a brief stint as president. Medvedev spoke harshly of a raid on filmmaker Pavel Kostomarov’s apartment, who had co-directed a documentary film about the leaders of Russia’s opposition. The raid occurred as part of a broader inquiry into “mass unrest” on Moscow’s Bolotnaya Square. Medvedev called the investigators “assholes” for “coming [to Kostomarov’s apartment] at 8 in the morning.” The Investigative Committee responded by issuing a press release signed by Markin, lamenting that Medvedev’s comments offended their detectives and undermined the authority of law enforcement. But the statement was quickly scrubbed from the agency’s website, with officials explaining that “the wording was ambiguous and open to misinterpretation.”

In 2013, then presidential deputy chief of staff Vladislav Surkov spoke negatively of the Investigative Committee’s work in a speech at the London School of Economics. Markin responded in an opinion piece in Izvestiya, titled “Peering from London: Don’t Blame the Mirror for One’s Ugly Face.” Without mentioning Surkov by name, Markin wrote of the “virtuosos of political spin,” who protest the state while working for it,” as well as about “those who seek social media glory and political asylum in London.” For his part, Surkov refused to reply, claiming that he “does not comment on compulsive scribbling.” Markin’s column is no longer available on Izvestiya’s website, but it has been reprinted by other outlets. 

Markin loved tweeting

Markin often left his most provocative statements for Twitter, which quickly made their way to the press. For instance, he once called Ukraine a “quasi-state.” Another time, when the Ukrainian government denounced a trip by Vladimir Putin to Crimea, he ridiculed Kyiv for “at once acting out, crying, pleading, and making demands.” When French prosecutors condemned Russian soccer fans for instigating violence and public disturbances at the 2016 Euro Cup, Markin tweeted that the French were startled because they’re accustomed to seeing men only “at gay parades.” After leaving his post as Investigative Committee spokesperson, he went on to lead the Russian Football Union’s committee on safety and fan relations. Judging by Markin’s tweets, his views on Ukraine were consistent even after exiting public service.

Markin wanted to enter parliament

In 2011, Markin sought to be included on United Russia’s party list for upcoming elections to the Duma as a representative from the All-Russian People’s Front, but experts and lawyers argued that members of the Investigative Committee are barred from working for political parties and social organizations. Markin objected, arguing that he would be permitted, but the Attorney General’s Office disagreed. Undeterred, he still participated in a primary in the Volgograd region, only to receive 13th place in the polls, thereby failing to qualify for the party’s list. United Russia, meanwhile, claimed that he ended his campaign voluntarily.

Markin was an author and an actor

Weeks before resigning from the Investigative Committee, Markin published “Russia’s Most Notorious Crimes of the 21st Century” in September 2016. But shortly thereafter, plagiarism was spotted — paragraphs in the chapter about Anna Politkovskaya’s murder were copied nearly word-for-word from an article by Nadezhda Prusenkova and Ilya Barabanov and jointly published in Novaya Gazeta and The New Times. 

Markin chose to respond by publishing another piece, this time in “Life.” He explained that he did not write the book himself, but instead “built the logic of the plot, its analysis, and conclusions.” Meanwhile, publishing group Exmo was responsible for assembling and writing the text and was thus at fault for the plagiarism. Markin worked with Exmo again in 2017 to publish another work: “Murders, Terrorism, and Catastrophes.”

In February 2015, he was a participant in Russia’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Markin and fellow contestant and singer Stas Pyeha performed “We have one motherland.” a song praising the work of Russian law enforcement. The duo had penned the song together with hopes of performing it at the Kremlin on Police Day, but they were not welcomed. Meanwhile, Markin turned down a request to sing patriotic songs with Evgeniya Vasilyeva, the former Defense Ministry official convicted in a high-profile corruption case in 2015.

Markin also enjoyed a brief stint in film. He played a detective from the Investigative Committee in Timur Bekmambetov’s “Day of the Fool,” a modern-day rendition of Gogol’s play “The Government Inspector.”

Markin’s departure from public life

Markin chose to resign from his post on October 6, 2016. Afterward, he spent time working at RusHydro, where he held top posts in government relations and then as an advisor to the chairman of its board. For about a year following his resignation, Markin was active on Twitter, posting about “inescapable English Russophobia” and RusHydro’s accomplishments. He continued to publish opinion pieces as well. But soon thereafter, Markin suddenly disappeared from the public eye. 

No official cause of death was given for Vladimir Markin, except that he endured a long and difficult illness. He was 64 years old.